There has been a general dismissal of Francis Ngannou’s opponent as he heads into his first MMA fight in almost three years.
Brazilian Renan Ferreira is hard to miss at 6’8 and needing a weight cut to make the 265lb heavyweight limit. But a cursory glance at coverage for this weekend’s ‘Battle of the Giants’ would paint him as a stepping stone for the former UFC champion to knock over on his way to bigger and better things.
But ‘La Problema’ is far from a walkover, and has overcome his own struggles on route to becoming a PFL heavyweight champion last season. And even despite earning millions at this stage of his career, he refuses to forget where he came from.
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Renan Ferreira details humble beginnings in Brazil
When Renan Ferreira makes the walk on Saturday night for the biggest fight of his career, he will be a long way from home. Almost 7,000 miles separate Riyadh from Porangatu; the region of Goiás in Brazil is where he grew up and worked odd jobs to get by as part of a big family.
The immediate standout for Ferreira is his gigantic 6’8 frame. It qualified him, before ever training to fight properly, for a job as a private security guard and he would later learn jiu-jitsu during a social project in Brasilia.
“I’m from a very small town in the rural part of Brazil,” he explained to media including Bloody Elbow ahead of this weekend’s fight. “Naturally, the level and the type of opportunity that you have is very limited.
“So at a very young age I was doing a lot of manual labour to get by and to ensure that we were good and it’s a struggle. It was a struggle for a very long time, but we know how it is in Brazil.
“The level of incentive, that lack of opportunity is a costly thing. This meant that I had a special taste when I was able to make it big.”
He worked as a bouncer for years, telling Bloody Elbow that he recalls making somewhere in the region of just $30 per night for his services. “There are a lot of stories over a decade working security and all sorts of jobs in that line of work,” he added.
“People would come into the clubs smiling, then by the time they leave they think they’re God almighty. They want to face off, test their skills. It was part of my job to just hold them and keep them from messing around too much.”
Renan Ferreira used $1million PFL prize to help family and friends
Last November, Ferreira’s life was permanently changed when he defeated Denis Goltsov in Washington, DC to become the 2023 PFL champion. That belt is accompanied by a $1million cheque, which would have amounted to an unthinkable sum to his family and friends at home.
He compounded that winning by booking a spot against Francis Ngannou when he viciously knocked out Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader back in February in his first Saudi outing. The Cameroonian has demanded that his opponent be paid millions for this fight, meaning another massive payday.
And Ferreira isn’t trying to keep his wealth to himself, telling Bloody Elbow: “I’m part of a very big family but not only that, I do take a lot of pride and I do enjoy helping people, helping my own.
“I’m now able to help people in a position of struggle who are having a tough time. That’s something that puts a lot of joy in my heart.”
However, he is batting away some unwanted attention, as all newfound millionaires do, from bad actors who are showing up to reap the rewards of his winnings.
“Now, I do have friends and friends of friends who tag along along the way,” he noted. “You have to learn how to filter through them and stick with the ones that really matter.”
PFL CEO Peter Murray brands Battle of the Giants ‘Biggest MMA event of the year’
While the UFC have put on some massive events and broken gate records this year, there is still a belief that a flagship fight has yet to emerge. And promotional boss Peter Murray believes that they are offering that as they present the lineal heavyweight champion of the world against PFL and Bellator’s best.
“The fans have spoken on this,” he explained in an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow. “We support it and we’re staging Francis’ return to MMA and it’s not a tune-up, he’s going against one of the best heavyweight MMA fighters in the world in Renan.
“Nobody would dispute that, Renan is a dangerous man and Francis, the predator, is in Paris training and this is very important for Francis. Just Renan’s sheer height and physique, his incredible smile and the fact he’s as warm of a human as he is scary as a fighter.
“He is now showing us and the world what he can do in the cage. It’s early days in his career where he continues to get better and this fight will make him better no matter the outcome, but that being said he’s here to win and he’s working differently to any of his other fights.”
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