This weekend, the eyes of the combat sports world will once again be firmly fixed on the dunes of Abu Dhabi when former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, makes his long-awaited return to MMA in the main event of PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants.
Whilst both Francis Ngannou and 6’ 8” opponent Renan Ferreira are both known for their insane one-punch knockout power, ‘The Predator’ does still hold four career wins by submission – could we see that tally improve to five this weekend?
Francis Ngannou is ready to showcase all facets of MMA against Renan Ferreira
Speaking at the pre-fight press conference earlier today, Francis Ngannou was asked whether Renan Ferreira represented the toughest challenge of his combat sports career to date.
“I would say that he’s definitely at the top of the line, but I think that throughout my entire life, my biggest opponent has always been me,” stated the former UFC champion, before claiming that “On Saturday night, I’m going to get him for his money, so he should get ready.”
Whilst many are expecting the gigantic main event fight to end in a first-round knockout, it’s worth reminding fans that the last time we saw Ngannou compete in MMA, he showcased an impressive wrestling-heavy strategy en route to securing a shock unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane.
“This is an MMA fight, so everything will be on display,” teased Ngannou on the possibility that we see the two knockout artists ditching their striking skills, in favor of a grappling match.
“We prepare for everything and yes, everything will be on display… I think Renan might be preparing something too because he is a Jiu-Jitsu black belt, and I think he’s not underlining my punching power too.
“I’m going to fight strategically depending on how the fight presents itself… In my career, only once I went for a knockout and it didn’t work out for me, the other time that I had a knockout in 25 seconds, it wasn’t something that was planned so let’s keep it authentic.”
Ngannou claimed that he’s “not planning a 25 second [knockout],” as he trusts that his cardio will be able to last the full five rounds: “I know that I have 25 minutes [in me] so I’m going to lay my gameplan down.”
Renan Ferreira has just one submission win in his professional career, which came all the way back in 2019, but the enormous Brazilian is confident that he has the grappling skills needed to compete with Ngannou on the ground.
“Definitely, we are both complete fighters who can strike as well as grapple, I’m ready for a fight wherever the fight goes – who really wins with that [fight] is the fans, so the fans can expect a great fight.
“I cannot say [what my gameplan is] because Francis is next to me, but what I can say is that we’ve put in a lot of work, and we’re prepared to put on a show for the fans.”
- EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ngannou’s opponent reacts after Tom Aspinall slams him as ‘not elite’ competition
PFL CEO believes ‘Battle of the Giants’ is the biggest MMA card of the year
Francis Ngannou vs Renan Ferreira is the giant cherry on top of an enormous cake, with the PFL PPV event set to go down this weekend live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In the co-main event of the evening, the legendary Cris Cyborg looks to add yet more MMA gold to her mantelpiece against Larissa Pacheco; with the likes of Johnny Eblen, Fabian Edwards, AJ McKee and Paul Hughes also set to showcase their skills on the world stage.
Whilst the latest chapter of the PFL: Super Fights series is easily the best MMA card of the weekend, PFL CEO Peter Murray believes it to be the best card of the entire year, regardless of promotion.
“This is the biggest event in the PFL company history and the biggest event of the year,” he told MMA Junkie earlier in the week.
“I’m looking forward to stacking this up against – if you look at the cards from UFC 300, The Sphere [UFC 306], as it relates to the card, this event on October 19 is the biggest of the year, second to none.”
It all goes down this Saturday; catch the action on DAZN and ESPN+ PPV.