UFC 215: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos official
The rumored fight between surging UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou and former champion Junior dos Santos is now official for UFC 215 on September 9, 2017 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Ilir Latifi vs. Tyson Pedro at light heavyweight was also confirmed at UFC 215. No headline event has been announced.
Ngannou, so, is on a nine-fight win streak, five in the UFC, in a division that is extremely short of streaks. For example, no heavyweight champion has ever defended his title successfully more than twice. All of Ngannou’s opponents were dropped within the first two rounds. Most recently, a tUFC on Fox 23, stopped former champion Andrei Arlovski at 1:32 of Round 1.
JDS has alternated wins and losses since losing his belt to Cain Velasquez in November of 2011. Most recently he was stopped in the first by Stipe Miocic at UFC 211 in May.
This fight will help determine whether or not Ngannou is the future of the heavyweight division.
The Cameroon-born fighter emigrated to France as a toddler. After experiencing homelessness, he found Paris’s highly-respected MMA Factory. He has since moved to Las Vegas for the training opportunities.
“I believe that this guy has the potential to become the heavyweight champion of the world,” said UFC president White in January. “I also believe he has the potential to hold that title for a very long time.”
“I don’t know if in the history of the UFC we’ve ever had a heavyweight champion like Ngannou who actually looks like [that]. If you put this guy NGannou next to — put him side to side with NFL players.
Put him side by side with the heavyweight boxing champions throughout history. This is a massive, massive guy.”
Ngannou is 6′ 4″ tall and just under the heavyweight limit of 265. If he gets past JDS, even a quick glance at the top 10 indicates that a title shot may be in order.
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Francis Ngannou
6 Mark Hunt
7 Derrick Lewis
8 Alexander Volkov
9 Travis Browne
10 Stefan Struve
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