Francis Ngannou feels he does not to prove himself against high-caliber wrestlers like Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, whom he can likely face, next.
Francis Ngannou was on an impressive six-fight win streak before he faced Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title in January 2018. It was a fight that showed major flaws in his game, particularly when matched up against a wrestler of Miocic’s caliber.
Now back on a three-fight win streak and an impressive first-round knockout victory over Junior dos Santos, “The Predator” has positioned himself to face the winner of the rematch between Miocic and Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 this August.
And when asked if he will need to prove himself to fans if he can compete against both elite wrestlers, Ngannou had this to say.
“I don’t need to convince people. I just got to go out there and fight,” Ngannou said during a post-fight scrum. “How did I convince people that I was going to beat Junior dos Santos tonight?
“The only thing that convinced people was the result.”
Ngannou’s loss to Miocic was followed by a lackluster showing against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226. At the time, he also received many criticisms, both from his team and UFC president Dana White.
But for the 32-year-old Cameroonian, it was more about personal issues, which he says he already sorted out.
“What’s different with these last three fights was maybe me, having fun, finding myself,” Ngannou said. “Because after my two losses, I tried to figure out why I was doing this. Then, I realized that at the beginning, I didn’t even want to do MMA, I didn’t expect to do a professional career in MMA.
“But since I was having fun training, I’m like ‘OK, let’s do it, it’s fun.’ Then, at some point, I kind of forgot that. So in the last three fights, I tried to focus on it. So it’s just (about having) fun.
“I had to understand that that’s how it works,” he continued. “The most important is to go there and do what you gonna do and give it (your) all. Because there’s nothing really frustrating and painful than going out there and feeling like you didn’t give it all. I think that’s the biggest loss, ever.”
Ngannou now improves to a record of 14-3, all wins by stoppage. He also bagged an extra $50,000 for Performance of the Night.