Francis Ngannou put the heavyweight division on notice when he demolished Renan Ferreira inside the opening round of his PFL debut last Saturday.
The 38-year-old’s emphatic performance arrived in Saudi Arabia, where he returned to the octagon for the first time in nearly three years.
His hiatus from the sport was by no means uneventful, though, as he dared to be great against formidable heavyweight boxers Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, losing on both occasions.
Still, with Francis Ngannou now campaigning in more familiar territory, the lineal heavyweight champion may yet add to his already decorated MMA legacy.
Francis Ngannou insists referee Dan Miragliotta should’ve stopped his fight sooner
Following his victory over Renan Ferreira, MMA fans were moved by Ngannou’s touching tribute to his late son, Kobe, who tragically passed away at 15 months old.
For a large percentage of fans, too, the Cameroonian’s stoppage came several unanswered blows too late, with referee Dan Miragliotta getting slammed for his performance.
Prior to Miragliotta’s intervention, Ngannou had his opponent up against the cage, unleashing a relentless ground-and-pound attack against a defenseless Ferreira.
Yet still, with the referee remaining hesitant to call the stoppage, the former UFC heavyweight champion was forced to resume the one-sided beatdown until his fight was finally waved off.
“As much as I wanted to win the fight, I didn’t want to throw any unnecessary punch, I didn’t want to do any unnecessary damage,” Ngannou told Ariel Helwani.
“I just wanted to win my fight and go home, but the referee was there, and I has hitting [Ferreira], and I’m like, ‘I think this is maybe when to stop [the fight].’
“I don’t want to stop to figure out, to ask so I just keep pounding…at least 4/5 punches was unnecessary. If it was me we would’ve stopped earlier.”
Will Francis Ngannou fight UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones next?
While Ngannou seems to have found a new home for himself in the PFL, the MMA promotion, in truth, offers a lack of competitive opposition at heavyweight.
Instead, a mouthwatering cross-promotion clash between ‘The Predator’ and Jon Jones – something that MMA fans have long been clamoring for – could be in the works.
With boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh now being involved in the PFL and UFC, there is a chance that a deal to stage arguably the sport’s biggest fight could be reached.
After all, a showdown between Ngannou and Jones in 2025 is likely to be the most lucrative option for both combatants too.