UFC 226 has a new co-main event. The company announced on Thursday that heavyweights Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis will square off as the second-to-last fight on Saturday night in Las Vegas, preceding the heavyweight superfight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.
The fight was originally scheduled to be third on the PPV portion of the event, but with the untimely injury to featherweight champion Max Holloway, UFC decided to not add another fight for top contender Brian Ortega. According to ESPN's Ariel Helwani, UFC attempted to book an interim title fight between Ortega and Jeremy Stephens, but to no avail.
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A welterweight fight between Paul Felder and Mike Perry will be moved up to the main card from the prelims to keep it at five bouts. Felder (15-3) will be making his 170-pound debut after Yancy Medeiros was forced to withdraw from the fight with an injury last week.
Ngannou (11-2, 7 KOs) will be looking to get back on track after losing his title opportunity to Miocic by unanimous decision in January.
