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The smoke has not fully cleared from Saturday's main event at UFC 252 between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic. That being said the machine that is the UFC takes no breaks.
In discussing the future of the heavyweight division post card, Dana White was firm with his answers. He said that Francis Ngannou is absolutely the next up for the title. That sentence however and many others like that in the past have gotten changed like the direction of the wind in a park.
In actuality the next to fight for the belt will be the one that gathers the most public outcry. Stipe already owns a win over Francis Ngannou, and has yet to face Curtis Blaydes. And obviously has never fought Jon Jones.
Dana said that Jon will not jump the line. And Jones at one point was iffy on making the move up to further cement his legacy. But after Miocic vanquished DC, Jon was quick to tweet out he'll come up soon enough. The smart money says he'll need time to bulk up and get his body acclimated to 265.
"Bones" has torn through 205 twice over. There is nothing more to prove there. And although offensively he now throws a 90 mile per hour fastball and not the 95 he once threw, defensively he's still off the charts. And even his striking coach Brandon Gibson has said in the past, "A move up to heavyweight is inevitable".
But in the meantime according to Aaron Bronsteter via betonline.ag on twitter, Francis Ngannou has the early betting money on him.
And yes, this is a very different Francis Ngannou than the one that faced Stipe back in 2018 at UFC 220. After the dud loss to Derrick Lewis, Francis Ngannou's rolled four more 1st round finishes. With the longest coming at 1:11 against Junior dos Santos. Aaron also did his own poll on who should get the next crack at Stipe:
Now no matter what Dana and the UFC want, Stipe will have a large say in who and when he fights next. That's a champions privilege. And what actually might be best for him is to go after the 3rd ranked "Razor". He'll want some time off after the trilogy with Daniel, and probably won't look to get back in there till the end of December to early February.
Let's remember Curtis Blaydes is no walk in the park either. He's won 4 in a row as well. His wrestling may be a tick better than Stipe's at this point, and he too loves to throw the leather. However, Stipe just showed what type of great shape he can come in at, even though he did start to slow down a little towards the end.
In the mean time, let Jon and Francis Ngannou fight for an interim belt, maybe November (which would have been the New York card) or December. That welcomes Jones to the division, and since there's already a beef between the two it'll mean that much more. Plus Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou clashing with an interim strap on the line means more guaranteed money to the winner as well as for the promotion. This is something both Jones and Francis Ngannou have requested in the past. Both are deserving of the crack at Stipe, and this easily decides it, then unifies the strap. And any outcome of the four would be a welcome one.
And the other thing, by the time that unification most likely happens, the UFC might be able to get some people inside the arena to watch it.
