No 'JDS'? No problem. Francis Ngannou says bring on Alistair Overeem at UFC 215

Francis Ngannou got the bummer news Friday that he suddenly was without an opponent for UFC 215, just three weeks away.

Ngannou (10-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) was supposed to fight former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos (18-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) at the event. But Friday, “JDS” was taken out of the fight due to a potential U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation.

Ngannou’s initial response? He tweeted that he was “very, very angry.” (A rep for the ex-champ said the Brazilian tested positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, a banned diuretic, and that his team hopes to find just how it got into his system.)

But after apparently hearing from Dos Santos and getting an apology, Ngannou already is focusing his attention on remaining part of the show at UFC 215, which takes place Sept. 9 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Today, Ngannou took to Twitter to say he wants to fight former Strikeforce champion and recent UFC title challenger Alistair Overeem (43-15 MMA, 8-4 UFC), seeing as how Overeem has been name-dropping him.

“@Alistairovereem been mentioning my name everywhere. I’m now open and free for you guy. Let do this at #ufc215,” Ngannou posted.

He even included a trio of fireball emojis, seemingly to indicate he thinks a matchup between the two of them would be, as the kids say, “lit af.”

Ngannou is about the hottest thing going in the UFC’s heavyweight title picture. He has nine straight wins, including his first five in the UFC. All 10 of his career wins are by stopppage. His most recent two wins against arguably his toughests tests yet in Anthony Hamilton and former champ Andrei Arlovski were first-round bonus winners, and he has three straight wins in less than two minutes of work.

Overeem has back-to-back wins after losing his shot at UFC champ Stipe Miocic nearly a year ago at UFC 203 in Miocic’s home city of Cleveland. He knocked out Mark Hunt at UFC 209 and took a majority decision from ex-champ Fabricio Werdum earlier this year to get back in the title picture. He has won six of his past seven with four finishes.

So what say you? Is this the fight to make on short notice? Vote in our poll below.

And for more on UFC 215, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.