"This is what made him the name that he is" - UFC icon believes Francis Ngannou will return to MMA regardless of Anthony Joshua fight result

A UFC legend recently shared his opinion on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou's future in MMA.

The fighter mentioned above is UFC Hall of Famer and current PFL commentator Randy Couture, who believes that Ngannou will return to mixed martial arts regardless of the outcome of the fight against Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou shocked the mixed martial arts community when he became the first reigning UFC champion to leave the promotion since B.J. Penn in 2004. He then signed a landmark free-agent contract with the PFL that also allows him to box.

During the grand arrivals for his upcoming boxing match against Joshua, 'The Predator' stated that he does not intend to leave the sport.

"I will definitely still do some MMA fights, but I'm not leaving boxing. Remember, at the beginning, it was boxing. I wasn't aware of MMA. And for more than a decade, it was all about boxing, dreaming about boxing."

Check out Francis Ngannou's comments below (1:48:30):

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Couture discussed Ngannou's comeback to mixed martial arts. He believes that, despite receiving enormous paychecks from boxing, Ngannou will return to mixed martial arts to meet his PFL obligations. He said:

''I don’t think he’s going to walk away from this sport, his roots are here. This is what made him the name that he is, and the fact that he’s getting these boxing matches is because of what he did in MMA. I don’t think he’s going to walk away from this sport.''

Ngannou is set to make his promotional debut against Renan Ferreira, but it's unclear when he'll return to MMA.

Francis Ngannou's coach previews his fight against Anthony Joshua

Francis Ngannou is currently preparing for the second boxing match of his career against former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The pair are slated to compete in a 10-round heavyweight match.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Ngannou's coach, Dewey Cooper, shared his thoughts on the upcoming fight. He said: