Francis Ngannou recently went through a tragedy that is perhaps the worst any human being can- the death of a child. ‘The Predator’ lost his fifteen-month-old son, Kobe just two months ago, and has frankly admitted that he doesn’t know how to deal with the pain. It goes without saying that the entire MMA world has sympathized with him and his terrible loss.

After all, there are some things that are off-limits when it comes to trash-talking and the death of a child is certainly one of them. This is why fans were outraged when it seemed like Ngannou’s next opponent, Renan Ferreira seemingly claimed that the former UFC champ’s fight with him would be ‘tougher’ than the death of his baby. But Ngannou is unbothered by these comments as he revealed in a recent social media post.

Francis Ngannou, of course, is set to face Ferreira for the vacant PFL Heavyweight Super Fights Championship on October 19. This, of course, will be Ngannou’s PFL debut even though the Cameroonian signed with the Donn Davis-founded promotion early last year since he was busy boxing heavyweight champions and former champions in the meantime.

While the MMA world is up in arms about Ferreira’s apparent ‘low blow’, Ngannou is unperturbed. ‘The Predator’ is totally focused on the Brazilian and has taken to social media to tell fans that he is “Work in progress 🎯10/19,” Ngannou wrote on an Instagram post accompanying a picture of him training.

Ferreira, of course, poses a challenge to the Cameroonian that he has not quite faced in his fighting career. Not only can he match the PFL heavyweight in terms of physicality, but is also much quicker and more athletic than his size would let on at first glance.

Needless to say, the former UFC heavyweight champ’s reputation is on the line. After all,  this is the fight game and every fighter is only as good as their last performance. Being a former champ of the UFC, the premier MMA promotion in the world, the Cameroonian would be expected to not only win but dominate Ferreira. As their fight draws closer, let us take a look at what exactly the Brazilian said that has made MMA fans so angry and whether he even meant to say what fans felt he said.

Did Renan Ferreira cross a line? PFL champ’s take on Francis Ngannou’s recent tragedy

Press conferences, of course, are the perfect place for fighters to trash-talk each other in the worst ways possible in order to try and sell fights. Conor McGregor became the biggest star in the promotion off of mostly trash-talking his opponents in pre-fight press conferences. His antics before his UFC 229 clash with Khabib Nurmagomedov, which became the biggest commercial success in the history of MMA is a prime example.

However, there are some lines no one crosses, not even McGregor. So imagine fight fans’ surprise when Ferreira seemingly made a comment directed at Ngannou’s son’s death, claiming their fight would be the ‘biggest problem’ of Ngannou’s ‘year right now,’ when the year had seen the Cameroonian’s son pass away.

“Francis has been going through a tough year in his life, but the toughest challenge in his life and in 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.

Later, however, Ferriera clarified that his comments weren’t interpreted correctly by the translator and that he only meant he would be the ‘biggest problem’ in Ngannou’s professional and not personal life. That indeed seems to be correct since the 2023 PFL heavyweight champ is not at all the type to do something so low and dishonorable. What are your thoughts on Ferreira’s comments?