‘I Believe Africa Is the Place’ – Francis Ngannou Explains Why a Goldmine of Fighters Is Waiting for UFC

Francis Ngannou became the UFC heavyweight champion after defeating Stipe Miocic at the UFC 260 event. As Ngannou became the UFC champion, it meant that there are currently 3 African champions in the UFC. Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman are the other two.

This clearly shows that Africa has a plethora of great fighters and many future champions will come out of there. During a recent interview, ‘The Predator’ talked about the same. He said, “I believe Africa is the place that many people haven’t discovered yet. They don’t realize how much talent is there right now, but I think it’s the future of combat sports.”

“Because if you look at it, it’s three UFC champions right now, which is about 30 African fighters in a roster of over 600 fighters. Then 3 champions who are African. This proves that how much talent we have back there.”

Ngannou even went on to say that he believes Africa has fighters stronger than him and if he was back there, he might not have become champion.

He said, “Because I truly believe that if we go to Africa, we’re gonna find some people who are tougher than me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been the world champion if I would have been back there.”

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“They don’t just have the opportunity right now and I hope that will change very soon. I’m trying on my end to do anything possible for that, but it’s gonna happen. I’m 100% confident about that. There are strong people out there who are stronger than me.”

Who will Francis Ngannou fight next?

Ever since Ngannou became the UFC champion, there has been much speculation as to who the fighter will defend his title against. While many believed that ‘The Predator’ will face Jon Jones in a title match, that fight could not happen due to various reasons.

There were also talks about Ngannou facing Stipe Miocic in a rematch and also about him facing Derrick Lewis. However, in the end, an interim UFC heavyweight title fight between Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis took place. Gane won that fight and now he will face Francis Ngannou for the undisputed UFC heavyweight title next.

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The UFC has yet to announce an official date of that fight, however, one may expect the fight to happen by the end of the year.