Former UFC title challenger Alistair Overeem has sent out an official challenge to heavyweight prospect Francis Ngannou.
On Tuesday, Ngannou appeared on The MMA Hour and said he wants a fight with UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.
Ngannou was scheduled to fight this weekend against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos. However, Dos Santos was flagged by the U.S Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a potential anti-doping violation. As a result, Dos Santos was taken off the card. With the UFC not being able to find Ngannou an opponent on short notice, he thinks it’s time for the UFC to give him a title opportunity.
“After JDS was pulled, all the top 15 was booked. The only one available was (Alistair) Overeem and he said he was injured,” Ngannou said.
“I heard he’s (Miocic) ready for December or November. I don’t know. I’m thinking they can even give me Stipe right now, I want Stipe. I want to go for the belt, and after that, I can beat all these guys who will become contenders. But I take Stipe first. Since January I don’t have a fight, so we need to go forward. I deserve Stipe, I want Stipe.”
After hearing what Ngannou said, Overeem went to Instagram and called Ngannou out for trying to skip in front of him for a title shot.
“I heard someone is trying to skip the line. Can’t allow such a thing to happen. So (Francis Ngannou) let’s go,” Overeem wrote on Instagram.
Both Overeem and Ngannou are among the top contenders in the UFC heavyweight division. Overeem is currently ranked No. 1 in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, while Ngannou is ranked at No. 4.
Overeem is on a two-fight win streak inside the Octagon. He is coming off a close decision win over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum back in July. Prior to that win, he earned a knockout win against Mark Hunt in March.
Ngannou is unbeaten in the UFC with five wins. Overall, Ngannou has a 10-1 MMA record with all of his wins coming by knockout, TKO, or submission. In his last fight, Ngannou earned the biggest win of his career when he knocked out former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski back in January.
