After his successful return to MMA last month, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou already has his next move in mind.
Ngannou, who is coming off a first-round knockout win against Philipe Lins on Netflix’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight card, told TMZ that he’d be open to a bout against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven.
“[Rico] is very compelling. Very interesting. But nothing has been done yet, so I’m looking forward to it,” Ngannou said.
After his win against Lins, Ngannou had called out longtime rival and fellow former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, confidently declaring, “This fight is gonna happen before we retire.”
However, with Jones still under contract with the UFC, Ngannou knows that setting up a fight between them won’t be simple. He previously told B/R, “I’m not holding up my life” for a fight against Jones, and calling out Verhoeven indicates that he’s sticking to that.
Verhoeven, who has also competed in boxing and MMA, was in talks to be Ngannou’s opponent on the Netflix card. Instead, he opted for a boxing match against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, and he opened some eyes with a strong performance before he lost by a controversial stoppage in the 11th round.
Ngannou was asked if he would prefer to face Verhoeven in boxing or MMA, and he said he’s open to anything.
“Either one. I would like to fight him,” he said.
Ngannou reiterated that nothing is official as of yet between him and Verhoeven, but he made it clear, “That’s what I have in mind for right now.”
