White shuts down DC vs. Ngannou: ‘We have another fight lined up for Cormier’

Francis N’Gannou will not be challenging Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title anytime soon.

Francis N’Gannou rightly feels his knockout win over Cain Velasquez should catapult him into title contention, but UFC president Dana White has other ideas.

‘The Predator’ knocked out Velasquez in just 26-seconds at Sunday’s UFC on ESPN debut, buckling the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion with a big right hand.

After earning the biggest win of his career and his 7th KO inside the Octagon, N’Gannou has called for a title shot against current champ Daniel Cormier.

Speaking to ESPN on the UFC post-fight show, however, head promoter White said N’Gannou will not be challenging Cormier for the heavyweight title anytime soon.

According to White, the UFC has another opponent ‘lined up’ for Cormier.

“Well yeah, Francis is there,” White said, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. “Cormier’s hurt right now and we have another fight lined up for Cormier first so, we’ll see how this whole thing plays out.”

That opponent is most likely Brock Lesnar, who has been teased to challenge Cormier since their comical post-fight scuffle at UFC 226.

White said the UFC will announce Cormier’s next fight when the Olympian is fully recovered from injury.

“[Cormier] is not healthy yet so I would never announce a fight without it being done,” White said when questioned about the opponent for Cormier. “It makes no sense. I don’t even know when Cormier’s gonna be ready.”