Over 4 months faraway from his boxing bout against Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngannou has reflected on the disappointing night and given an update on when we will expect him to return to combat sports.
After seeing out his contract with the UFC, Francis Ngannou decided to sign with the PFL last yr where he would turn out to be the face of the promotion, without having fought under their banner yet.
The promotion allowed the previous UFC heavyweight champion to meet his dream of competing within the boxing ring, which he did so against Tyson Fury. After an incredibly impressive performance, despite the loss, he then booked to fight Anthony Joshua after being put within the rankings.
Francis Ngannou claims ‘something wasn’t right’ against Anthony Joshua
After such a competitive performance against ‘The Gypsy King’, hopes were high for ‘The Predator’ when he took on AJ.
Unfortunately, though, the fight barely began before the 37-year-old was rendered unconscious by the powerful Brit in round two. Since then, Ngannou has claimed that ‘something wasn’t right’ within the lead-up to his fight with Joshua.
“I got within the ring and wasn’t feeling myself and the primary round when he knocked me down, I fell and I used to be like, did I slip, like, what exactly knocked me down?” Ngannou began on the Joe Rogan Experience.
“I remember exactly what happened until I got to the stool. I remember being there, I began having blurry vision. My team was in front of me chatting with me and their voices were getting distant.
“I don’t know if it was the fatigue (or what it was) but something wasn’t right. Something was mistaken. Perhaps it was the incontrovertible fact that I got there at the moment (late). It wasn’t me,” Ngannou continued.
Despite the devastating knockout loss, ‘The Predator’ admitted within the weeks following that he would compete in boxing again and wasn’t deterred due to suffering the knockout.
Francis Ngannou expects MMA return to occur in October
Since signing with the PFL, Ngannou has yet to enter the Smartcage, but he now has an idea when he’ll put an end to his two-year MMA hiatus.
In his absence, Rennan Ferreira went on to win the 2023 PFL heavyweight tournament, becoming the king of the division. Then, when PFL merged with Bellator, the Brazilian even put Ryan Bader, the Bellator heavyweight champion, to sleep.
And now, Ngannou is pretty convinced that his PFL debut will come against ‘Problema’, in October.
“I believe Renan Ferreira is the guy. I’ve been telling people for nearly two years. He’s very athletic. Fast hands, knees, very athletic. I believe it’s going to be him. That’s what the PFL is working on. October sometime.
“They’re working on October. It’s not finalized but they were talking about October 19,” Ngannou revealed.
Fortunately for Ngannou, his current employers have been pretty lenient with their contractual timeline, as he was initially speculated to fight within the Smartcage throughout the first yr of his signing. The 37-year-old has admitted that his next fight shall be in MMA, but he does still wish to return to the boxing ring.
“I’ll say MMA (is unquestionably) next. Because I used to be speculated to fight, it’s been a little bit over a yr now for the reason that PFL agreement, and I used to be speculated to have a fight inside a yr so now we’re getting a little bit out of that timeline,” the previous UFC champion stated.
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