Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has opened up about the factors that led to his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua earlier in the year.
The 38-year-old Cameroonian, who left the UFC after defending his heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in 2022, shifted his focus to boxing and signed with the PFL. However, his MMA debut was delayed after he ventured into the boxing ring, first facing Tyson Fury in a close split-decision defeat and later suffering a brutal knockout at the hands of Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
Reflecting on his defeat to Joshua, Ngannou revealed in an interview with Piers Morgan that several problems plagued him leading up to the fight, ultimately affecting his performance. “That fight wasn’t a good fight,” Ngannou admitted. “The whole experience wasn’t good. A lot of things were off. It might have just been a bad day at the office, but lots of things leading up to that fight were not right. My timing and everything was off.”
Ngannou further explained that he knew something was wrong from the start when an unexpected punch floored him. “The first punch, which wasn’t even hard, put me down, and that’s when I realised something was wrong because that’s not a punch that would normally get me down,” he said. “Even in the Tyson Fury fight, Tyson hit me with an elbow, and I didn’t even realise it. But in the Joshua fight, a punch that hit my hand first brought me down. Nothing went well that night.”
Despite the disappointing result, Ngannou refused to make excuses, acknowledging, “I lost that fight, period. But I’ll move on. Next time, I will prepare better and fix the things I overlooked.”
Ngannou is set to return to MMA action on October 19, where he will face reigning PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira in Riyadh. This will mark his highly anticipated debut in the PFL after a turbulent year in boxing.
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