PFL owner Donn Davis has confirmed that Francis Ngannou will return to MMA sometime between July and September 2024 on a PPV card in Saudi Arabia.
The PFL weren’t expecting Francis Ngannou to return to Mixed Martial Arts until the first quarter of 2025 but after losing to Anthony Joshua in the boxing ring a few weeks ago, we’re now surprisingly close to seeing ‘The Predator’ in the SmartCage.
As confirmed by PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis on The MMA Hour, Francis Ngannou will likely return to MMA between July and September 2024 on a PPV card that will include Larissa Pacheco, Cris Cyborg, and Cedric Doumbe.
PFL owner confirms Francis Ngannou will return to MMA this summer
After his brutal KO loss to Anthony Joshua a few weeks ago, fans and pundits alike had been expecting the former UFC heavyweight champion to quickly ditch the boxing gloves and make a landmark return to MMA.
However, with a myriad of contractual obligations to work through, the timeline for Ngannou’s return to the sport in which he rose to fame was clouded in mystery…Until now.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani on the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Donn Davis has just confirmed that ‘The Predator’ will be “coming back early”, with a reported timeline between July and September this year:
“I’m rooting for Francis all the time but now he’s coming back early, will it be as early as July – maybe, will it be as late as September – no later, but you’ll now see Francis in 2024 in the PFL against ‘Lo Problemo’ [Renan Ferreira] in what I believe is the fight that I’m looking forward to the most in the heavyweight divisions of all MMA.”
Whilst Ngannou’s return fight will undoubtedly be one of the biggest PFL events of 2024, Davis is attempting to ‘stack the deck’ once again by revealing that there will be a slew of superstars in support:
“That will be a PPV fight, that fight [card] will also have Cris Cyborg vs Larissa Pacheco as the co-main fight, that fight [card] will also have Cedric Doumbe against someone who we will announce…So that fight [card] is going to be big, just because of Francis, but that fight will have other very compelling matchups on it.”
When Ngannou makes his PFL debut, he will do so in a familiar environment – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the same city where he faced both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in marquee boxing events in October 2023 and March 2024 respectively.
Whilst this news is certainly going to excite fans, don’t expect more information to be revealed in the coming weeks with Davis noting: “Details in terms of the full card, details in terms of the month and the timing, we won’t announce that for about two more months.”
Earlier in the day, it was also announced that Max (formally HBO Max) will be the new home of the Bellator branch of the new PFL roster.