“I hope they can remember his name because without Kobe we wouldn’t be here tonight,” roared Francis Ngannou as he clinched victory against 6″8 tall Brazilian monster, Renan Ferreira. ‘The P͏r͏edato͏r’ l͏ost his 15-month-old ͏son, Ko͏be, back in ͏April͏ t͏his y͏ea͏r. This hear͏tbreaking loss devastated Ngan͏nou and deeply affected ͏his plans to ͏ever fight for a cause again.͏ Ho͏wever, as he laid his son to rest, he p͏romi͏sed him that he ͏would carry on his l͏egac͏y a͏nd cont͏in͏ue͏ t͏o d͏efeat ͏his ͏oppone͏nts͏. ͏And that’s exactly what he did when he͏ entered the Smar͏tCa͏g͏e agains͏t F͏erreira.

Francis Ngannou knocked out Renan Ferreira in the very first round to become the first PFL’s heavyweight champion. After the victory, ‘Predator’ immediately burst into tears as he took his son’s name, attributing the victory to him. At the post-fight press conference, when Francis Ngannou was asked how he managed to train despite the heavy burden of his son’s death, ‘Predator’ laid out the philosophies of life in front of the world.

The former UFC Heavyweight Champion emphasized that he wasn’t as strong as expected. He described himself as just a regular person with big dreams. “Life can take you in advance, and you think you’re running away, but it hits really hard, like from the front. And then, you know, it’s something that I never imagined. I mean, I have seen people going through it, and out of compassion, I have been trying to understand how they must feel, but I never got anywhere close to how you feel exactly.”

He further counted, “It was pretty hard. It was hard at any moment, from the beginning to the end. But I think it’s one of those things where you kind of ask yourself if this is ever going to be over, and it might never be over. You just have to learn how to roll with it, to live with it. In certain cases, I would have taken time, you know, to grieve, but how long would that take? I don’t think there’s enough time. I don’t think a lifetime would be enough to grieve. So is it just about keeping going?”

Ded͏icating͏ his victory to his late son, Francis Ngannou ͏is enduring a pain far greater than we can imagine. Aft͏er the win, ‘͏The Predator’ cou͏ldn͏’t hol͏d back h͏is tears, bre͏aking do͏wn emotio͏nally in the ca͏ge. ͏His grief w͏as so o͏verwhelming that͏ his ent͏ire team h͏ad͏ ͏to en͏ter the ͏cage͏ to comfort him.͏ So, what exactly happened to his son? Let us find out.

Francis Ngannou laid out what happened with Kobe

Back in April, Francis Ngannou took to his social media to emphasize that he lost his 15-month-old son, Kobe. As he confessed his loss, the entire MMA community came in unison to grieve for Ngannou’s s loss. Well, the actual reason behind the unfortunate death was never laid out by the family but at ‘Joe Rogan Experience’, ‘Predator’ confessed the real reason why his 15-months-old fighter lost the race to life.

While in conversation with Joe Rogan, Francis Ngannou confessed, “He has some malformation on his brain, which is something that we didn’t know. He passed out twice. The first time was in Cameroon. We took him to the hospital. They didn’t find anything. The second time was in [Saudi Arabia], we took him to the hospital. They ran a lot of exams; they didn’t do anything.”

He further added, “After all those exams, they gave him some medicine, that he’s going to be OK. Nothing to worry about. Because at first, they even thought about asthma. They gave, like, a ventilator, and then afterward, after some research, they took it out. It [made me] confident.” 

The passing of his son was like a nightmare to the fighter, he even considered leaving the sport forever but as time came for his MMA return, Ngannou embraced to fight in the name of his son. Regardless, what’s your take on the report? State your thoughts in the comments below.