Francis Ngannou recently celebrated his triumphant return to MMA at PFL: Battle of the Giants by earning an impressive first-round stoppage over Renan Ferreira to become the heavyweight Super Fights champion.
‘The Predator’ showcased improvements in his wrestling to take the Brazilian down and rained blows on his head until the referee stepped in and called a stop to the bout.
Ngannou was understandably emotional and shed tears with his team when celebrating his big win. It has been a difficult year for the former UFC heavyweight champion as his family suffered a horrific tragedy when his 15-month-old son, Kobe passed away.
Although PFL: Battle of the Giants marked the 38-year-old’s promotional debut, there was a greater purpose than just winning a championship with his new promotion. ‘The Predator’ fought for his late son’s memory and credited him for being his motivation to compete rather than walking away from the sport.
Ngannou said post-fight:
I can’t think about anything other than my son, Kobe. I only took this fight because of him. I wanted to fight for him…I hope you can remember his name because without Kobe, we wouldn’t be here tonight.
‘The Predator’ looked great in his PFL debut, which is impressive as he last competed in an MMA bout at UFC 270 in January 2022, where he earned a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane to retain his heavyweight championship. Ngannou took a massive risk against Gane as he had a knee injury that required surgery but refused to withdraw from the event because it was the final fight on his UFC contract.
In the following months, ‘The Predator’ was in a negotiation period with the UFC but made it clear that he had his heart set on competing in boxing and wanted the freedom to compete in both. Aside from Conor McGregor’s famous bout against Floyd Mayweather, the MMA leader doesn’t allow that.
Last May, Ngannou officially signed a massive deal with the PFL that allowed him to compete in boxing bouts and also serve as the Chairman of PFL Africa, which launches next year. From there, his boxing dream materialized when he fought former heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury in what ended up being a truly remarkable night for him.
Ngannou shocked the boxing world by knocking Fury down and was in a very competitive bout with one of the top heavyweights in the sport. Despite being competitive and appearing that he won, ‘The Predator’ lost a controversial decision. His second boxing bout against Anthony Joshua also didn’t go his way, as he was on the receiving end of a vicious knockout loss.
The heavyweight Super Fights clash at Battle of the Giants became even more intriguing as fans and pundits questioned whether Ngannou’s devastating knockout loss could affect his performance and whether Ferreira’s power would be too much for him to handle.
Ferreira proved he was a legit threat after quickly finishing Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader at PFL vs. Bellator earlier this year. He was riding all the momentum from the win and looked to capitalize on his opportunity to become a bigger star in the sport at Ngannou’s expense.
The 38-year-old stuck to his game plan to defeat the 6 ft 8 in behemoth and reminded the MMA community that he is still in the discussion for being one of the top heavyweights in the sport regardless of promotion.
PFL was thrilled with Super Fights: Battle of the Giants and recently touted their success on social media. Chairman Donn Davis posted a graphic that displayed metrics like impressions, media stories, and video views.
According to metrics released by Davis, PFL: Battle of the Giants was viewed in 160 countries and generated 4.4 billion impressions, 326 million video views, 391,000 posts, 592,000 replies, 143,000 quotes, 34 million engagements, and 1500 media stories.
Who will fight Francis Ngannou next?
Ngannou’s impressive win and PFL’s outside-the-box thinking will make for interesting matchmaking meetings when determining his next opponent. He appears to still have an interest in boxing, so it is unclear whether he will return to the ring or the cage for his next bout.
In terms of opponents, former Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov is probably the most appealing option available on the PFL roster at the moment. He trains under the tutelage of MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko and is a well-rounded fighter who has defeated several former UFC competitors including Bader, Phil Davis, Corey Anderson, and Yoel Romero.
Aside from the current PFL/Bellator rosters, Ngannou vs. Jon Jones remains a dream fight but unlikely due to his sour relationship with Dana White. The UFC CEO’s latest comments about the promotion and ‘The Predator’ himself indicate that there is still personal animosity that will make negotiations for a cross-promotion bout very difficult.
Other potential opponents reported in the past week have been heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder and GLORY heavyweight kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see who Ngannou’s next opponent will be as the PFL looks to continue gaining momentum and generate more interest in their product.
