Francis Ngannou shows interest in future fight against GLORY champion Rico Verhoeven: “Send me a deal”

PFL Superfights heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is down to face Glory kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.

‘The Predator’ made his long-awaited return to the cage Saturday night in Saudi Arabia. In the main event of a PFL pay-per-view offering, Francis Ngannou faced Renan Ferreira. For the former UFC heavyweight champion, the bout was his first since being flattened by Anthony Joshua in the boxing ring in March.

Meanwhile, ‘Problema’ entered the fight on a six-fight unbeaten streak, last knocking out Ryan Bader in February. Despite the Brazilian’s momentum, he wound up being taken down and stopped by Francis Ngannou in the first round. The victory was the former champion’s first since defeating Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in early 2022.

While a massive victory for Francis Ngannou, it did beg the question of what’s next. PFL has multiple divisions full of talent, but their heavyweight division is sorely lacking. However, Ariel Helwani has an idea. Speaking in a recent interview with Ngannou, the longtime MMA journalist pitched the heavyweight on a fight against Glory’s Rico Verhoeven.

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Could we see Francis Ngannou vs. Rico Verhoeven? 👀#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/u9wjMgwWIX

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 21, 2024

👀👀👀 https://t.co/fBxZuf1Amx

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 21, 2024

Francis Ngannou opens up on a fight against Rico Verhoeven following PFL title win

In the interview, Francis Ngannou seemed open to the idea of facing the famous kickboxer. For his part, ‘The King of Kickboxing’ hasn’t lost in ten years and last defeated Levi Rigters by knockout in March. While Rico Verhoeven doesn’t have a lot of MMA experience, he did score a stoppage win over Viktor Bogutzki at RXF 20 in 2015.

“Yeah, yeah, of course [I know Rico]. I’ve trained with him.” Francis Ngannou responded to Ariel Helwani, when asked about fighting Glory heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven. “No, no, we’re not friends [though]. I mean, we met once in the gym. We’re friends, but not to the extent that we can’t fight each other.”

He concluded, “We’re gym friends. [But they can] send me a deal.”

What do you make of these comments from the PFL Superfights heavyweight champion? Do you want to see Francis Ngannou vs. Rico Verhoeven?