Francis Ngannou throws a punch against Stipe Miocic in their Heavyweight Championship fight during UFC 220 at TD Garden on January 20, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
Marquel Martin is the agent of Francis Ngannou and spoke about when his client would face Stipe Miocic
The latest guest on the Schmozone podcast was Marquel Martin, the agent of Francis Ngannou.
The Cameroonian-French UFC star has been in the news ever since Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier 3 was announced.
Ngannou was expected to face the winner of this clash, especially after Cormier announced. his retirement plans.
With Miocic getting the win and keeping his title, Ngannou should be up for a shot at the gold. However, the champion hasn’t fought too many times in recent years and has had to nurse an eye injury too.
Martin was asked when this fight would happen, but he left that for the UFC to decide. However, he wanted to see Ngannou vs Miocic take place in December as the last big fight of 2020.
Martin added that Ngannou was in Cameroon and was to return in September. However, he went on to say that waiting for too long was not the plan for the No.1 contender:
“We are not trying to wait too long. Granted Stipe had valid reasons why he could fight, he had eye surgery and the pandemic, I won’t say he was actively saying he wants to fight once a year.
“That would be kind of crazy as a champion, as great as he is. I understand that he is going to take his time, heal up, spend time with his family.
“I think it is well within reason for him to come back and fight in December. Again, that is between him, his team, the UFC has planned. But I think Francis isn’t trying to wait for too long.”
Jon Jones finally made his move by vacating the UFC Light Heavyweight title. Jones is considered as one of the greatest MMA stars of all-time and now has his eyes set on the Heavyweight title.
There has been talk of Jones getting a crack at the title too, but that wouldn’t be fair on the other Heavyweights.
However, the Schmo brought up talk that this could have been Miocic’s final fight in the UFC too. Further, the champion might take a lot of time off before his next fight and Martin was asked if he was open to an interim Heavyweight title fight between Jones and Ngannou:
“That’s in favour of Jon Jones for the interim, but it’s not for us. We want the belt. From our stand point, we want the belt, the real belt, no disrespect to the interim or whatever.
“There’s a time and a place for an interim but make no mistake, we are coming after the real title. Undisputed. I don’t want anyone saying that “ah no, that’s’, Francis is about to earn every bit of the success that is coming his way.
“It’s title or nothing.”
Martin was also surprised to learn about Jones vacating his belt. Martin added that he was a fan of Jones and believed he was one of the greatest. However, he believed that Jones didn’t want to face his client too:
“Stylistically, as a fan, him vs Stipe is a better fight for him than Francis. If I was Jon Jones, let’s just be transparent, not a lot of people want to fight Francis, that’s just facts.”
While Ngannou didn’t face Cormier during his time in the UFC, Martin was asked who would be a tougher match-up.
Ngannou’s agent claimed it was Miocic that was ahead of Cormier simply because the champion had beaten Ngannou in the past:
“I would say, a tougher match-up between DC and Stipe, I would say probably Stipe because Stipe has had his [Francis’] number.
“With DC, dude is another one of the GOATs, I just don’t know if he ready to take that power. The strength is just a different beast, the speed, but I would say Stipe.”
It will be interesting to see how things place and when this fight takes place. Miocic vs Ngannou will be a blockbuster, and hopefully, the UFC can share the date for this soon.
This was an exclusive interview from The Schmozone Podcast. For more exclusive interviews and content please follow the link.
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