MMA does not scare Francis Ngannou since he has already faced the worst. Now UFC and brutal fights in the octagon feel like a normal day for him. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion has been through something that no parent would ever wish even on their enemies. He faced the devastating loss of his 15-month-old son and this loss has fundamentally changed him in a lot of ways. Very few people can endure such pain but the fighter has been dealing with it bravely.

He had even contemplated retirement following his son’s demise, but he believed that continuing to fight was the “best way of honoring him.” On this note, he decided to come back to Paris ahead of his PFL debut against Renan Ferreira. He is doing everything necessary to prepare according to Eric Nicksick, so let’s see what the coach said about the champ’s mental state.

Eric Nicksick opened up about how Francis Ngannou is holding up after the sorrowful incident

The world had got to know that something was wrong as ‘The Predator’ had taken to X and sent a cryptic message. Every person who read that message was baffled because the sadness in his words was not shrouded in any mystery. However, the UFC world was finally in tears when the former champ’s family also posted about the news.

However, the fighter has decided to return to UFC even after this devastating loss. After a two-fight foray into boxing, he is set to return on October 19 to the Professional Fighters League in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On that same note, his coach updated ESPN MMA on how he’s preparing for the fight. According to him, Ngannou had first come into the gym without any expectations and just kept on doing what he loved. Then he slowly started picking up the pace and was completely involved in the training process. With a lot of drills and takedowns, he was preparing for any fight that came his way. Nicksick even warned him that he would be ‘sore in different places’ as he was training in boxing but after what happened, this was a piece of cake for the fighter.

When asked about how he was dealing with the sorrow, the coach said on ESPN MMA, “I just feel like the motivation is different for Francis especially when he sees adversity in practice or he sees adversity in a round. I just feel like he has his edge to him about him that whatever he is going through in the moment. When it comes to MMA, will never be the gravity of what he is going through in his life. MMA things now seem easy, right? It’s like I can get through this because of what I’ve been through in my life.”

While speaking at the press conference to promote the event, the Cameroonian said that he had given a lot of thought to ending his amazing career after announcing that his baby boy Kobe had passed away. “I questioned if I should continue or if I should just retire, but I didn’t want my son to be the reason for me to do that, so I decided that I would keep fighting for him,” Ngannou said. Now he is prepared to make his son proud and is unfazed by Renan Ferreira’s threats. However, trash-talking has a limit and the demise of a loved one is certainly not one that should be on the list.

People are outraged over Renan Ferreira’s trash-talking

Renan Ferreira claimed that the former champ’s fight with him would be more tough than the death of his baby. However, Ngannou is completely unfazed by these words and is showing utmost dignity.

While the MMA world is outraged at Ferreira’s low blow, ‘The Predator’ is unperturbed. He is laser-focused on the Brazilian and has taken to social media to assure fans that he is a “Work in progress 🎯10/19,” Ferreira is a new kind of challenge for the heavyweight but he can match his opponent in physicality and is also a lot quicker. Yet his career is on the line because every athlete is as good as their last game.

The Cameroonian has been a champion at UFC before so expectations from him are pretty high. “Francis has been going through a tough year in his life, but the toughest challenge in his life and his year is gonna be me, I’m gonna be the biggest problem of his year right now, it’s a tough puzzle for him to figure out,” Ferreira claimed through an interpreter in his native Portuguese in the presser.

However, he was quick to clear that his comments were not translated properly, and he meant that he would be the ‘biggest problem’ in Ngannou’s professional life. This is believable because the 2023 PFL champ does not use dirty tricks on his opponents, generally. Do you think Ngannou can win this fight and get back in the game?