Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira have weighed in for their PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants main event.
Ngannou hasn’t fought in MMA since outpointing Ciryl Gane to defend his heavyweight title at UFC 270 in January 2022.
Since then, he’s left the UFC, joined PFL, and made millions in boxing bouts with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, who brutally knocked him out when they fought in March.
Almost 1000 days later, Ngannou will return to MMA when he takes on Ferreira in the main event of PFL’s biggest show yet in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
- Who is Francis Ngannou? Inside the former UFC heavyweight champion’s journey from poverty to combat sports superstardom
Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira make weight
On Friday morning, Ngannou made his MMA comeback fight official when he stepped on the scales ahead of his title bout against Ferreira.
The former UFC champion came in at 256.8lbs, which is considerably less than the 272.6lbs he weighed for his ill-fated boxing bout against Joshua.
Meanwhile, Ferreira confirmed he’d have a slight weight advantage when he tipped the scales at 261.5, 4.7lbs heavier than his toughest opponent to date.
Both men posed and flexed for the camera after weighing over 500lbs combined to live up to the ‘Battle of the Giants’ tag that has been given to their fight.
Everyone else fighting at PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants also hit their marks.
You can check out all the weigh-in results below.
Francis Ngannou (256.8) vs. Renan Ferreira (261.5)
Cris Cyborg (144.5) vs. Larissa Pacheco (144.1)
Johnny Eblen (184.7) vs. Fabian Edwards (184.9)
Husein Kadimagomaev (146) vs. Zafar Mohsen (145.8)
A.J. McKee (155.8) vs. Paul Hughes (155.8)
Marcos Breno (136) vs. Raufeon Stots (135.8)
Dedrek Sanders (154.9) vs. Makkasharip Zaynukov (153.6)
Nacho Campos (145.9) vs. Ibragim Ibragimov (145.5)
Taha Bendaoud (145.5) vs. Tariq Ismail (145.1)
Francis Ngannou warns Renan Ferreira about his grappling skills
Ngannou and Ferreira are both known for their ridiculous knockout power, so most people are expecting them to hurl bombs at each other from the first bell on Saturday.
However, during a press conference on Thursday, the Ngannou warned his opponent that he’s much more than a puncher, and sparked speculation that he may approach his MMA comeback bout differently.
“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.”