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Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou met in a highly-anticipated fight at UFC 226. It was the first time Ngannou had fought since losing his title shot against Stipe Miocic and it was evident that the loss rocked his confidence big time.
Despite the fight expected to be one with an early finish, it went all three rounds, with Ngannou hardly doing anything and Lewis outpointing him only because he threw a few more strikes. It was a heavily-criticized fight and it was clear that neither man was in the right place. Lewis treated his victory as a loss and wants to run it back.
Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani (H/T BJPENN.com) on Instagram Live, The Black Beast believes that the two must have a rematch to right the wrong of the last fight:
“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.
He guaranteed that it'll be a more entertaining fight than their first encounter:
“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.
It would be fair someday to run the fight back, but only when it makes sense. Ngannou was supposed to face Jairzinho Rozenstruik over a week from now, but the UFC was forced to postpone their Columbus event due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The event is set to be rescheduled at a later date and if Ngannou wins, he'll earn himself a second crack at the Heavyweight Championship. Will a renewed and motivated Ngannou be able to pull it off?
