Who is Francis Ngannou?
Francis Zavier Ngannou is a Cameroonian-French professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion at the time of his departure from the promotion.
Biography
Ngannou was born and raised in the village of Batié, Cameroon. He lived in poverty and had little formal education growing up.
Ngannou’s parents divorced when he was six years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt. At 10 years old, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry in Batié because of a lack of funds.
As a youngster, he was approached by several gangs in his village to join them. However, Ngannou refused and instead decided to use his father’s negative reputation as a street fighter as motivation to do something positive and pursue boxing.
Age
He was born on September 5, 1986; he is currently 36 years old and will be 37-year-old by September 5, 2023.
Education and Career
At the age of 22, Ngannou began training in boxing, despite the initial reluctance of his family After training for a year, Ngannou stopped training due to an illness.
He did various odd jobs to make ends meet, until at the age of 26, he decided to head to Paris, France, to pursue professional boxing.
However upon reaching Europe, he was jailed for two months in Spain for illegally crossing the border.
After Ngannou reached Paris, he had no money, no friends, and no place to live.
After living homeless on the streets of Paris, he met Francis Carmont who introduced him to Fernand Lopez and the MMA factory.
Being a fan of Mike Tyson, Ngannou was originally interested in learning how to box but Lopez saw his potential in MMA and convinced him to try MMA instead.
Lopez gave Ngannou some MMA gear and allowed him to train and sleep at the gym for no cost, thus starting Ngannou’s MMA career.
Reflecting on his journey across continents and his decision to become an MMA fighter, Ngannou said:
“When I started, I had nothing. Nothing. I needed everything. But when you start [to earn money], you starting collecting things: I want this, I want this, I want that. The purpose is not collecting things, though. The purpose is to do something great. Finish the dream you started.
“I want to help my family, first, of course, but then I want to give opportunity to children in my country like me who have a dream to become a doctor or something. If I reach my dream, it will give me the opportunity to help those in my country who have their own dreams and nothing else to fulfill them.
“I want to give some opportunity for children like me who dream of this sport and don’t have an opportunity like me. The last time I was in Cameroon, I brought a lot of materials for boxing and MMA to open a gym. Now I just bought a big space to start the gym, as well.
“A lot of children now in Cameroon, because of me, they have a dream. They say, ‘I will be a champion in MMA. I will do boxing like Francis,’ because they saw me when I was young. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any opportunity. And today, they see me, and they are dreaming. They are thinking that something is possible. Even when they are so poor, something is possible in life. … It’s not easy. It’s so hard, but it’s possible.”
Early career
Ngannou started his MMA career in November 2013 and fought mostly in the French promotion 100% Fight, as well as other regional promotions in Europe.
He compiled a record of 5–1 before signing with the UFC.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ngannou made his UFC debut against fellow newcomer Luis Henrique on 19 December 2015, at UFC on Fox 17. He won the fight via knockout in the second round.
Ngannou next faced UFC newcomer Curtis Blaydes on 10 April 2016, at UFC Fight Night 86. He won the fight via TKO, due to doctor stoppage at the end of the second round.
In his next bout, Ngannou faced another newcomer in Bojan Mihajlovi? on 23 July 2016, at UFC on Fox 20. He won the fight via TKO in the first round.
Ngannou then faced Anthony Hamilton on 9 December 2016, at UFC Fight Night 102. He won the fight by submission in the first round, and earned his first UFC Performance of the Night bonus.
Ngannou faced Andrei Arlovski on 28 January 2017, at UFC on Fox 23. He won the fight via TKO in the first round. The win also earned Ngannou his second Performance of the Night bonus.
Ngannou was expected to face Junior dos Santos on 9 September 2017, at UFC 215. However, on 18 August, Dos Santos was pulled from the match after being notified of a potential USADA violation.
In turn, Ngannou was removed from the card after promotion officials deemed that a suitable opponent could not be arranged.
In the highest profile fight of his career, Ngannou faced veteran Alistair Overeem on 2 December 2017, at UFC 218. He won the fight via knockout in the first round.
This knockout has been labeled as one of the greatest and most brutal knockouts of all time. Following the bout, Ngannou signed a new, eight-fight contract with the UFC.
Ngannou faced Stipe Miocic for the UFC Heavyweight Championship on 20 January 2018, at UFC 220. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Departure
On January 14, 2023, the UFC Heavyweight Championship was stripped from Ngannou after he and the UFC could not come to terms on a new contract.
Ngannou’s contract expired in mid-December, and after the two parties couldn’t reach an agreement, the UFC opted to waive it’s one-year matching rights clause, making Ngannou an unrestricted free agent.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Ngannou stated that he had requested health insurance, the ability to have sponsorships for all UFC fighters, and to have a fighter advocate present during all fighter contract negotiations.
When his requests were denied, Ngannou chose not to re-sign with the UFC, making him the first reigning champion to leave the UFC since BJ Penn in 2004.
Israel Adesanya’s support
Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya has declared that the UFC must change its business practices after Francis Ngannou walked out of the promotion.
“Francis made the right call,” Adesanya said during a media scrum at UFC 284 on Saturday. “He’s the one that kicked in the door. We’ve all been behind him. We’ve been saying this for how long?
“If you guys go back on the tapes, I’ve been saying the same thing. I’m not going to harp on about it, but he’s right. It’s little things. He’s asking for things that should be mandatory.
“He wasn’t asking for, you know, crazy, ridiculous diva demands. There’s something as little as for the guys fighting on the opening fights, having the fourth or third corner man being paid for, and the hotel is being paid for.
“That sets them up nicely, and they don’t have to fork it out of their $10K and $10K, or maybe even $10K, to pay for their fourth or third corner man, little things like that.”
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. NewsWireNGR or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
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