UFC heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis is calling for a rematch with Francis Ngannou, hoping to redeem himself after their first fight was a snoozer.
Lewis and Ngannou first met back at UFC 226 in a highly-anticipated heavyweight bout between two knockout artists. Unfortunately for the fans, the fight turned out to be a stinker, with neither man engaging with each other on the feet, leading to one of the most boring fights in recent memory. Lewis won the fight and it earned him a title shot against Daniel Cormier at UFC 230, but two years later and he wants to right the wrong of how disappointing the fight was for the fans to watch.
Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Lewis admitted that he’s still interested in a rematch with Ngannou and giving the fans the fight they expected the first time around.
https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/1240732640757583876
“We gotta do a rematch, me and Francis, we gotta do a rematch. Man, we got to because I had back problems and I wasn’t training the way I was supposed to for that fight. And so I’m on it now, so we got to,” Lewis said.
Lewis is coming off of back-to-back wins over Blagoy Ivanov and Ilir Latifi, while Ngannou has won three straight fights by knockout over Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, and Curtis Blaydes. Ngannou is currently booked to fight Jairzinho Rozenstruik at the postponed UFC Apex event, while Lewis is currently free of any booking. Perhaps the two could meet later this year or next year in a rematch, and if that happens Lewis guarantees it will be better than the first fight.
“I guarantee it will be more entertaining than what it was. It’d be at least one punch more than it did last fight,” Lewis said.
Would you like to see Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou 2?