Francis Ngannou might have made his grand return to the MMA realm at PFL’s stellar ‘Battle of the Giants’ PPV but he just faced a tragic loss before the event. Luckily, he had support from his team and family along with another world-famous legend who, by a twist of fate, can relate to what happened to the heavyweight star. ‘The Predator’ got the surprise of his life when Cristiano Ronaldo dropped by the former UFC champion’s locker room before his fight against Renan Ferreira in Riyadh.

For the unversed, Ngannou was coming back into the combat sports world after the huge loss of his 15-month-old son Kobe. Despite concerns from his team, including Erick Nicksick, Ngannou was determined to honor his son’s legacy by stepping back into the fight game. Driven by his love for Kobe, Ngannou delivered a powerful performance, knocking out Renan Ferreira in the first round of his PFL debut.

The whole night was a potpourri of emotions and heartfelt messages, as he dedicated the win to Kobe while breaking down into tears. After the historic night, Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick talked to MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn and described the nitty-gritty of the event along with the precious moment soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo and ‘The Predator’ shared inside the latter’s locker room.

The coach said that Ronaldo spoke to Ngannou before the fight and gave words of encouragement since the loss of a child hit very close to home for him too. Nicksick explained, “Really down to earth, and then at one point Francis got up to wrap his hands, and then Ronaldo was kind of talking about like, you know he could feel Francis’ energy. He is like ‘You know just he goes, I wanna give him words of encouragement. Like he was talking about the loss of one of his children, um, and just kind of how he related to that and things like that.”

The Portuguese legend was accompanied by his son Cristiano Jr. and the duo was greeted with smiles and hugs by Ngannou’s team. The former Read Madrid sensation had a similar experience in 2022 when his newborn baby son tragically passed away, so he could relate to the heavyweight star’s emotional state.

The legend decided to sit with the MMA star and asked him “You good?” Francis Ngannou replied, “Yeah. Good to see you.” Maybe this emotional connection of one father to another helped the Cameroonian native to win the fight. As for Ronaldo, according to Nicksick, he could feel the sorrow of the loss since he lost his son 2 years back.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened up about his son’s tragic loss

In April 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodriguez experienced a devastating loss when one of their twins passed away shortly after birth. The couple, who now have five children, opened up about the heartbreak of losing their son, Angel.

Thankfully, the twin sister survived and was named Bella Esmeralda. When Ronaldo brought Bella home, his other four children had many questions that left the couple grappling with their grief. Ronaldo and Rodriguez have been together since 2016 and have a daughter named Alana (3), a son Cristiano Jr. (12), and twins Eva and Mateo (4). All four children were born to surrogate mothers.

He described the conversation with his kids to Piers Morgan on TalkTV. Ronaldo said, “After one week I say, ‘Let’s be upfront and let’s be honest with the kids, let’s say that, Angel, they go to Heaven’.”

He even posted on Instagram about the tragic loss and the whole world sent their heartfelt condolences. And now he is spreading his heartfelt warmth to the heavyweight star and the latter won his fight. What are your views on Ngannou’s legacy-defining performance in his PFL debut?