Despite losing his first professional bout, Francis Ngannou managed to come out the other side in very good standing.
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion decided against re-signing with the MMA organisation in part to pursue a dream of fighting in boxing’s heavyweight division. He wound up landing the two most lucrative fights on offer in Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou would not have had a case for the bout against ‘AJ’ if he hadn’t impressed with his performance against Fury first – a split decision loss, yes, but one in which he knocked the then-undefeated heavyweight champion down and remained competitive over the course of the ten rounds.
He felt he won the contest, as did some pundits and fellow fighters, and called for a rematch as per the contract. Fury said he would likely honour that but had more pressing business in the form of an undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk, which he would lose by split decision.
Speaking now on the Joe Rogan Experience – nine months on and with a rematch likely low down on the list for Fury – Ngannou has revealed exactly what the contract clause said that allowed him to get a second fight, namely hearing the bell for the eighth round.
“There was even a rematch clause … There was something in the contract. If it was if I get to the eighth round. Yeah. So the deal of the rematch was if I [make it to] the eighth round.”
Asked why the rematch didn’t materialise Ngannou said ‘timing’ and, although Fury has said he would like to run it back in the future, that is still the case with a rematch against Usyk coming up in December.
Ngannou instead moved into the fight with Joshua, getting dropped in the first round and finished in the second. In the same interview he says that his long wait at the venue before ring walks played a part in a fatigued performance.
He is expected to make his PFL MMA debut this October but has taken time out following the tragic death of his son, something which he was candid about during the interview.
