Francis Ngannou believes it’s a matter of destiny.
He will be UFC heavyweight champion.
The 6’4″, 262-pound knockout artist from Cameroon believes it with the placid, yet unshakable certainty of a man who has already survived the worst things in life.
From the abject poverty of his youth to living homeless on the streets of Paris in his late 20s, Ngannou has pursued the dream of combat sports stardom fueled largely on his own steadfast self belief.
This Saturday at UFC 220, he gets his chance to prove himself right.
Standing in Ngannou‘s way is champion Stipe Miocic, the hard-hitting Cleveland native who also has a lot to fight for. Since winning the belt in May 2016, Miocic has brought a modicum of stability to the perennially problematic UFC heavyweight division.
History, however, is not on the American’s side. In the entire life of the UFC’s 265-pound title, no one has ever successfully defended it more than twice. A win here not only makes Miocic‘s bones as a dominant champion, it immediately forges him as an all-time great.
On paper, the tandem of Miocic and Ngannou make up one of the most enticing heavyweight title matchups in UFC history.
Depending on how it goes at TD Garden in Boston, their scrap may well take its place on the relatively short list of memorable championship fights in the UFC’s most beleaguered weight class.
Don’t tell that to Ngannou, though. He’s expecting a wipe-out victory rather than a war and has been dismissive of Miocic‘s chances leading up to the bout.
“He’s the champion because the real champ wasn’t there,” Ngannou said recently, via MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Ken Hathaway. “Now the real champ is on the way, and [Miocic] is not going to be the champion [for] long.”
That sentiment is shared by some observers. Miocic is going off as the slight underdog, according to OddsShark, and Ngannou‘s stupefying KO of Alistair Overeem a bit more than a month ago at UFC 218 is still so fresh that his rise to the crown has started to seem inevitable.
To Ngannou, it has always felt that way.
Growing up in the tiny village of Batie, Cameroon, he always harbored big aspirations. He idolized Mike Tyson and dreamed of becoming the same sort of polarizing champion—one who would conquer the world with a career full of highlight-reel knockouts.
The reality of Ngannou‘s childhood was starkly different than those dreams, however. His parents divorced when he was very young, and by 12 he was working in Cameroon’s dangerous and physically grueling sand mines.
In his early 20s, he fled Batie for Cameroon’s largest city of Douala and began his formal boxing training. Soon, however, Ngannou realized he’d reached the ceiling of what was available to him in Cameroon. At 26, he left his home country for France without any contacts, real prospects or any plan beyond one day becoming champion of the world.
He lived on the streets for a few months—sleeping in parks and taking his meals from homeless shelters—before hooking up with renowned MMA trainer Fernand Lopez and beginning his journey as a professional mixed martial artist.
Fast-forward five years and 12 fights and Ngannou has become nearly everything he dreamed about. He’s taken the UFC heavyweight division by storm, racking up a 6-0 record that includes three first-round knockouts.
His lithe athleticism sets him apart from his more plodding peers, and his power punching is perhaps the most dangerous the Octagon has ever seen.
Talk to his coaches or professional MMA analysts and they’ll tell you it’s Ngannou‘s fight IQ and ability to learn on the fly that makes him truly special. So far, he’s blazed his way through the UFC’s heavyweight ranks while still being very much a work in progress.
If Ngannou continues to grow and evolve as a fighter, there is simply no telling how far he might climb. There’s still one thing left for him to do to complete his childhood fantasies, however: win that title.
Ngannou‘s early idolization of Tyson was perhaps prophetic. Conventional wisdom says UFC brass would very much like to install him as heavyweight champion and promote him as MMA’s answer to Iron Mike.
Miocic certainly believes this is true. The current titlist told Ariel Helwani during an appearance on The MMA Hour earlier this month that he feels like the UFC would be happier if Ngannou takes his place and ensconces himself as the new king of the heavyweight division.
“Obviously, for sure [the UFC wants that],” Miocic said. “Listen, I feel a little bit disrespected, but I’m not going to dwell on it.”
Despite the red-hot hype around Ngannou, the pair actually makes for an unpredictable matchup.
Miocic comes in with more high-level experience and perhaps the better rounded skill set. If he can use his wrestling and push the fight into the later rounds, its possible he’ll be able to exploit some as-yet-unseen weaknesses in Ngannou‘s game.
On the other hand, we simply have no idea yet just how good Ngannou is. He’ll be the bigger, more dangerous athlete, and it’s just as likely he ices Miocic with one of his trademark power shots and adds the champion to his list of victims.
No matter the outcome, Ngannou has already succeeded in grabbing the attention of the MMA world. His inspiring personal story and jaw-dropping knockouts have made him a unique figure in the landscape of the sport.
At 31 years old—relatively young for a UFC heavyweight—this first chance at the title may not be make-or-break for him, either. No matter how it goes, it’s likely he’ll get more than one opportunity to win gold before his career is over.
But that’s another thing you probably wouldn’t want to say to Ngannou this week.
He’s certain his time is now and that his rags-to-riches dream is about to become reality.
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