Derrick Lewis blasts Francis Ngannou: “forget that African booty scratcher”

In a few short weeks, in the main event of the UFC’s upcoming trip to New Zealand, streaking heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis will face the biggest test of his career in MMA legend Mark Hunt. Should he pass this test, Lewis is likely to line himself up for a heavyweight number one contender fight, perhaps with fellow contender Francis Ngannou.

Given their concurrent rises into contendership, much has been made of a possible Lewis vs. Ngannou fight. Apparently, this is something Lewis is interested in, though he thinks Ngannou is overhyped.

“Francis, that guy is real ignorant, don’t even worry about that guy. I would love to fight him after this fight because he’s been talking a lot of shit anyway, like he’s the shit,” Lewis said on The MMA Hour. “Fuck that guy. I will fight his ass after I fight Mark Hunt. I wanted to fight him before this fight. He’s over there talking about I’m too slow and this and that. I’m going to bang his ass out. He is overy-hyped. I’m still prettier than him anyway. Forget that African booty scratcher, ain’t worried about him.”

Lewis will enter his anticipated battle with Hunt on a 6-fight win-streak. The hulking Texas native’s recent wins have occurred against Viktor Pesta, Damian Grabowski, Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson, Shamil Abdurakhimov and most recently, Travis Browne. The notoriously durable Nelson is the only one of these men to survive to the final bell with Lewis.

Ngannou, meanwhile, was last seen in the cage in January, when he clubbed former champion Andrei Arlovski to a first-round TKO win. With this victory, Ngannou moved to 5-0 in the UFC. His other wins have occurred against Anthony Hamilton, Bojan Mihajlović, Curtis Blaydes and Luis Henrique.

Who do you think wins a potential Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou heavyweight contender showdown?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/24/2017.