Francis Ngannou News

Tom Taylor - March 26, 2018

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgj6rrXn-lc/ In the lead-up to UFC 220’s heavyweight title showdown between champion Stipe Miocic and challenger Francis Ngannou, much was made of Ngannou’s absurd, fight-ending punching power.

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2018

On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Francis Ngannou re-upped on his previous calls for a fight with former UFC heavyweight champion and current WWE star Brock Lesnar. “Please Brock, come back, come back my friend. We need you here,” Ngannou said (h/t MMAFighting). “We need you to put the fun in this division. I need you to give me that f*cking fight I’ve been waiting for for a long time, I’ve been dreaming for [it].”

Tom Taylor - March 20, 2018

Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract could wrap up after WrestleMania this April, and UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou is hoping that means Lesnar will return to the Octagon. Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Ngannou begged the hulking pro wrestler to return to the UFC, where he hopes they can fight.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2018

Boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is flirting with a move to the UFC, and he’s got to big names in mind if he makes this perilous jump: Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. The undefeated knockout machine discussed this exciting possibility on Sky Sports’ boxing’s Toe 2 Toe podcast.

Tom Taylor - March 19, 2018

Over the last year, brick-fisted heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis has made repeated callouts of recent heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou. On Sunday afternoon, Ngannou finally responded to these callouts, telling Lewis to have his manager contact the UFC about this prospective showdown.

Tom Taylor - March 18, 2018

Over the last few months, hulking UFC heavyweight Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis has made repeated callouts of recent UFC heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou. “My coach just believes that I would really destroy Francis. My coach don’t like Francis at all either. I believe that I’m better than Francis all the way around,” Lewis said in a recent interview with FloCombat. “Striking, grappling, ground game, submission, whatever. I believe I’ve got better conditioning than him. I’m better disciplined. I listen to my coaches. I really believe I could beat this guy.”

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2018

On January 20, in the main event of UFC 220, hulking French-Cameroonian knockout artist Francis Ngannou stepped into the Octagon to challenge Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title. Though Ngannou entered this contest with mountains of hype attached to his name, he was blown out of the water by the champion, losing a lopsided unanimous decision after five, lopsided rounds. In the wake of this loss, Ngannou promised to learn from the experience and come back stronger – after a brief hiatus, during which time he planned to reconnect with family.

Justin Golightly - March 13, 2018

Francis Ngannou of the most severe and recent examples of how brutal MMA is and how forgetful fans are. Just before UFC 220, he was primed to be the next big thing and we were already planning mega fights with Brock Lesnar. After Stipe Miocic stifled him, it’s like he disappeared in the minds of the UFC and the public. His boxing coach Dewey Cooper vows that this won’t last long. Ngannou will learn from his mistakes and come back even better. “I got one word to describe [Francis Ngannou]: Phenomenal. We had an off night and we all felt that night, that Francis at his worst still couldn’t be stopped. That’s all I can say about that. Francis at his best won’t be defeated and him at his worst could not even be stopped. We got the best heavyweight in UFC couldn’t stop a guy who was just not at his best that night. Francis man, he’s phenomenal and he will definitely be back stronger than ever. […] Stipe was at his best and we just weren’t at our best and there will be improvement from that.”

Tom Taylor - February 21, 2018

In the wake of Derrick Lewis’ latest thunderous knockout win, which came against a gritty Marcin Tybura, fans immediately began clamoring for a matchup between him and fellow knockout artist Francis Ngannou. From the looks of it, the UFC has been listening.

Justin Golightly - February 14, 2018

From steroid allegations to body shaming, Derrick Lewis has been all over Francis Ngannou after he came up short in his fight against Stipe Miocic. He was already criticizing the fighter, but this only intensified after Lewis found out Ngannou’s pay in the main event title fight at UC 220. If Lewis is able to beat Marcin Tybura on Sunday, it sounds like he’ll be looking for a title shot himself, even if it’s just to drink beer and gas out. “For sure, that’s all I really care about [is money]. Now that I’ve seen that – what’s his name, Francis [Ngannou]? – he got $500,000 just fighting for the belt. Let me fight for the belt next. They can give me $500,000. Sh-t, I’m going to gas out too. Guaranteed $500,000? You don’t have to worry about me training before a camp. I’ll be drinking a beer right after weigh-ins.”

