Francis Ngannou admits he contemplated retirement after recent tragic death of his son

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou briefly contemplated retiring after experiencing an unimaginable tragedy.

Ngannou will make his return to the cage after a nearly three-year absence on October 19th against 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira. The former UFC standout’s PFL debut will be his first MMA fight since a win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.

The excitement surrounding Ngannou’s MMA return is palpable, but it comes as the elite heavyweight continues his grief over the loss of his son, Kobe. The former UFC standout announced the news of his son’s death earlier this year and expanded on it during a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.

Francis Ngannou opens up on MMA return after tragedy

During a recent interview with Sky Sports, Ngannou explained his return to MMA with the PFL and admitted it nearly didn’t come to fruition.

“This is not a great moment for me. I need some activities. I need to stay active to be in a zone that I belong to. I also need to keep it going, to fight for my boy, for Kobe,” Ngannou said. “The past few months hasn’t been the easiest. I think it has been by far my hardest [moment] in life. I lost my son. For some time, I felt like I didn’t even have to do this or questioning about if I should do it or fight again…

“But I want to do something good in his memory. Not to be the reason for me to quit but to be motivation and also to fight for him.”

Ngannou was then further pressed on his retirement hint.

“It’s not that I have come close to retiring. It’s just that in this circumstance you think, you have different thoughts,” Ngannou said. “You see how fragile life is. You feel hurt, you feel powerless. You feel useless. You’re questioning about your existence, about the importance of all of this, or life in general…

“It’s not that I have considered retiring or something. It’s just that you have to deal with something that wasn’t on the landscape.”

Ngannou’s return to MMA comes after back-to-back losses in his first two professional boxing fights, including a loss to Anthony Joshua earlier this year.