Francis ‘The Predator’ Ngannou has announced his return to MMA action in the biggest way possible, scoring a brutal first-round knockout over Renan Ferreira in the main event of last night’s PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants.
The outstanding victory was a highly emotional one for Francis Ngannou and his millions of fans watching around the world, including former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya shares his reaction to Francis Ngannou’s comeback KO
Former UFC middleweight champion and close friend of Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, was quick to post his reaction video to the vicious knockout on his official YouTube channel; with ‘The Last Stylebender’ seen going crazy as the Cameroonian juggernaut secured the first-round KO.
“That was beautiful, ah I feel that man – that’s for Kobe,” a teary-eyed Adesanya proudly stated, before teasing how “Y’all must have forgot bro” just how good Francis Ngannou is in the smaller gloves of MMA.
“Flawless, that was a beautiful performance – he took one leg kick and dodged the flurry, timed his right hand and shot for a double, kept him there and knocked him out… I’m proud, inspired, and just happy to watch him do his thing.
“He’s gone through so much in his career, even still after the whole boxing thing; people doubted him… People are prisoners of the moment, but they forget who this man is… I’m glad he reminded everybody why he’s the best, why he’s the one, why he’s Francis Ngannou.”
With so much of the PFL promotion being geared around this fight being the one to crown the best heavyweight in the world, it’s no surprise that Adesanya’s post-fight review quickly turned to the GOAT conversation.
“Right now, people still hold Stipe as the greatest of all time in the heavyweight division, I think he’s one of the greatest; he beat Francis but then Francis beat him [back] in the worst way,” said Adesanya, before explaining how “It’s all subjective, it’s all art, it’s all [about] who you like.
“I think that Francis is the greatest heavyweight of all time but again, now that Jon Jones is the heavyweight champion, he’s only fought once… Tom Aspinall’s in the f****** mix [too] and he’s only just getting his ball rolling.
“Listen, it’s exciting as a fan but right now in this moment, I’m just so happy for him and what he has accomplished; to see him go through it with the adversity he’s had to go through with the death of Kobe.”
With Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic set to headline UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden next month, Adesanya admitted that it’s on the UFC to get their house in order first before any negotiations can start for a potential cross-promotion superfight later down the line.
“They have to clear that up because in November we’ve got Jon and Stipe, then you’ve got Tom Aspinall like ‘Yo, I’m the champ’ – they’ll sort this s*** out…
“The UFC has to sort this out and find a unified heavyweight champion before any talk of this happens, but I think Francis just fights someone else in MMA, and in the PFL.”
Conor McGregor rages after losing $500K on Francis Ngannou
Whilst almost the entirety of the combat sports world is celebrating the outstanding achievement of ‘The Predator’, that isn’t to say that everyone is happy with the result.
In fact, former UFC double champion Conor McGregor put out a voice note just a few hours before the PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants main event in which he claimed that he’d put down a sweet $500,000 on a Renan Ferreira KO win.
“Tonight’s bet for me. 500k on Ferriera to win by KO at 12/5. $1.7m return,” he captioned the voice note, which has unsurprisingly since been deleted from his social media accounts.
“The Mac is back with his winning bets. I have a 100% winning ratio on these bets. Ngannou is losing by KO tonight… 12/5 the Brazilian is to knock him out and I’m putting half a million on it and I’m going to win back $1.7million. That’s it. It’s a ruthless business and I’m a ruthless man.”
Unfortunately for the ‘Notorious’ Irishman, that slip failed just a few minutes into the opening round – McGregor later left a message for fans that read: “THE RICH GET RICHER I’LL GET THAT BACK.”
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