Francis Ngannou’s return to MMA action has been confirmed by the PFL and in a fascinating interview this week, ‘The Predator’ explained what went wrong in his last fight against the boxing world champion.
Almost five months ago to the day, Anthony Joshua landed one of the most brutal knockouts of the year against former UFC heavyweight king Francis Ngannou, on a PPV aptly named ‘Knockout Chaos’.
Well, it turns out that there was plenty of chaos in the days and hours leading up to that superstar spectacle, with ‘The Predator’ now making the accusation that some sneaky tactics were used to throw him off his game.
Francis Ngannou claims ‘tricks’ were played on him prior to Anthony Joshua fight
Earlier today, Francis Ngannou appeared as a guest on ‘The Diary of a CEO’ podcast with Steve Bartlett; a full two-hour long conversation that is truly one of the most fascinating and moving pieces of combat sports media in recent memory.
Towards the end of the episode, the discussion shifted to Ngannou’s boxing fight against Anthony Joshua from March 2024, with the former UFC champion stating that he believes some suspicious ‘tricks’ played on him prior to the opening bell.
“Honestly, in that fight, there was a lot of unfairness… Unlike the Tyson Fury fight [where] everything was straight and everything was fair, no sneaky stuff – but the second one, it was so messy.
“A lot of tricks [were played], like they would get me everywhere that I was going in that [fight] week, but I [would] have to wait at least one hour, one hour and a half for Anthony Joshua to arrive. But they always send a car to pick me up like that amount of [spare] time, even on fight day.”
Ngannou claimed that even on the evening of the heavyweight showdown, he was told to arrive at the Kingdom Arena several hours before he needed to. And that he found it suspicious how after being told by a producer that there was going to be a meaningful delay, Joshua still arrived exactly on time.
“I stayed in the locker room for four hours and a half, they sent a car to pick me up at 10:30 because they told me I was supposed to fight around midnight to 1 AM… And I was like ‘Okay good, this is how it works’, but you get to the arena and there’s a producer like ‘Oh we are running behind on the broadcasting so we might be fighting at 1:45.’
“I’m like ‘Okay, that’s not that bad, I’ve been training to fight in that time frame around 1 AM’… Bro, we are sitting there and watching Anthony Joshua arriving to the arena at 1:30 – like how can you tell me that?
“You guys told me that I was going to fight around midnight, and [then] 1 o’clock or that it’s delayed and he’s now just arriving? Stuff like that they did a lot.”
When asked if he believes that someone was purposefully trying to make him frustrated and fatigued to put him at a critical disadvantage, Ngannou simply stated: “Yes, the whole week was like that.”
“I mean I think it’s a trick that I didn’t know before, but it’s a trick that they have in boxing, they have a lot of tricks, like during the week, my coach is a very calm person, but he was really mad and yelling about it.
“I didn’t know how deep the problem was until I get in the final set, then I’m like ‘Okay this is serious’ but then it was too late… I was sleeping, I was in the locker room warming up and falling asleep.”
Whilst Ngannou did acknowledge that Joshua was simply the better man on the night and that he holds no animosity towards the British boxing legend, he did note that the constant delays might have impacted the result.
“Personally, I take that loss, but I don’t put it in the context [of my career] … It could have been different – I still think that I could’ve beaten him, I don’t know.”
Francis Ngannou’s long-awaited return to MMA finally confirmed
Speaking on Francis Ngannou’s fighting career; the iconic story continues as the PFL officially confirmed earlier this week that ‘The Predator’ will make his long-awaited return to MMA action on October 19.
His first MMA bout since a unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane back in 2022, Ngannou’s return fight is certainly no easy task as he draws PFL king Renan ‘Problema’ Ferreira.
The Brazilian juggernaut is known as one of the most feared heavyweights in the world, standing at 6ft 8″ tall with a whopping 11 of his 13 wins ending via knockout; yet Ngannou has already compared Ferreira to the aforementioned Gane, both in terms of his stature and fighting style.
“In terms of style, I think he might be more like Ciryl Gane’s style,” he told Sky Sports Boxing.
“Moving fast and all that stuff, or even better [than Gane] because he has long range and he knows how to use it with very fast hands… He’s unique as an opponent.”
Francis Ngannou vs Renan Ferreira is scheduled for October 19, PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants and will be available to watch online via Pay-Per-View.
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