The former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou made a grand return to MMA after his boxing stint. After giving boxing a shot and suffering multiple losses, the fighter finally made an MMA comeback.
Ngannou faced Fereira last Saturday and delivered a spectacular performance. The Cameroonian is known for being light on his feet and began the bout with a vicious takedown. Ngannou took the fight to the ground and offered his opponent no leeway as he continuously pummeled Fereira with a ground and pound.
Fereira was in a bad spot and couldn’t get back up or keep his defences in check. He continued to suffer punishing shots until the referee came in to rescue the PFL champion. The bout ended with a knockout win for Ngannou, making it his first under the PFL banner.
The Cameroonian fighter dedicated his win to his son Kobe, who passed away earlier this year.
“I can’t just think about anything than my son Kobe,” Ngannou said. “I only take this fight for him. I hope they can remember his name because, without Kobe, I wouldn’t be here tonight.
“It’s been tough. Not only the training camp was tough but the last two days was tough, full of emotion. I couldn’t do anything without thinking about it. It’s hard. This is for Kobe.”
“I knew I didn’t miss a step,” Ngannou said about his comeback. “I wasn’t worried about it. I knew everything was still there. It was just about me being able to manage my emotions. We’re here. We finally got the result.
“I think my next move in combat sports all depends on me, how I feel. I always thought I still had a lot to give in combat sports. Hopefully I keep thinking that way.”
Although many have hailed the fighter as a legend in MMA, Ngannou’s recent loss of his son shocked him to his core. In a post-fight interview, Ngannou disclosed he wasn’t sure he would return to his fighting career after the loss of his son despite having an impressive record.
“It was my biggest challenge in the way that I wasn’t the person that I used to be,” Ngannou said after his win over Renan Ferreira on Saturday. “Coming into this fight, this fight was also a way for me to find out if I can still fight. If I still have it. Something like that.
“If I can deal with this, the pressure, with the fight week, with the media and everything. We got through [it].”
“It was pretty hard,” Ngannou said. “It was hard at any moment from the beginning to the end, but I think it’s one of those things, you ask yourself, is it ever going to be over? You think it might never be over. You just might as well learn how to roll with it, to live with it. Because in certain cases, I would have taken time to grieve but how long would that take?
“I don’t think there’s enough time for me to do that. I don’t think a lifetime would be enough to grieve. Is it just about keep going? It’s a new way of living that I have to learn.”
Ngannou says his loss broke him down, and he had no idea how to come out of that dark place. However, during training and preparation for this fight, he revealed he was able to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
“They’ve been telling me that I’m tough to the point that I get to believe that I am tough,” Ngannou said. “Then I recently just found out that I wasn’t tough. I wasn’t that tough.
“I’ve seen people going through it, and out of compassion, I’ve been trying to understand how it must feel, but you never get anywhere close to how it feels exactly.”
His opponent, Fereira, also suffered a loss, although not as tragic as Ngannou’s. His recent defeat at the hands of Ngannou marks the end of his four-fight winning streak and the loss of his belt. The fighter took to Instagram to release a statement following his loss.
“Hey guys, Renan ‘Problema’ here, a bit broken,” Ferreira said. “Yesterday wasn’t a good day at work, guys, but I’m very happy with all our dedication and everything that developed through our work. I’ve always had the mindset of never losing, for myself, to fight any lack of dedication and commitment, and thank God I have a clean conscience. I worked very hard there, showed up well to the fight, and was happy to return.
“Unfortunately, my opponent was superior. He managed to impose a game where that I couldn’t defend the takedowns, which led to very hard ground-and-pound to get through. And that’s it, life goes on, we’ll be back. I want to thank everyone for all the love and support, we’re always together. Hugs.”
The win moved Ngannoyu to 1-0 in PFL, but the fighter has yet to ascertain whether he will be staying in MMA or returning to boxing. Fereira, on the other, will be taking some time off after his loss to re-strategise and work out a new game [plan for his next opponent.
