Video: Ngannou gets a hero’s welcome in Cameroon

UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou smiles at the weigh-ins for UFC 261. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

The newly crowned heavyweight king got an extremely warm welcome from his homeland of Cameroon. It’s been o…


UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou smiles at the weigh-ins for UFC 261.
UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou smiles at the weigh-ins for UFC 261. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

The newly crowned heavyweight king got an extremely warm welcome from his homeland of Cameroon.

It’s been one month to the day that Francis Ngannou staked his claim to the UFC heavyweight title. His hometown of Batie, Cameroon has been with him every step of the way, staying up until five in the morning to watch him knock out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.

He recently returned to Cameroon, where fans paraded the streets to welcome him home. Africa News put together a small piece to tell Ngannou’s harrowing story: the king who came from nothing (and who still stops by to work in the sandmines where he was forged).

In Ngannou’s last bout, he put on a brilliant display of fighting to his strengths. As of now, there’s still no official word on when his first title defense will be. The ‘superfight’ with Jon Jones continues to be an unfortunate point of contention between ‘Bones’, his former management, and Dana White. And at this point it seems much more likely that the UFC will continue on in the direction of a rematch with Derrick Lewis.