Report: Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane Title Unification Fight in Works for UFC 270

AP Photo/Gregory Payan

UFC is reportedly targeting January for a heavyweight title unification bout between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane. 

Per Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie, UFC is close to finalizing a deal for the Ngannou-Gane bout at UFC 270 on Jan. 22. 

Gane defeated Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 in August to win the interim heavyweight championship. The French star improved his career record to 10-0 with seven stoppages. 

Per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, there was nothing physically wrong with Ngannou when UFC elected to make the Gane-Lewis bout an interim title fight. 

Ngannou is among several UFC fighters who have publicly expressed their unhappiness with the company’s payout structure:

The Predator has had a long layoff since knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March to win the UFC heavyweight title. He’s taken extended breaks between each of his past two fights. 

After defeating Junior dos Santos in June 2019, Ngannou didn’t step into the octagon again until UFC 249 in May 2020. He knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik 20 seconds into the first round on that show. 

It was another 10 months before Ngannou got his rematch with Miocic for the title. The 35-year-old is currently riding a five-fight winning streak, with each of those victories coming by knockout or TKO.