Ngannou-Dos Santos tabbed for UFC Minneapolis main event

In order to find a main event for its June 29th Minneapolis, MN, event on ESPN, the UFC had to pull a featured fight from UFC 239 during July’s International Fight Week.

While not officially announced by the promotion, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto broke the news Tuesday that former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos vs. former title challenger Francis Ngannou will now headline the UFC’s return to Minnesota. 

Former welterweight champions Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler were originally set to rematch in the main event, but a hand injury to Woodley and an inability to find a replacement to face Lawler scrapped the fight.

Since returning from a USADA suspension that initially prevented this fight from happening in 2017, the 35-year-old dos Santos has won three straight including two in a row by second round TKO. The 32-year-old Ngannou has won his last two by first round TKO after back-to-back losses.

The fight being removed from UFC 239 is a minor blow as the July 6th show features light heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos, two-division women’s champion Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm, Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren, Luke Rockhold debuting at light heavyweight, and more.