LAS VEGAS—While it's clear this weekend's UFC Fight Night 209 headliner will have a massive impact in the UFC's heavyweight title picture, UFC president Dana White stopped short of guaranteeing the winner will get a crack at reigning champion Francis Ngannou.
On Saturday, the UFC's famed octagon stops in France for the first time in company history, with Paris' Accor Arena playing host to a main event between former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, a French native, and Australian slugger Tai Tuivasa. The card streams in the U.S. in its entirety on ESPN+ (12 p.m. ET).
Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) enters the matchup sitting at No. 1 in the UFC's latest official heavyweight rankings, with Tuivasa (15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at No. 3. However, with Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) still on the mend from a knee surgery he underwent earlier this year, White was hesitant to guarantee anything for the winner.
"First of all, I don't make the fight before the fight," White told MMA Underground. "I mean, anything is possible. But, yeah, we don't know how any of this is going to play out because the heavyweight champ is still hurt anyway, so I don't know, but obviously whoever wins on Saturday is right there."
