Francis Ngannou pulled a Khabib Nurmagomedov following his first-round routing of Junior dos Santos in the main event of UFC Minneapolis and talked directly to the boss Dana White from inside the cage. As you might expect, the topic of the conversation was regarding a UFC title shot. Ngannou put the bossman on the spot by directly asking if he deserves the next title shot (Transcript via MMA Junkie):
“He said we’re going to talk about it,” Ngannou said at the UFC Minnesota post-fight press conference. “I assume that means yes.”
Dana White may not have provided a direct answer to the question posed, so Francis Ngannou decided to take the liberty to answer it himself:
“Do I deserve the title shot? I think the answer is yes,” Ngannou said. “Then what happens if (Cormier or Miocic) gets injury? I just want them to give me the title contract and then we have time to prepare and put things together.”
Of course, Stipe Miocic will look to regain the heavyweight championship at UFC 241 when he faces Daniel Cormier in a rematch, and that bout is the main thing preventing Dana White from guaranteeing a title shot to Ngannou:
“This fight has to play out first,” White said. “Stipe and Cormier has to play out. … Who wins, how they come out of that fight, what does Cormier want to do next if he wins.
“There’s a lot of things that play into what’s next. It’s not as easy as, ‘Oh, I won tonight, and I’m next for the fight.’ And we know this. I go through this every single time there’s a fight.”
Do you believe Francis Ngannou will fight for the world title in his next bout?
