Joe Rogan on Ngannou vs. Lewis: ‘It Was the Worst Heavyweight Fight I’ve Ever Seen’
It’s not likely anyone will be going back to review tape from the heavyweight fight between Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou from this past weekend at UFC 226.
The three round heavyweight tilt, which featured two of the most ferocious finishers in the division, ended up sputtering out as a 15-minute dud as neither fighter wanted to engage.
In fact, referee Herb Dean was forced to pause the fight at one point to warn both Ngannou and Lewis that he was going to start deducting points if the action didn’t pick up.
Sadly that warning didn’t do much to force the action, although Lewis did land the better strikes throughout and it ultimately won him the fight.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was puzzled at the performance from both fighters and he commented on the abysmal outing during his podcast on Monday.
“It was one for the ages. It was the worst heavyweight fight I’ve ever seen,” Rogan said. “It was the worst. It was the second lowest output fight ever. No. 1 was Jens Pulver versus Joao Roque from like f–king UFC 13 or some s–t. I don’t even know what day that fight was. But that fight was No. 1 with 22 strikes landed in three rounds and this fight was No. 2 with 23 strikes landed. Dude, it was insane.”
Two days after the fight ended, Ngannou released a statement over social media where he admitted to the after effects of his last bout against Stipe Miocic in January carrying over to his performance this past Saturday night.
Ngannou went into the heavyweight title fight as the favorite before being soundly thumped by Miocic over five rounds in what was ultimately his first loss in the UFC.
“He released a statement today and his statement was essentially that he carried the fear [from his loss to Stipe Miocic]. He got f–king owned. He didn’t know. He thought he was the man and then he got owned,” Rogan said.
Ngannou has promised to pick up the pieces and return a better fighter when he books his next bout later this year.
Meanwhile, Lewis has been his own harshest critic since that fight by adding that he doesn’t deserve a title shot after such a lackluster outing. The good news for Lewis is that he still got the win as he moves closer towards title contention in the heavyweight division.
