MMA
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou to vie for heavyweight title next month in Boston

MMA

A UFC heavyweight championship bout between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou will headline UFC 220 on Jan. 20 in Boston.

Officials announced the bout Saturday night. The UFC 220 pay-per-view will take place at TD Garden.

The card also will feature a light heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier (19-1) and Volkan Oezdemir (15-1).

Miocic (17-2) will attempt to become the longest-reigning heavyweight champion in UFC history. He tied the division's all-time record of two consecutive title defenses in May with a knockout win over Junior dos Santos.

Fighting out of Cleveland, Miocic asked the UFC to restructure his contract earlier this year. When asked if that happened, Miocic's management provided the following statement to ESPN: 

"Stipe is most concerned with preserving the integrity of the sport, defending his title and becoming the most elite heavyweight of all time," it said. 

Ngannou (11-1) is coming off a first-round knockout win over Alistair Overeem at UFC 218 last weekend. It's a very quick turnaround for Ngannou, but one he agreed to even before his recent highlight-reel finish in Detroit.

The Cameroonian-French heavyweight trains out of the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. Both he and Miocic have finished their past four opponents in the first round.

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