Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is finally returning to MMA for his debut clash in The Professional Fighters League (PFL). The 37-year-old will take on the PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira on October 19 looking to add another feather to his cap, but wait. His history elsewhere is being written over!

Ngannou signed his contract with the PFL in May 2023 after exiting the UFC as heavyweight champion in January of the same year. ‘The Predator’ parted ways with the UFC after failing to come to a deal with the promotion. CEO Dana White made it clear during the announcement that Ngannou would never fight in the UFC again. What’s more, the promotion has been blatantly avoiding any mention of Ngannou’s legacy under their banner, even going as far as to censor Israel Adesanya!

An eagle-eyed fan spotted the edits made to the UFC 305 Countdown episode where Adesanya mentioned Ngannou’s name which had later been axed. ‘AFeldmanMMA’ on X wrote with the original and edited clips, “The first rule of UFC Fight Club: don’t mention Francis Ngannou’s name… . Here’s a look at the clip from the UFC 305 Countdown episode versus what Adesanya actually said at the UFC 305 Pre-Sale Press Conference. It’s no surprise, but the UFC’s attempt to erase Ngannou from its history is an odd move. From falsely claiming that Tafon Nchukwi was the first Cameroonian fighter in the promotion’s history to editing Ngannou’s name out of all Countdown and UFC content, it’s an interesting choice.”

Israel Adesanya was giving out details of why his beef with Dricus Du Plessis started. The former middleweight champion, during the UFC 305 Pre Sale Press Conference, named Francis Ngannou among three African champions ‘Stillknocks’ discredited with his words. However, the UFC 305 countdown video has been clearly edited, and ‘The Predators’ name has been removed.

Francis Ngannou made his debut with the UFC in the year 2015. The Cameroonian fighter impressed one and all with his brutal strength and his unique style. His journey was not very smooth, but it was the year 2021 when he defeated Stipe Miocic to win the heavyweight title. However, what followed surprised most of the fans. He decided to part ways with the UFC and vacated the belt with just one defense against Ciryl Gane in 2022. It now seems that the UFC has no interest to sort out issues with one of its most dominant champions ever.

It’s indeed an odd choice by the UFC as Ngannou is one of the most respected champions in the sport. However, all these have no effect on the 37-year-old as he is fully focused on his upcoming fight. He recently sat down for a chat with Joe Rogan and shared his future plans with the 56-year-old.

Francis Ngannou might return to boxing as revealed by the former champion

In a recent episode of the JRE MMA Show, Francis Ngannou and Joe Rogan seemed to be in high spirits during their conversation. The pair discussed a variety of topics on the podcast and the 37-year-old opened up about his future plans. ‘The Predator’ will go for the title in his next fight in the PFL and will look to become a champion there. But what happens when he wins the title? Rogan pointed out that he will have a lack of competition if he manages to win that fight. However, the former UFC champion was quick to respond that he would then try his hands at boxing again in such a situation.

The JRE host was quick to ask him, “ Do you have an opponent in mind? Ngannou after a brief pause pointed out that he doesn’t have any particular opponents in mind at the moment. However, he gave out details of his retirement plan and said, “Like how many fights do I think I can do in MMA or boxing? I think I get to have a good four-fight plan in boxing, I think that could be good. You know, you get like a good four fights, and then you build, like, know who and who should be next. That could be my potential retirement plan.” Ngannou will be desperate to win the PFL heavyweight title as well as he rates his opponent very high.

But what matters is whether we see the 37-year-old back in the UFC again or not. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.