Tom Taylor - February 11, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event of UFC 221, rising heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes picked up the biggest win of his career thus far, wrestling Mark Hunt to an impressive unanimous decision triumph. While Blaydes got the win he was chasing, he did have to weather some adversity in this fight, as Hunt very nearly put him down with punches in the first frame. Luckily, though, his chin held strong, and he was able to survive this scare.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Last month, in the main event of UFC 220, the hype train of Francis Ngannou came to an abrupt halt at the hands of UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. For five rounds, the champ out-fought the challenger, exposing major deficits in his wrestling and his cardio in the process. Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan (one of the biggest drivers of Ngannou’s hype train before UFC 220) discussed the outcome of the UFC 220 main event.

Justin Golightly - January 31, 2018

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Derrick Lewis, better known as The Black Beast. He’s coming back in action at UFC Austin on February 18th to fight Marcin Tybura, but he’s got his eyes on another fighter. Francis Ngannou is taking some time off after coming up short against Stipe Miocic, but whenever he comes back, Lewis is up to throw down with the big man. He doesn’t stop at the call-out though, he alleges the 31-year old is at least 40 and is on performance enhancing drugs. “Yeah, I’ll fight [Francis Ngannou] on sight you know. This guy over here, every time somebody ask me a question about him, I say something nice, but every time somebody say something about him, he’s like trying to talk down on me saying I’m not on his level, talking about how I’m too slow and this and that. I really don’t care, but, don’t try and talk sh-t about me every chance you get. He talks sh-t, but he’s never like, ‘Oh, I want to fight Derek.’ He’s always talking down on me, but he doesn’t want to fight me.”

Justin Golightly - January 25, 2018

At UFC 220, the knockout machine Francis Ngannou was put up against another unstoppable fighter in now record-breaking champion Stipe Miocic. It wasn’t the performance that was promoted or expected, resulting in Miocic taking the contender into the deepest of waters and dominating him to a decision victory. After his first loss since 2014 and a super quick rush to a title shot, Ngannou will be stepping away from the sport for an undisclosed amount of time and reconnecting with family before regrouping and coming back strong. “In my dark way, I’m taking some time off which will benefit my personal life by going back home to enjoy family and friends . Then I’ll be back to set businesses up.” — Francis Ngannou on Twitter.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2018

We’re now almost a week removed from Francis Ngannou’s tough loss to UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. This loss was as lopsided as they come, as Ngannou emptied his gas tank early, and spent the rest of the five-round affair clinging to life opposite the patient and powerful Miocic. While Ngannou’s first crack at the UFC heavyweight title was more or less a disaster, his coach Fernand Lopez feels there are a few positives that can be taken away from the bout: namely, Ngannou showed he’s got heart.

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 220, Francis Ngannou’s hype train came to a skittering halt, as he was out-wrestled, out-paced, and altogether out-fought by UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic. In the pre-fight promotion for this bout, Ngannou was sold as an unparalleled force of destruction, an unstoppable behemoth, the second coming of Mike Tyson. And yet in the end, he looked about as human as a professional cage fighter can look: out of breath, bewildered, bruised, beaten. While UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was one of the biggest contributors to Francis Ngannou’s massive pre-fight hype, he is now saying that he’s heard Ngannou didn’t even train grappling ahead of UFC 220. Rogan made this claim on the Monday episode of The JRE MMA Show Podcast.

Chris Taylor - January 21, 2018

Dana White discusses Francis Ngannou’s first UFC setback and what could come next for Stipe Miocic. "I don't see why he couldn't fight at heavyweight."@danawhite asked @dc_mma if he'd be interested in a title shot with @StipeMiocicUFC. Can we get this, please? #UFC220 https://t.co/FljOglKMIB

Tom Taylor - January 21, 2018

Last night, in the main event of UFC 220, hulking French-Cameroonian knockout artist Francis Ngannou lumbered into the cage with the goal of defeating Stipe Miocic and winning the UFC heavyweight title. In the end, however, the massively hyped Ngannou was outclassed by the champion, whose cardio and wrestling were simply too much to deal with. Now, it’s back to the drawing board for the undeniably talented Ngannou. Though he certainly has some holes in his game that need filling, it seems he’s keen to learn from this loss, and use it as fuel for his continued evolution.