When MMA fans first came across Francis Ngannou, many bought into him because of his destructive one punch knockout power that made him a must-watch addition to the UFC's roster.
It was then his story, and some incredible highlight reel knockouts, that really helped to turn "The Predator" into a big star in the combat sports world.
As a result of his incredible journey in life to achieve his dreams after coming from humble beginnings, it's no surprise that Ngannou is a great person.
He represents combat sports so well by being a tremendous human being so it was no surprise to see the amount of support he received after what he went through earlier this year.
Eric Nicksick Shares Recent Moment From The Gym Where Francis Ngannou Shared His Appreciation For One Of The Coaches
There is sure to be many people that have crossed paths with Ngannou that would be able to talk about the character of the former UFC champion.
Not many know him better than Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick who described his fighter in an interview with MMA Fighting as a "forward thinker" who is "always trying to leave people better off than when he found them".
When asked to give an example of the kind of person Ngannou is behind closed doors, a moment that recently took place in the gym jumped right into his mind.
Nicksick told the story of how a potentially underappreciated member of the coaching team at the gym, Nathan Pettit, was a recent recipient of Ngannou's kindness and gratitude.
Oh 100%. Nate Pettit is one of our coaches at the gym and Nate's just one of the hardest workers you're going to see in the room like the guy's constantly holding the pads for people, constantly on the road. He's a dog like he's just a guy that's like if you walk in the gym right now, Nate's working and he doesn't have a family, doesn't have a life, his life is this gym. So Nate came up to me, we were putting the new cages together, Nate came up to me with like tears in his eyes, this is like two weeks ago and he's like, 'Dude, Francis just handed me a cheque and just said thank you for everything that you do.'
I don't know what the amount was, I didn't even ask but it was enough to move this man to tears, to an emotion. I said to Francis later on, I was like hey, thanks for hooking up Nate. He's like, 'Of course bro, I see how hard he works and I want to pay him for all the time he's given to others that maybe it's not reciprocated back to him.' So you know, just keeping it in the house, keeping it in the family the way he takes care of his coaching staff and the people around him. Nate had a huge role in helping Francis beat Stipe Miocic, Nate ran those wrestling practices along with Dennis Davis so paying it forward to Nate man, that's just the type of person that Francis is.
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