Fight fans got a chance to see a familiar face last weekend in Atlanta, when former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, made an appearance at State Farm Arena to support his longtime friend and former 170-pound champion, Kamaru Usman.
Perhaps he was still working off this debt.
But any talk of having “The Predator” return to the Octagon was quickly shut down, as the Cameroonian power puncher is still in bed with PFL and likely to continue his overseas exploits for the foreseeable future, even at the expense of his heavyweight legacy.
“Legacy-wise, he’s already forgotten in terms of the heavyweight division in MMA,” retired UFC slugger, Matt Brown, told MMA Fighting. “Legacy-wise, I think it damaged his legacy tremendously. Had he won those boxing matches, that would have obviously helped his legacy a shit ton. For instance, after he fought Tyson Fury the first time, and a lot of us believe that he won, it was pretty close, debatable but I would argue he probably won. I don’t think anybody was arguing that it was a bad move at that point.”
Ngannou, 38, left UFC under contentious terms back in early 2023 and made a small fortune fighting some of the best boxers in the planet. A spirited (but losing) performance against Tyson Fury was followed by a devastating knockout loss to Anthony Joshua.
“It was after he lost and now the UFC is like whatever bro, do your thing,” Brown continued. “Now everybody is asking if it was a mistake. But he made more money in those two matches that he would have made fighting in the UFC for the next 10 years. Was it a mistake on that part? No, but his legacy is going to suffer. He’s not going to be in the talks for the best heavyweight ever, period. Losing those two boxing matches is probably the worst thing that could have happened for him. It humanized him a lot.”
He certainly looked super human opposite PFL bruiser Renan Ferreira.
Ngannou (18-3) has only registered one mixed martial arts (MMA) fight since early 2022 and set sail without fighting some of the biggest names at heavyweight, like Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. Whether or not “The Predator” has done enough without them to be considered an all-time great is likely to be debated for the foreseeable future.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
