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CLEVELAND, OH – SEPTEMBER 10: UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic celebrates after defeating Alistair Overeem of The Netherlands in their UFC heavyweight championship bout during the UFC 203 event at Quicken Loans Arena on September 10, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

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CLEVELAND, OH – SEPTEMBER 10: UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic celebrates after defeating Alistair Overeem of The Netherlands in their UFC heavyweight championship bout during the UFC 203 event at Quicken Loans Arena on September 10, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The UFC heavyweight division has seen a lot of big changes in the past year. Former champions Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier resolved their rivalry, and Stipe came out on top. He then lost their belt to Francis Ngannou in a spectacular display by the Cameroonian.
Sometime during this, the light heavyweight champion of the world, Jon Jones, relinquished his title and moved up to heavyweight after winning every single one of his fights for a decade. He is now in the talks for a title fight against Ngannou, but it doesn’t seem like it’s happening anytime soon.
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UFC President Dana White addressed this issue in an interview with Jake Asman for his YouTube show. Asman asked him about any new revelations about the division, and White complied.
“Jon Jones is under contract. He is under contract. We have tried to work with him and see if there’s things we can do to see if he wants to fight at heavyweight,” he replied.
He explained that while Jon Jones is a contender and a huge name, people were overlooking Derrick Lewis. “The reality is Derrick Lewis is really the number one contender for the heavyweight championship right now. So it doesn’t matter if Jon Jones fights or doesn’t wanna fight,” he said.
Here, Asman asked him what he was planning to do with the division, with Stipe looking healthy again. “Well, Jon Jones made it very clear that he has no interest in fighting Stipe. So, it doesn’t really matter. What you do is you do the fight with Derrick Lewis, and then Stipe gets the winner,” White revealed.
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Stipe Miocic and his loss against Francis Ngannou
UFC 26o was a bad place for Miocic as the American lost his belt to Ngannou. The fight was hyped a lot, and millions of people were watching around the world. However, Ngannou pulled out one of the greatest performances of all time and knocked Miocic out in the second round.

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BOSTON, MA – JANUARY 20: (L-R) Stipe Miocic punches Francis Ngannou of Cameroon in their heavyweight championship bout during the UFC 220 event at TD Garden on January 20, 2018, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Miocic is recovering well and has said that he would like to put on some weight before fighting Ngannou as he was severely undersized in their second fight. A rematch would be exciting, and it will be good to see Stipe coming back.
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Do you think Stipe Miocic can beat Francis Ngannou?
Read More: How UFC Champion Stipe Miocic Broke the Heavyweight Title Curse
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