Francis Ngannou has had a very successful MMA career.
Ngannou started his pro-MMA career in 2013 and made his UFC debut in 2015, with a record of 5-1. However, before he got into the UFC, Ngannou said he was not taking MMA seriously, instead, it was just something he did for fun and to make a bit of money.
“I was never really (into) MMA stuff until I get the UFC contract. Then I’m like, hmm, I think ‘I need to do this right.’ You don’t do it halfway. That’s the moment I really got into MMA,” Ngannou said on Hotboxin with Mike Tyson. “Otherwise, for me, it was just an opportunity, I love fighting, I was having fun, I’d fight sometimes and get some money, it eas cool. Then, I got the UFC contract and this was not for fun anymore, you have to go all in. That’s where I really was like, okay, I’m going to do this.”
Once he got into the UFC, Francis Ngannou started to take it more seriously, but he admits he still wasn’t prepared properly. So, when he fought Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title at UFC 220, he admits he wasn’t prepared or ready to fight someone of that caliber.
Ngannou reveals Miocic loss was the best fight of his career
He ended up getting dominated by Miocic, and Ngannou says that was the best fight for him. Even though he lost, Francis Ngannou says that result changed the entire outcome of his career.
“I get there and everything seems easy to me, didn’t have no experience but was knocking people out. At some point, you kind of like, not put yourself right into it, not push yourself, until I get the Stipe fight. That was my real first fight. I lose that fight, and I think from that night I understood everything. If you ask me so far, that’s the best fight in my career,” Ngannou said.
“Not the outcome that I wanted, the Stipe fight was my best fight because after that fight, I know that, ‘Okay, this is not going to happen again, and I know how it feels to be there, in that moment, to get in the deep water.’ Looking for oxygen o breathe. I didn’t get prepared in that fight properly. Everything around that fight was wrong, gut I wouldn’t have figured it out if that fight didn’t go wrong,” Ngannou continued.
Francis Ngannou ended up becoming UFC heavyweight champion in 2021 and defended the belt once. He has since signed with the PFL and will box Tyson Fury in October.
