Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou made a successful return to mixed martial arts this past weekend, but as it turns out, injury had threatened to derail it.
Ngannou entered the cage on Saturday for the first time since a victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. After departing the promotion and signing with the PFL, "The Predator" turned his attention to the chance to complete a long-desired boxing crossover.
While his success against Tyson Fury left many questioning whether he'd compete in MMA again, a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua this past March was soon followed by confirmation of his SmartCage debut.
That came on October 19 in the main event of the PFL's second pay-per-view of the year, staged at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou showed he hasn't lost a step, taking Renan Ferreira down and ground-and-pounding him to a first-round knockout.
During an interview with MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn in the aftermath of the PFL event in the Middle East, coach Eric Nicksick reflected on the hardships his man endured this year.
And when it came to fight camp for Saturday's Battle of the Giants event, that included a rib injury that came close to scrapping the main event altogether.
It was bad enough to where you’ve got to think: He blew out his knee and wasn’t going to pull out of the Ciryl Gane fight, (but almost pulled out of this one)," Nicksick said. "There’s a difference, different stakes, but also it was a different type of pain for him, and obviously we had a grappling-heavy game plan.
He was worried if he was on his back, how he would be able to move and try to grapple with an injured rib. Once he went to the doctors and they cleared him with an MRI and everything else, I think he realized, ‘I’m going to be OK. I’m going to get through this still.'
Ngannou ultimately overcame that piece of adversity, which marked far from his toughest experience of this year.
Following his boxing defeat to "AJ," the Cameroonian star tragically lost his son, Kobe, at the age of just 15 months. Ngannou admitted that his child's passing brought him close to retirement, and he dedicated the win on Saturday to Kobe.