Francis Ngannou is the number one ranked heavyweight in the UFC right now, but he hasn’t been fighting as much as he’d like to in recent years.
The number one ranked heavyweight is becoming frustrated with his lack of Octagon time during his prime years.
“I’m in a position which is very complicated,” Ngannou told Morning Kombat (via Danny Segura of MMA Junkie). “… I’m in my prime age and I’m wasting time without fighting, so it’s kind of frustrating. We have to get something to motivate us. We have to make money. We have to do something for fighting. Sometimes when you wake up, it’s really hard to go to the gym and train because you need that motivation. Like, ‘OK, I’m training, but for what? When will I fight?’ I don’t know. So you have no clue about anything and it’s tough to find motivation.”
Ngannou has fought four times in the two years, defeating Cain Velasquez, Curtis Blaydes, Junior Dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
One reason that Ngannou believes he hasn’t been very active is that the heavyweight division moves slower than the rest of the UFC divisions.
“If things were moving on, this wouldn’t be an issue,” Ngannou said. “Many divisions have three or four title defenses a year. We’re talking about a division where there’s been one title defense a year, so it gives a lot of complicated positions for contenders. And then they get lined up and lined up, but no one really moves. I think if there would be three, four title defenses a year, everybody would fight for the title. It’s never over the limited amount of title defenses that have to be set – it just needs to keep on going. What they should do is find a way to make the heavyweight division move on again because right now, it’s stuck.”
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