With one of MMA’s greatest heavyweights set to finally fight in the PFL later this year, having been signed for over a year now, Francis Ngannou will be returning to MMA in October to take on Renan Ferreira, the PFL heavyweight champion, in a bout that has fans more than excited.
Having walked away from the UFC, many will place Ngannou as one of the best heavyweights to have walked into, and out of, the company, but who exactly does he think is the best to do it? Well, the Cameroon-born fighter has revealed who is on his Mount Rushmore of MMA heavyweights.
Francis Ngannou’s MMA Career
The Predator made a name for himself in the UFC before walking out on the company
Francis Ngannou, nicknamed the Predator, boasts a healthy 17-3 MMA record, which sees 12 of those victories being through TKO, and four coming via submission. A variety of victories fitting for a man of his calibre, Ngannou blossomed in the UFC after consecutive defeats in 2018 saw him turn into a man that no one wanted to face.
Having lost his first title fight at UFC 220 to Stipe Miocic, he avenged this loss at UFC 260 to become the UFC heavyweight champion, an accolade he would hold for one more fight until he left the company as the reigning champion. Ngannou left to join the Professional Fighter’s League, where he has financially secured himself a contract that the UFC could only dream of offering. Not only that, it also allows him to branch out into other combat sports, seen in his two boxing fights against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua respectively.
Having dominated in the UFC, and impressed in the boxing ring, it is no surprise that people have placed Francis Ngannou on their own personal Mount Rushmore’s, a term that reflects the top four in a respective category, but what is more interesting is the four heavyweights that Ngannou himself sees as the top four, with an interview with talkSPORT revealing all.
Francis Ngannou Excludes Jon Jones From Mount Rushmore
Stipe Miocic, Cain Velasquez, Fedor Emelianenko, and Ngannou himself makes the cut
The first name, and to no surprise, is one of his toughest opponents, Stipe Miocic. A man who holds a unanimous decision victory over Ngannou, also holds a knockout loss to the same man, and it is Miocic that Ngannou credits his success to, as he believes those fights made him the man he is.
He then mentions Cain Velasquez, a forgotten name for many, with Francis Ngannou himself mentioning how quickly things change in MMA, and how easy it is to forget the greats of yesteryear. Velasquez, much like Miocic, is a former opponent of Ngannou’s, and a man that fell to the Cameroonian’s strength within just 26 seconds of their bout, although this bout was years out of Velasquez’s prime.
“The sport has moved a little fast, and they have forgotten a lot of people, but I would put someone like Stipe [Miocic] in the race, Cain Velasquez, Fedor Emelianenko. I think all of them are on the list… and, of course, Francis Ngannou.”
Lastly on his list, and they are last because Ngannou goes on to place himself as the fourth-placed heavyweight on his Mount Rushmore, is Fedor Emelianenko. An MMA heavyweight, his most notable work took place in Japan for MMA company PRIDE FC, where his four-year title reign saw him defeat some of the greatest to ever step foot inside the cage, which is why the Russian is dubbed the greatest to never step foot in the UFC.
A list that includes three men, two of whom he beat, that no one can argue with, as well as himself, Ngannou’s Mount Rushmore is as solid as it gets. With his October bout less than two months away, let’s hope that his PFL debut fight can vindicate his own placing on his Mount Rushmore.