- Francis Ngannou’s 15-month-old son tragically died earlier this year
- He has also lost to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the last 12 months
- Ngannou will return to MMA for the first time in almost three years this weekend
Francis Ngannou is set to return to mixed martial arts for the first time in almost three years when he faces Brazil’s Renan Ferreira for the inaugural PFL Heavyweight Superfight Championship on Saturday night.
The highly-anticipated showdown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will be Ngannou’s first fight inside the cage since he outpointed Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022.
But it has hardly been a quiet break for Ngannou in the intervening 34 months, with the Cameroonian-born star moving across to boxing and facing challenges inside and outside the ring.
After a lengthy dispute with the UFC, Ngannou left the organisation at the start of 2023 and set his sights on conquering a new sport.
He went straight for the biggest star in the boxing’s blue-riband division at the time – Britain’s Tyson Fury – as the pair agreed to fight one another in October 2023.
Few gave Ngannou a prayer of pulling off a major upset. After all, Fury was the WBC heavyweight champion and had never been beaten as a professional, while Ngannou was only just starting his boxing journey.
But as the fight got underway, it quickly became apparent that Ngannou was not out of his depth by any means.
In round three, the unthinkable happened. As the two men traded in the centre of the ring, Ngannou landed a left hook to the temple that sent Fury to the canvas.
It was one of the biggest shock moments in recent heavyweight history, and all of a sudden, an Ngannou victory was on the cards.
Fury gradually worked his way back into the contest, but Ngannou continued to hold his own and when the bell rang for the final time at the end of 10 rounds, there were plenty of observers who felt the crossover star had done enough to get his hand raised.
Two of the judges saw things differently, though, as Fury was handed a split-decision win.
Fans took to social media afterwards to claim Ngannou had been ‘robbed’ of arguably the biggest heavyweight upset ever. The boxing novice’s stock had risen, but ultimately he had just fallen short in his quest to topple Fury.
His calls for a rematch fell on deaf ears, so it was time to turn his attention to another Brit – Anthony Joshua.
When the fight was announced in January, with the fight date set for March 8, it looked like an intriguing match-up.
Joshua had won his previous three fights, but also shown vulnerabilities against big punchers, and Ngannou certainly falls into that category.
On the flip side, doubts remained over whether Ngannou’s performance against Fury was simply a one-off. Could he really give AJ the same problems?
That question was answered emphatically within two rounds. A straight right hand knocked Ngannou down in the first round, and he never fully recovered.
An even harder blow followed in the second, and as Ngannou rose on unsteady legs, Joshua went in for the finish. With one huge right hand, Ngannou crumpled to the floor and the fight was waved off.
It was a brutal knockout, with Joshua delivering the kind of one-sided beating that many expected Fury to dish out five months earlier.
Just as Ngannou was licking his wounds from his devastating defeat, tragedy struck.
In April, he announced the loss of his 15-month-old son Kobe in a heart-wrenching Instagram post.
The statement read: ‘Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone.
‘My little boy, my mate, my partner Kobe was full of life and joy. Now, he’s laying without life. I shouted his name over and over but he’s not responding.
‘I was my best self next to him and now I have no clue of who I am. Life is so unfair to hit us where it hurts the most.’
Three months later, Ngannou said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that the death of his son had ‘broke’ him and left him with ‘nothing’.
He later admitted that he considered retiring after struggling to come to terms with his devastating loss.
But he has opted to fight on, and will now meet Ferreira this weekend as he looks to make a statement on his PFL debut.
Things have become personal between the pair after Ferreira appeared to reference the death of Ngannou’s son at a press conference in August.
‘Francis has been going through a tough year in his life,’ Ferreira said, via a translator.
‘But the toughest challenge in his life and his year, is going to be me. I’m gonna be the biggest problem of his year.’
That apparent taunt could add fuel to Ngannou’s belly, with the 38-year-old attempting to prove he is still an elite MMA heavyweight.
The past 12 months have been some of the most testing of his life. From losing two boxing fights in very different circumstances to experiencing a family tragedy, Ngannou has been through more than most.
He will never be able to put these life-changing events behind him, but a victory on Saturday night would be a step in the right direction towards a brighter future.
