Junior dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou official for UFC 215

Francis Ngannou’s slow climb in the heavyweight division is over. It’s time for him to sink or swim.

Ngannou, the top prospect, will meet former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 215 on Sept. 9 in Edmonton, the UFC confirmed today on Twitter. The news was first reported by the Edmonton Sun.

Ngannou (10-1) has won all five of his UFC fights by finish. The Cameroon native, by way of France, is coming off a first-round TKO of Andrei Arlovski at UFC on FOX 23 in January. Ngannou, 30, recently moved to Las Vegas and has been doing some training at the UFC’s new Performance Institute.

Dos Santos (18-5) is coming off a first-round TKO loss to Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight title fight at UFC 211 in May. The Brazilian star has alternated wins and losses going back to 2012. Dos Santos, 33, held the heavyweight belt in 2011 and 2012, famously knocking out Cain Velasquez at the first UFC on FOX.

Sources said dos Santos vs. Ngannou was originally targeted for a pay-per-view card that was scheduled for Aug. 19, but that event was scrapped earlier this week.

Also announced for UFC 215 was a light heavyweight fight between Tyson Pedro and Ilir Latifi.

No main event has been made official yet for UFC 215.