<body><div><p><b>Earlier this year former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou tragically lost his 15-month-old son, which resulted in him considering retirement from combat sports. </b></p><p>A few months before the tragic passing of his 15-month-old son, Francis Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against former heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, and put on an incredible showing.</p><p>Despite unfortunately being on the wrong side of a controversial decision, ‘The Predator’ set up another outing in the boxing ring against another former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, which didn’t go as well as his first outing.</p><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4dDBF4_0uraURe900" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4dDBF4_0uraURe900" width="1024" height="682" ><figcaption>Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images</figcaption></figure><p><b>Francis Ngannou reveals he considered retirement following the tragic death of his son</b></p><p>Just a month after his loss to the British boxer, the 37-year-old emotionally announced that his 15-month-old son, Kobe, had tragically passed away after health complications.</p><p>After going through such an unthinkable situation, Ngannou took several months away from training and time away from fighting to try and compute what had happened. </p><p>During those few months, the former UFC heavyweight champion has admitted that he was considering retiring from combat sports entirely.</p><p>“It has been by far my hardest ship in life the days I lost my son and then, you know, for some time I felt like I didn’t even have to do this or questioning about whether I should do it, fight again or something,” Ngannou explained in an interview with Sky Sports Boxing.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C6jb9CZxLrE/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; 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padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C6jb9CZxLrE/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">A post shared by Francis Ngannou (@francisngannou)</a></p></div><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);delay=function(){window.instgrm.Embeds.process()};setTimeout(delay,500)"></blockquote><p><b>MORE BLOODY ELBOW NEWS</b></p><p>“But I know that my son had something good in his memory and I want to do something good on his memory, to use this, not to be the reason for me to quit, but maybe to be a motivation and also to fight for him,” the heavyweight continued.</p><p>With that, Ngannou has booked his long-awaited return to the MMA cage, with his last fight coming against Ciryl Gane back in 2022.</p><p>The PFL announced this past Wednesday that ‘The Predator’ will take on the 2023 PFL heavyweight champion, Renan Ferreira, for the PFL Super Fight Heavyweight title, with Bellator featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg also taking on Larissa Pacheco in the co-main event.</p><ul><li><b>NEW SIGNING:</b> Muhammad Mokaev teases the new promotion he has signed with as fans decipher where he has landed</li></ul><h2>Francis Ngannou compares ‘unique’ Renan Ferreira to Ciryl Gane</h2><p>‘Problema’ is one of the most feared heavyweights in the world because of his freakish athleticism whilst standing at 6’8″. Earlier this year, the Brazilian picked up the biggest win of his career thus far by beating Bellator heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader, thus earning his shot against Ngannou.</p><p>‘The Predator’ has compared Ferreira to his former foe and last MMA opponent, ‘Bon Gamin’ Gane. The Frenchman is considered one of the best heavyweight strikers in the world, and Ngannou felt that for two rounds when they fought at UFC 270.</p><p>“Every fighter is unique in his type and everybody has something. Basically, fighters that you have not fought yet, those are always the most difficult ones. </p><p>“In terms of style, I think he might be more like Ciryl Gane’s style, moving fast and all that stuff, or even better because he has long range and he knows how to use it with very fast hands. He’s unique as an opponent,” Ngannou admitted.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Francis take the 3rd. 29-28 Gane<br><br><br><br>Round starts and Francis decides to become a wrestler. Ciryl lands a few shots but Francis controls the round<br><br><br><br>The Ngannou Bomb? <a href="https://t.co/plPY4uWgun" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/plPY4uWgun</a></p>— The Octagon Obsessed (@octagonobsessed) <a href="https://twitter.com/octagonobsessed/status/1697085416027914661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">August 31, 2023</a><input type="image" src="empty.gif" style="opacity:0" onerror="s=document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;);s.src=&quot;https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js&quot;;document.body.appendChild(s);"></blockquote><p>Ahead of his fight against the 34-year-old Brazilian, Ngannou isn’t sure how he’s going to flick the switch back into fighter mode after such a devastating few months, but he believes he can only do so by fighting.</p><p>“I just have to find out by fighting, there’s only one way to find out but also I think now I have a different motivation in my son. I used to fight for a lot of reasons but I don’t think I’ve had a bigger purpose to fight as for now.”</p><ul><li><b>NOTORIOUS SWIPE:</b> Conor McGregor slams ‘cornflake’ Canelo Alvarez in rant about boxing event clashing with UFC 306</li></ul></div></body>

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Francis Ngannou compares ‘unique’ new opponent to his former UFC foe as he opens up about devastating last few months

Earlier this year former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou tragically lost his 15-month-old son, which resulted in him considering retirement from combat sports. A few months before the tragic passing of his 15-month-old son, Francis Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against former heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, and put on an incredible showing.

Francis Ngannou compares ‘unique’ new opponent to his former UFC foe as he opens up about devastating last few months

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