‘No parent should have to bury their child’– Stephen Adly Guirgis must have felt the same pain that Francis Ngannou is going through. On the 30th of April, the former UFC champion took to social media and announced that his 15-month-old child, Kobe, has passed on to the afterlife. But, the former mixed martial artist did not speak a word about it all. That was until he was invited to Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Taken over with grief, Ngannou took to X and wrote, “…Why is life so unfair and merciless? Why does life always take what we don’t have? I’m f***ing tired.” Without a doubt, the hurt in the Cameroonian’s words was imminent. 

On episode #160 of the JRE MMA Show, Ngannou finally spoke about his pain after losing little Kobe. He said, “You have things to be grateful about, but in your heart you feel like you are broken, you have nothing. Nothing is worth it. I mean, I always love life and know that I have everything… but at least for once I’m like, ‘At least whenever I die I can go and see my kid. I gonna see him.’ I’m not afraid of it. I still want to live, but at least whenever, you know, you get to that point, to think like that. So, some way you’re looking forward for whenever that happen.”

No doubt, it left the JRE host with a broken heart. But how shattered would Ngannou be to walk through the pain of losing his child? Well, that was exactly what the fighting community began to wonder, as the conversation traversed to social media. 

Francis Ngannou leaves the fighting community in tears

Losing a child is indeed one of the hardest and most crushing things that a parent can feel. And the fight fans were well aware of it. With Ngannou’s past struggles with jail time and his scuffles with the UFC in focus, one of the fans wrote, “Dude has had such a hard life Ngannou a real one.” But some of the fans noticed the fighter fighting his grief with nothing but a smile. A fan commented, “Francis Ngannou talking about losing his son has completely shattered my heart. The fact that he smiles through it at the end is incredible.”

As time passed and the netizens began to stumble upon Ngannou’s tearjerking words, they empathized with the Cameroonian, quoting, “I legit don’t know how I’d continue if one of my kiddos passed away. I have so much respect to any parent who loses a baby and pushes through it… the pain has to be as strong as the love, and that is scary..”

Some of the fans even claimed that it was the worst feeling ever. “No one deserves to go through that,” wrote a fan. Meanwhile, another comment read, “Worst feeling in the world .No parents should ever have to burry their children.” But the example that Ngannou was setting for the community wasn’t oblivious to anyone.

A few days before the grim news hit Ngannou, he lost a bout against Anthony Joshua via KO. He was already devastated by his second loss in the squared ring. But nothing could ever compare to the grief of losing his kid. A fan wrote, “Havent seen Francis speak after his KO loss and son sadly passing, im definitely gonna watch this later hope hes good.”

Needless to say, the entire fighting community stands beside Ngannou to give him solace and let him have a moment of peace. However, only he can truly know the pain that he has to go through. All the fight fans can do now, is pray and hope for his well-being.