4 Best Opponents for Francis Ngannou's UFC Return
It's a scenario that boggles the mind.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou not only returning to the organization from which he walked away almost three years ago, but doing so as part of a blockbuster card on the south lawn of the White House.
Can it happen? Maybe so. Will it happen? Maybe not.
Regardless, the interest ticked up on Wednesday when the "Predator" appeared on Ariel Helwani's show and confirmed, among other things, that his existing contract with the Professional Fighters League expires before the big show on June 14.
That was all the B/R combat staff needed to wade into the discussion and compile a list of would-be opponents should Ngannou and Dana White bury the hatchet long enough to actually slot the Cameroonian in for a fight in D.C.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
Who It Could Be: Tom Aspinall
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To be the man, you've got to beat the man. Or you've got to beat the man who took over for the man who took over for the man.
The lineage of the UFC belt since Ngannou left is too muddled for a Ric Flair-like declaration, but suffice to say that getting him together in a cage with Aspinall—promoted to full-fledged title status when Jon Jones retired—would be the most definitive statement that can be made in the octagonal heavyweight ranks.
Beyond the uncertainty of Ngannou's status, though, is the state of Aspinall's health, which was compromised when he was inadvertently poked in the eyes by Ciryl Gane in their aborted title match atop the UFC 321 show in Abu Dhabi.
If he's healthy, he's a slam dunk. But given that he's suggested the injuries may require surgery, it's far less a sure thing he'll be available.
Who It Probably Will Be: Ciryl Gane
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We'll call this Part B to Aspinall's Part A.
If the reigning heavyweight king is fit to fight come mid-June, he could and should be the guy Ngannou pursues assuming another title reign is the main objective.
But if the powerful Brit does have surgery and presumably faces a prolonged recovery, it makes perfect sense for Gane to step in after having looked particularly good against Aspinall before the accidental foul ended things at 4:35 of the first.
They do have history after all, given that Ngannou's final UFC fight was a competitive five-rounder against Gane in which two judges scored it a reed-thin 48-47.
Run it back? Sign us up.
Who We Wish It Would Be: Jon Jones
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Let's go ahead and dispense with all other options.
Ngannou was never beaten to lose his claim to the heavyweight title. Jones was never beaten to lose his claim to the heavyweight title.
So, regardless of whether Aspinall or Gane is occupying the throne room these days, that's the fight that we'd love to see made.
It may not be for the UFC belt. But it's for the GOAT one.
And, conveniently enough, it seems to be the fight each man most wants.
Jones took to social media to say so in June, tweeting "That's a real super fight. A clash of champions, not just hype. He held the UFC belt, I've defended mine for over a decade. Two kings from different roads."
As for Ngannou, he reconfirmed for Helwani what he'd told TMZ last month.
"The biggest fight of all time can only happen with Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou," he said. "That's all that I can say about that."
What Would Break the Internet: Brock Lesnar
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The further the slideshow goes, the more fantastical it gets.
So now that we're on the final slide, we'll steer directly into fantasy White House fight territory.
It's hard to come up with a better one than Ngannou and Brock Lesnar, right?
He's 48 now, but it hasn't been too, too long since Lesnar emerged from Minnesota as the king of college wrestling and made his way into the center ring of Vince McMahon's scripted circus. He crossed to the UFC a few years later, was a two-time champ by the time he left, and has intermittently returned to the WWE—most recently at this year's SummerSlam, Wrestlepalooza and Survivor Series events.
And lest you think it's just us pining, Ngannou has gone public about Lesnar, too.
"Please Brock, come back. Come back, my friend. We need you here," Ngannou told Helwani in 2018. "We need you to put the fun in this division. I need you to give me that f–king fight I've been waiting for for a long time, I've been dreaming for."
Us, too.
