Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou? UFC starts pushing matchup; 'Black Beast' indifferent

UFC officials have started a small push for an intriguing potential heavyweight matchup between contenders Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou.

However, as Lewis (19-5-1 MMA, 10-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie on Wednesday, Ngannou (11-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) isn’t necessarily No. 1 on his wish list.

Late Wednesday night, the UFC’s official Twitter account posted the following message to drum up interest in the potential fight, which would feature the No. 2 (Ngannou) and No. 11 fighters in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings (via Twitter):

(By the way, it’s worth checking out some of the replies to that tweet.)

Ngannou had won 10 straight fights – including his first six in the UFC – before a title loss to heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic this past month at UFC 220. Lewis, meanwhile, is coming off knockout win over Marcin Tybura (16-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) in Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 124 headliner.

Lewis hasn’t hesitated to take jabs at his potential foe; he recently criticized Ngannou’s cardio (or lack thereof) following his title loss. But on Wednesday, Lewis, who might’ve broke his hand in Sunday’s victory, told MMAjunkie he’s got another potential opponents on his mind, namely former champ Fabricio Werdum.

“It really doesn’t matter (who I fight next),” Lewis said. “Of course Francis. (Curtis) Blaydes. And I really want to get the Werdum fight (more than any of them) because that was the fight I was supposed to fight anyway. It left a bad taste in my mouth.”

No. 4-ranked Werdum, who meets Alexander Volkov in UFC Fight Night 127’s main event on March 17, was slated to fight Lewis in October at UFC 217. However, Lewis was forced off the card on fight day due to a back injury.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.