Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou will be stepping back into the MMA cage later this year when he takes on 2023 PFL heavyweight champion and Super Fight heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira for the PFL Super Fight Heavyweight belt. The event marks Ngannou's first MMA fight since January 2022 when he defended his then UFC title.
"It's been a while, it feels like forever," Ngannou told DAZN ahead of the big announcement. Ngannou is coming back to MMA after a detour in boxing fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua and even though Ngannou says he always found MMA exciting, boxing was a whole new excitement. "It was a new excitement around a whole different sport," he said. "I experienced the excitement of living the dream."
For his first fight under the PFL banner, Ngannou is fighting a heavyweight staple in Ferreira, who hasn't lost a fight since 2022, the last year Ngannou fought. Ferreira won the Super Fight belt when he defeated Bellator Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader at PFL vs. Bellator in February.
"He's a great fighter," Ngannou said of Ferreira. "I've been watching him for over 8 years. In fact, I've been telling people 'watch this guy.' He's quite unique, he's athletic, he's fast, he showed that from his last fight."
Many fighters have had trouble with Ferreira due to his height, he stands at 6'8" and Ngannou is just 6'4, but that's not something Ngannou thinks he'll have any difficulty with.
"In every fight, there's always a challenge," he said. "The beauty of the fighting game is the way to overcome the challenges that you might have. His size doesn't; impress me more than his skills. You know, I think I worry about somebody's skills more than his height. He's got height, he's got skills, which is what I am more impressed about, but not his height."
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