Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou scored him some autographed swag after having dinner with football icon Cristiano Ronaldo.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to take in Saturday’s highly anticipated rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury at Kingdom Arena, Ngannou revealed in a social media post that he not only had dinner with Ronaldo but also walked away with a handful of autographed jerseys courtesy of ‘CR7.’
Earlier this year, Ronaldo sat cageside at the PFL Battle of the Giants pay-per-view to witness Ngannou’s long-awaited return to mixed martial arts against heavyweight knockout artist Renan Ferreira.
Ronaldo Offered Francis Ngannou a few words of encouragement ahead of PFL debut
According to Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick, ‘El Bicho’ was sitting backstage at one point and insisted on giving ‘The Predator’ a few words of encouragement just before he made his way to the Smart Cage.
“He was so cool and super down to earth,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie. “He was a super cool guy and actually a huge fighting fan, so he had a bunch of questions, he was talking to me about [Sean] Strickland, this and that, whatever fight it was. He was really down to earth and then at one point Francis got up to wrap his hands, and Ronaldo was kind of talking about how he could feel Francis’ energy, and he goes, ‘I’m just going to give him words of encouragement…’
“He was talking about the loss of one of his children and kind of how he related to that and things like that. It was kind of cool. I know how big of a star he is, but sitting next to me and having this very personal conversation made him feel like he was part of the team right then and there. His son was in there with us and hanging out so it was a very much welcomed energy to have in the room. Especially someone of that stature who understands the highest of pressure, so it was cool and he was a great guy” (h/t Bloody Elbow).
Ngannou ended up scoring a dominant first-round TKO against Ferreria in his PFL debut — an especially impressive feat when you consider that he hadn’t competed inside a cage in nearly three years.
What’s next for Ngannou remains to be seen, but ‘The Predator’ has left the door open for a return to boxing despite going 0-2 with back-to-back losses against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
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