'UFC Moscow in 18 days?' Francis Ngannou ponders stepping in to face Alexander Volkov in Russia

With Junior Dos Santos reportedly out of his UFC Moscow main event fight with Alexander Volkov, the UFC may turn to a man who is desperate for a fight – former title challenger Francis Ngannou.

The Cameroonian knockout artist has made no secret his frustration at not getting booked up for a fight before the end of the year, and in a recent interview with MMA Junkie articulated those frustrations.

"They have to do something with me, OK, so what is that? I want the damn answer," he said.

"I want to know what’s my position. I want to know what I’m doing here. I’m the No. 2 heavyweight and everyone is booked. I’m just here looking like, I don’t know, some guy desperate to get a fight.

"Also, I wanted to fight before the end of the year. Like it doesn’t matter who that is. I have to fight because I get that you guys don’t give much. But even though they don’t care, it’s kind of frustrating. Right now, it’s not something that I’m very happy to talk about. It’s been an exhausting process."

A clearly annoyed Ngannou continued: "Right now, I don’t know if I’m a fighter or not. My promoter, my boss doesn’t care about me. So this process is kind of exhausting."

But news of Dos Santos reported withdrawal from the November 9 main event in Russia might be music to the ears of the top-rated heavyweight star, with Ngannou spotting the news and jumping on Twitter to muse: "UFC Moscow in 18 days?"

Could the UFC turn to Ngannou to step in and save the show in Moscow? Would Ngannou accept a fight against a fellow contender on such short notice? And would Volkov be prepared to swap one power-punching heavyweight for another with little time to adapt to the opponent change?

We may discover the answers to all of the above questions in the coming days.