Ngannou-Lewis Delayed Until September

Francis Ngannou will look to avenge his 2018 loss to Derrick Lewis — and make his first successful title defense — when he meets “The Black Beast” atop one of the promotion’s upcoming pay-per-view (PPV) cards in September.

“UFC hoped to book Francis Ngannou x Derrick Lewis 2 for Aug. 7 but that is currently looking like a long shot at this point,” Ariel Helwani wrote on Twitter. “Scheduling conflicts. Nothing finalized at the moment but September is now a new target, I’m told.”

Ngannou, who captured the crown by smashing Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 last March, dropped a unanimous decision loss to Lewis at UFC 226 in what is widely-considered one of the worst heavyweight fights in UFC history.

Since then, the 16-3 “Predator” has won five straight, all by way of knockout. As for Lewis (25-7, 1 NC), he’s rattled off four straight wins, including last February’s destruction of Curtis Blaydes. Safe to say a lot has changed since their first go-round.

Hopefully we can get an official announcement on Ngannou-Lewis 2 in the next couple of weeks.