The combat sports world is still talking about Saturday's Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou fight, in which Fury was declared the winner by split decision but only after Ngannou put on a memorable display in his boxing debut.
Ngannou held his own against the WBC heavyweight champion, even knocking Fury down in the third round before going the distance with the Briton. It was a performance unexpected by many, and on Monday Ngannou suggested that even Fury didn't anticipate the fight that the former UFC heavyweight champion would put up.
"He was training against something that he really didn't know," Ngannou told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
"In this case it was hard for him to have that whole motivation.
"Me, I had the motivation. I knew what I was going to deal with, I knew the mountain in front of me."
Ngannou felt that he had to train harder than Fury because he was stepping into Fury's territory, and that one slip-up would be severly punished. Meanwhile, Ngannou explained that his opponent had little idea of his skill level, only that the Cameroonian was an MMA fighter with some power.
"He didn't know that I can fight," Ngannou said. "In fact, I think it wasn't just him."