Francis Ngannou is a Cameroon Born French Martial artist, a heavyweight at UPC fighting at the UFC. born on the 5th of September 1986, in Batie in the western region of Cameroon. Childhood was not one of rose.
Born in a very poor family, his parents divorced when he was six and she was forced to grow up with an aunt. To this effect, he suffered very less formal education. At twelve, Francis was forced to mine sand at a local quarry in the village. As a youngster, he was approached by various gangs in his village to join them. However, Ngannou refused and instead decided to use his father’s negative reputation as a street fighter as motivation to do something positive and pursue boxing.
At twenty-two, Francis started training as a boxer. after a year of training, he had to stop his training for health issues. He later moved to Cameroon Economic capital city of Douala where he did a lot of odd jobs to earn a living.
At twenty-six, he succeeded to enter France where he had no friends no shelter and only had the streets to dwell on. Being a good humble and faithful guy that he is, He refused to join delinquencies in the streets but believed in His Faithful God
In August 2013, he started training for free under Didier Carmot. when asked about his journey across the continent, this is what he had to say
”When I started, I had nothing. Nothing. I needed everything. But when you start [to earn money], you starting collecting things: I want this, I want this, I want that. The purpose is not collecting things, though. The purpose is to do something great. Finish the dream you started.
I want to help my family, first, of course, but then I want to give an opportunity to children in my country like me who have a dream to become a doctor or something. If I reach my dream, it will give me the opportunity to help those in my country who have their own dreams and nothing else to fulfill them.
I want to give some opportunity for children like me who dream of this sport and don’t have an opportunity like me. The last time I was in Cameroon, I brought a lot of materials for boxing and MMA to open a gym. Now I just bought a big space to start the gym, as well. A lot of children now in Cameroon, because of me, they have a dream. They say, ‘I will be a champion in MMA. I will do boxing like Francis,’ because they saw me when I was young. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any opportunity. And today, they see me, and they are dreaming. They are thinking that something is possible. Even when they are so poor, something is possible in life. … It’s not easy. It’s so hard, but it’s possible”.
Being so ambitious about boxing and having more admiration for Mike Tyson, his coach introduced him to the sport of MMA
He started his career in Martial arts in November 2013 and later moved to UFC Read: https://factstv.cm/francis-ngannou-joins-the-cast-of-fast-and-furious-9/
His UFC debut was against fellow newcomer Luis Henrique on 19 December 2015 at UFC on Fox 17. He won the fight through a knockout. He later faced another newcomer Curtis Blaydes on 10 April 2016, at UFC Fight Night 86. He won the fight via TKO, due to doctors stoppage, at the conclusion of the second round. He has so far recorded so many successes at the UFC so much that as of now, he is number two on UFC Heavyweight ranking
below is the summary of his records
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 14–3 | Junior dos Santos | TKO (punches) | UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. dos Santos | 29 June 2019 | 1 | 1:11 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States | Performance of the Night. |
| Win | 13–3 | Cain Velasquez | KO (punches) | UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Velasquez | 17 February 2019 | 1 | 0:26 | Phoenix, Arizona, United States | |
| Win | 12–3 | Curtis Blaydes | TKO (punches) | UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2 | 24 November 2018 | 1 | 0:45 | Beijing, China | Performance of the Night. |
| Loss | 11–3 | Derrick Lewis | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 226 | 7 July 2018 | 3 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Loss | 11–2 | Stipe Miocic | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 220 | 20 January 2018 | 5 | 5:00 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | For the UFC Heavyweight Championship. |
| Win | 11–1 | Alistair Overeem | KO (punch) | UFC 218 | 2 December 2017 | 1 | 1:42 | Detroit, Michigan, United States | |
| Win | 10–1 | Andrei Arlovski | TKO (punches) | UFC on Fox: Shevchenko vs. Peña | 28 January 2017 | 1 | 1:32 | Denver, Colorado, United States | Performance of the Night. |
| Win | 9–1 | Anthony Hamilton | Submission (kimura) | UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov | 9 December 2016 | 1 | 1:57 | Albany, New York, United States | Performance of the Night. |
| Win | 8–1 | Bojan Mihajlović | TKO (punches) | UFC on Fox: Holm vs. Shevchenko | 23 July 2016 | 1 | 1:34 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | |
| Win | 7–1 | Curtis Blaydes | TKO (doctor stoppage) | UFC Fight Night: Rothwell vs. dos Santos | 10 April 2016 | 2 | 5:00 | Zagreb, Croatia | |
| Win | 6–1 | Luis Henrique | KO (punch) | UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2 | 19 December 2015 | 2 | 2:53 | Orlando, Florida, United States | |
| Win | 5–1 | William Baldutti | TKO (elbows and punches) | KHK MMA National Tryouts: Finale 2015 | 28 May 2015 | 2 | 1:22 | Madinat Isa, Bahrain | |
| Win | 4–1 | Luc Ngeleka | Submission (standing guillotine choke) | SHC 10: Carvalho vs. Belo | 20 September 2014 | 1 | 0:44 | Geneva, Switzerland | |
| Win | 3–1 | Nicolas Specq | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 100% Fight 20: Comeback | 5 April 2014 | 2 | 2:10 | Levallois, France | |
| Win | 2–1 | Bilal Tahtahi | KO (punch) | 100% Fight 20: Comeback | 5 April 2014 | 1 | 3:58 | Levallois, France | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Zoumana Cisse | Decision (unanimous) | 100% Fight: Contenders 21 | 14 December 2013 | 2 | 5:00 | Paris, France | |
| Win | 1–0 | Rachid Benzina | Submission (straight armbar) | 100% Fight: Contenders 20 | 30 November 2013 | 1 | 1:44 | Paris, France |
Read: https://factstv.cm/francis-ngannou-joins-the-cast-of-fast-and-furious-9/