Either Junior dos Santos or Francis Ngannou Could Be the Next Champ

PHOENIX, AZ - DECEMBER 13: Junior dos Santos exits the octagon after defeating Stipe Miocic (not pictured) by unanimous decision in their heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at the at U.S. Airways Center on December 13, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

It’s time we accept the truth: Daniel Cormier may be the heavyweight champ right now, but he’s got maybe one or two fights left in him, and he wants those to be money-makers. Essentially, there’s an expiration date on his time on the throne. And if his final fights sees him meeting longtime rival Jon Jones at heavyweight…

…That means that at some time in the future, the UFC is going to be in dire need of a heavyweight champ.

Who could it be? Really, it could be anyone with a decent run of wins behind them. Or not. Heck, it could even be the winner of a match-up between former champ Stipe Miocic and Conor McGregor. But UFC on ESPN 3 this weekend will feature Junior dos Santos versus Francis Ngannou in the main event, and something tells me the winner could be easing into a championship contest sooner rather than later.

Here’s Dos Santos in action, in case you forgot.

And here’s Ngannou.

Of course, both men have had their lows in the cage. But they’ve also had some pretty good highs, and going into Saturday, they’ve both are riding mini-win streaks. So if you had to predict, which one do you think will be fighting for that belt next?

Jim Genia