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Future Title Fights: Ngannou and Oliveira Rumored to have First Title Defenses Booked

 UFC Fight Night Dern vs Rodriguez is this Saturday afternoon and if we're being honest, that card leaves a little to be desired. I am very interested to see how the main event plays out, but I really don't have much to say about it before hand. So what can we talk about before we have any results to discuss? Why not the recently rumored UFC title fights that sound like they are agreed upon but not yet 100% official. This post will discuss both the heavyweight unification bout between Francis Ngannou and Cyril Gane as well as the lightweight title matchup featuring Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier. 

After Gane's TKO victory over Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 in August, we all knew his next fight would come against current champion Francis Ngannou. The news isn't in that this is the matchup, but rather that we finally have a date that is being targeted. According to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, the fight has been agreed upon, but is not official and is scheduled to take place at UFC 270 on January 22. Even if we hadn't seen Gane vs Lewis, I think this is the best fight the UFC can currently make in the heavyweight division. Ngannou has the size and power and Gane brings the athleticism along with a better all around MMA skillset. I will talk more about this fight in the lead up, but I think this should probably be a pretty even better line. I know Francis is constantly improving, but I'm not going to believe that he is better on the ground than Gane until I see it. Obviously, his best path to victory is to test Gane's chin and Ngannou can do that in a way that no one else in MMA can. It goes without saying that this is a big fight and I'm really looking forward to it.

The next title fight that hit the rumor mill this week is going to be the first title defense for newly crowned UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone that his opponent when his opponent was announced to be Dustin Poirier, who is coming off of two consecutive victories over Conor McGregor. Poirier did float around the idea that he could bypass the title shot for a fight against Nate Diaz, but I don't think anyone took those comments too seriously in the first place. While I think Poirier should probably be a heavier favorite than whatever the line ends up being for Gane vs Ngannou, I think this fight feels bigger to me right now. Poirier vs Oliveira is slated to be the main event of UFC 269 on December 11, which is the same card as Amanda Nunes vs Julianna Pena and the trilogy fight between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo. 

I think the Poirier vs Oliveira fight feels bigger than the heavyweight title fight because it feels like the lightweights have more to lose. The depth of the lightweight division makes it feel like whoever loses may never get another shot at the belt due to the talent at the top and overall depth of the division. At heavyweight, it sort of feels like no matter who loses, will probably get another opportunity at the title before too long. Outside of the champion Ngannou, interim champion Gane, and former champion Stipe Miocic (who's 38 years old), there is no obvious really strong candidate for future title fights. I think I am going to leave it at that and do another post about the state of the heavyweight division. Honestly, I'll probably do one about the lightweight division too because the next couple of weeks don't have a ton of hype behind the cards. Hopefully the aftermath from some of those fights provides some excitement because outside of the Dern vs Rodriguez fight itself, none of these fights have a ton of meaning in terms of how they effect future cards and title pictures. I suppose the new main event for the UFC card on October 16, Ladd vs Dumont, has impact on the women's featherweight title picture only because the division is by far the thinnest the UFC has. Anyways, which future title fight are you looking forward to the most? What are your early predictions for winners? Do we see one or both titles change hands? Let me know in the comments. 

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