Francis Ngannou Wants Overeem Or Junior Dos Santos, Dana White Approves
Francis Ngannou Wants Overeem Or Junior Dos Santos, Dana White Approves
Surging heavyweight Francis Ngannou wants a top-10 name next, and UFC President Dana White approves.
Francis Ngannou might still be perfecting the English language, but it's clear he's already a master in the realm of vicious knockouts.
Last evening, the French heavyweight took out the biggest name of his career when he brutally knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski after just 92 seconds of the first round.
The win took Ngannou’s professional record to 10-1 and was the fastest victory in his career, beating his previous record of 94 seconds against Bojan Mihaljlovic. Reflecting on the win after the fight, the Frenchman admitted he enjoys nights in the UFC Octagon like last night.
“Yes, I know I fight, but yes, I like to have fights like this because they are very easy with no injuries and I’m not tired,” Ngannou told UFC.com. “I know that he [Arlovski] is very difficult to break.
“I think with him I was thinking too much about how to adapt to the elevation, but then with that [knockout], I didn’t need to use [that]. I didn’t need a lot of energy.”
With Ngannou’s prior UFC wins coming against unranked fighters such as Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, Anthony Hamilton, and Curtis Blaydes, the win was easily the biggest of the 30-year-old fighter's career to-date.
Asked why he requested this fight with Arlovski, Ngannou said it was all about raising his profile. In his next fight, he said, he’d like another top name to boost it even further.
“I know that he is [a big name],” Ngannou said. “After my last fight, they asked me who I wanted to fight, and I said Arlovski, Travis Browne, or someone else. Because I know that he has some big history. He is a legend, and I had no doubt that if I win he will make me grow up and he will make me shine.”
“For my next fight, I’d like to have someone in the top 10 like [Alistair] Overeem or [Junior] dos Santos. They will make me grow up again.”
While some may think it ambitious to tackle Overeem or dos Santos at this stage in his career, UFC president Dana White said after the fight that a matchup with either of the two makes sense to him. White sees little reason for holding Ngannou back, given what he witnessed from him so far in the Octagon.
“Yeah,” White told UFC.com when asked about if he’d like to see the matchup. “As young as this guy is, I think he’s ready for anybody. I think that he is a beast of a man and I think that the power in his hands and his takedown defense is great.
“I think he’s ready for anybody, but let me get back and see. I’ll have to take a look at what make sense for everybody, and then we will see.”
Watch the full interviews with Ngannou and White here:
Last evening, the French heavyweight took out the biggest name of his career when he brutally knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski after just 92 seconds of the first round.
The win took Ngannou’s professional record to 10-1 and was the fastest victory in his career, beating his previous record of 94 seconds against Bojan Mihaljlovic. Reflecting on the win after the fight, the Frenchman admitted he enjoys nights in the UFC Octagon like last night.
“Yes, I know I fight, but yes, I like to have fights like this because they are very easy with no injuries and I’m not tired,” Ngannou told UFC.com. “I know that he [Arlovski] is very difficult to break.
“I think with him I was thinking too much about how to adapt to the elevation, but then with that [knockout], I didn’t need to use [that]. I didn’t need a lot of energy.”
With Ngannou’s prior UFC wins coming against unranked fighters such as Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, Anthony Hamilton, and Curtis Blaydes, the win was easily the biggest of the 30-year-old fighter's career to-date.
Asked why he requested this fight with Arlovski, Ngannou said it was all about raising his profile. In his next fight, he said, he’d like another top name to boost it even further.
“I know that he is [a big name],” Ngannou said. “After my last fight, they asked me who I wanted to fight, and I said Arlovski, Travis Browne, or someone else. Because I know that he has some big history. He is a legend, and I had no doubt that if I win he will make me grow up and he will make me shine.”
“For my next fight, I’d like to have someone in the top 10 like [Alistair] Overeem or [Junior] dos Santos. They will make me grow up again.”
While some may think it ambitious to tackle Overeem or dos Santos at this stage in his career, UFC president Dana White said after the fight that a matchup with either of the two makes sense to him. White sees little reason for holding Ngannou back, given what he witnessed from him so far in the Octagon.
“Yeah,” White told UFC.com when asked about if he’d like to see the matchup. “As young as this guy is, I think he’s ready for anybody. I think that he is a beast of a man and I think that the power in his hands and his takedown defense is great.
“I think he’s ready for anybody, but let me get back and see. I’ll have to take a look at what make sense for everybody, and then we will see.”
Watch the full interviews with Ngannou and White here: