Some were critical of Herb Dean after Francis Ngannou was able to land hard shots on an already unconscious Stipe Miocic. However the heavyweight champ feels that these criticisms are unwarranted.
Heading into his rematch with Miocic at UFC 260, Ngannou was looking to avenge his prior loss to the then-champ. When they fought in 2018, Stipe manhandled Francis for the majority of the fight, en route to a unanimous decision.
This time around however, the Cameroonian showed a massively increased level of patience and skill. This led to him earning the second round knockout to capture the title and silence the doubters of his skills.
Wanting Jon Jones Next
Following this victory to win the heavyweight title, Francis Ngannou has been looking for a new opponent. The plan is for him to fight Jon Jones, but the former light heavyweight champion is having trouble coming to terms financially with the UFC.
Speaking with Mike Tyson, Francis got on the subject of potentially fighting Jon Jones. He made it clear that he wants this fight next, and understands where Jon is coming from when it comes to asking for more money.
“He should (want to get paid). There’s nothing wrong with that, to have compensation. Basically a guy like Jones has been around for very long, and has been doing this sport, and (helped) this company grow,” Ngannou said.
“That would definitely be the number one fight, Jon Jones definitely. But at this point, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
It was at this point that Tyson chimed in, saying that he thinks it would be crazy if this fight did not happen. He even suggested to Ngannou that they could try to make the fight happen, with or without the UFC.
“It would be ludicrous if this fight doesn’t happen. It all comes down to money right now. How can they do this? They both under contract, do we do it under the UFC or do we do it under this and pay? What do you do? How do you do this stuff?” Tyson pondered.
“(Jones) said that $10 million is not nothing. What if you say 20-25, for a big fight like that, he could maybe still say that’s nothing.
Fighters have to understand in a corporation like Legends Only League, our fighters are like our partners. It’s not like we own you and you gotta go by our rules, there’s no rules. You fight, you get paid, you get your back end when everything’s all over. Everybody gets our money and we go to separate banks. No one’s anybody’s slave.”
Francis Ngannou Praises Herb Dean
Part of the reason why Jon Jones wants more money to fight Francis Ngannou, is because of the terrifying power that the champ posses. This was perhaps best on display when he won the belt by knocking out Stipe Miocic.
Francis broke down the moment that he knocked out Stipe, saying that he was not even expecting to drop the former champ when he did. He was just a little rocked by a shot that Stipe landed, and just looked to counter to get him back at distance and reset.
“I didn’t feel like I hurt him. I was like ‘Why are you falling?’ Ngannou said. “I (threw the punch) just to counter and he went down and I’m like ‘Okay, what? I don’t know what happened but I have to follow to secure the win.'”
Some criticized Herb Dean for the stoppage in this bout, feeling like he was too far away which led to Stipe taking a massive punch while already being unconscious. However Francis thinks that Herb did fantastic at getting there quickly, and deserves to be awarded as such.
“No, honestly I watched this fight and I saw Herb Dean’s action and I think it should be the performance of the night,” Ngannou said.
“Did you see how fast he ran? He was moving backwards, and then after the action you see how fast he moved in? The guy was on notice. He knew that if Francis touch him, don’t let (Francis) touch him again.”
https://youtu.be/4mgfy2quvHg
Do you want to see Francis Ngannou fight Jon Jones next? How do you see that fight playing out?
