A heavyweight title rematch between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou is something that Dana White would like to see, but he’s made it clear that it won’t happen until a few months into next year at the earliest.
“That fight won’t be ready till March,” White told TMZ Sports. “… It could (happen). Yeah, that’s the goal. We’ll see what happens.”
White is more interested in the idea of a second clash between the two stars than Miocic, who had indicated after regaining the title with a unanimous decision victory over Daniel Cormier in their trilogy fight back in August that he wasn’t motivated to face ‘The Predator’ again.
In some ways that’s understandable given that Miocic already defeated him on the scorecards back in early 2018 in a fight that failed to live up to the hype.
However, since then Ngannou has embarked upon another rampage through the rest of the division, clocking up four first round finishes in a row via strikes against Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Ngannou had been uncharacteristically gun-shy in his previous fight with Miocic, but his return to form has led to renewed interest in him getting another chance to fight for the title, while solidifying him as the No.1 contender in the rankings.
For his part, Miocic had found the potential for a superfight with Jon Jones more appealing, but as things stand it seems the UFC brass isn’t ready to pull the trigger on that match-up.
