Francis Ngannou has had to overcome plenty to reach the level of stardom that he has attained in the combat sports world. 'The Predator' faced his toughest challenge in 2024 when he announced the tragic loss of his 15-month-old son Kobe Ngannou in April. He recently revealed that he considered retiring from combat sports following the tragedy.
Speaking to Sky Sports Boxing, the former UFC heavyweight champion stated:
"The past three months hasn't been the easiest ones. I think it has been by far my hardest [hardship] in life. I lost my son. For some time, I felt like I didn't even have to do this or questioning about if I should do it or fight again or something, but I know that my son would like something good in his memory and I want to do something good in his memory. To use this not to be the reason for me to quit, but, maybe, to be a motivation and also fight for him."
Ngannou elaborated on his retirement comments, adding:
"It's not that I have come close to retiring. It's just that in this circumstance, you think. You have different thoughts. You see how fragile life is. You feel hurt. You feel powerless. You feel useless. You're questioning about your existence, about the importance of all of this or life in general. It's not that I have considered retiring or something. It's just that you have to deal with something that wasn't on the landscape before."
Check out Francis Ngannou's comments on the tragic loss of his son below:
Ngannou added that he will have a different motivation going forward. He noted that he previously fought for many reasons, but he has never had a bigger reason or purpose to fight.
Francis Ngannou set to return to mixed martial arts
Francis Ngannou has not competed in mixed martial arts since defeating Ciryl Gane via unanimous decision at UFC 270 to defend his heavyweight title all the way back in January 2022. 'The Predator' has since recovered from a torn MCL and damaged ACL, left the UFC, taken high-profile boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and appeared in the Netflix film Rebel Moon.
While he has also signed with the PFL in that time - with the deal announced in May 2023 - he has yet to make his promotional debut. That will change on October 19 as he is set to face Renan Ferreira at the PFL Super Fights pay-per-view. The promotion announced the bout on Wednesday, tweeting:
"🚨 BREAKING 🚨 HE'S BACK! 👑 The Return of @francis_ngannou 4 CHAMPIONS 2 SUPER FIGHT BELTS ON THE LINE 1 Gigantic night of MMA and it all goes down on October 19th #PFLSuperFights"
Check out the PFL's announcement on of Francis Ngannou's return below:
Ngannou has won his past six mixed martial arts bouts, with the first five of those victories coming via knockout. He will look to continue his winning streak against Ferreira, who has won four bouts in a row, all via knockout.