Francis Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis Rematch Possible for August, UFC's Dana White Says
May 26, 2021
UFC President Dana White told reporters Wednesday that Derrick Lewis' next fight will be against Francis Ngannou, with the rematch expected to come in August.
Lewis won the first fight by a unanimous decision at UFC 226 in July 2018.
White had hinted previously that Ngannou would be fighting at UFC 265 on Aug. 7:
Since that fight, the 34-year-old Ngannou (16-3) has won five straight, claiming the UFC heavyweight tile in March with his defeat of Stipe Miocic.
The 36-year-old Lewis (25-7-1) is 5-2 since the fighters last squared off, losing his only title shot during that run to Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in Nov. 2018. To his credit, that fight came just one month after he defeated Alexander Volkov.
The first bout between the two was widely panned as a rather boring affair, but Lewis believes the rematch will deliver the goods.
“It can’t be any worse than it was," he told reporters. “So it (has) to be, even if it’s one punch extra than the last fight. It gotta be better than it was. And I believe it is because we both improved in a lot of areas than we was in the last fight we had.”
