Derrick Lewis discusses possible opponents for his next fight

Earlier this month, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, monstrous heavyweight Derrick Lewis braved a bit of early adversity to pound the dangerous Travis Browne to a second-round KO. With this win, the Texas based destroyer set himself up for some massive potential fights in the UFC heavyweight division, any number of which would push him right to the cusp of a title shot.

On Monday’s edition of the MMA Hour, Lewis discussed the options for his next fight with host Ariel Helwani. During this segment, he addressed widespread interest in a fight with fellow contender Francis Ngannou, who recently dazzled with a veritable execution of former champ Andrei Arlovski. Lewis explained that if this is the fight he’s offered, he’ll take it, because he knows it’s one the fans want.

“Yeah I will fight him,” he explained (via MMAMania.com). “He’s real good. This is America, you know they like to see black-on-black crime. They thrive on that, they love that. I’ll give it to them, yeah.”

While Lewis is down for a fight with Ngannou, however, he went on to explain this his ideal next fight would be one with Mark Hunt, who is scheduled to take on an old foe in Alistair Overeem this weekend. Lewis likes this fight because he believes a win would push him further up the rankings.

Me and [Ngannou] are close to each other [in the rankings] so I would like to fight someone that’s more of a challenge,” he explained. “I believe Mark Hunt is more of a challenge. Me beating Francis is not really going to boost my stats or get me closer to the belt. He hasn’t fought the tops guys yet, just one guy, but he is running through guys.”

How do you think Derrick Lewis would fare against Mark Hunt and Francis Ngannou? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/28/2017.