Coach Eric Nicksick: Francis Ngannou 'was questioning himself' before PFL title win, entered with rib injury

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – In addition to the tremendous emotional and mental burden Francis Ngannou carried into PFL: Battle of the Giants following the tragic death of his son, he also overcame physical hurdles.

Ngannou (18-3) revealed to MMA Junkie post-fight after Saturday’s first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira (13-4) to claim the inaugural PFL superfight heavyweight title, that his camp was troubled by a rib injury that led to a degree of contemplation about pulling out of the fight.

He ultimately moved forward with the contest and got the job done, but his head MMA coach Eric Nicksick admitted there was a degree of concern, especially if Ngannou was forced to fight from bottom position at any point against Ferreira.

“It was bad enough to where you’ve got to think: He blew out his knee and wasn’t going to pull out of the Ciryl Gane fight, (but almost pulled out of this one),” Nicksick told MMA Junkie in an exclusive interview on Sunday. “There’s a difference, different stakes, but also it was a different type of pain for him, and obviously we had a grappling-heavy game plan.

“He was worried if he was on his back, how he would be able to move and try to grapple with an injured rib. Once he went to the doctors and they cleared him with an MRI and everything else, I think he realized, ‘I’m going to be OK. I’m going to get through this still.'”

Although the injury was not inconsequential, it also paled in comparison to everything else Ngannou had to endure in his return to MMA exactly 1,000 days after he competed in his final UFC bout against Gane in January 2022.

Ngannou’s 15-month-old son Kobe tragically passed away earlier this year and the trauma of the situation led to thoughts of retirement. Ngannou said he ultimately decided he wanted to come back and dedicate a winning performance to his deceased child, and once he conquered that mission, the emotion poured out in the form of a lengthy embrace with Nicksick and many tears inside the cage.

“I can see the weight lifted off his shoulders immediately,” Nicksick said. “I think that was a lot of my emotional reaction when he won the fight. I just wanted to get in there and be with my boy. He’s been through a lot, and more than I think a lot of us will ever know. It’s just an unimaginable set of events that occurred. Not only that, but coming back and winning in the fashion that he won – it’s just a lot of emotions.

“There wasn’t a lot of words being said (when we embraced). I just wanted to be there and just hug my boy, man. Seeing the emotions that he’s had the last six months, and not only that, even going back to the Anthony Joshua fight – a lot of questioning. It was heavy. It was just heavy. There wasn’t a lot being said. I just told him I loved him, gave him a big old hug and just wanted to be there with him and support him.”

Ngannou, 38, admitted after the victory that part of his motivation to return to fighting was to “find out if I can still fight, if I still have it.” There was real amount of self doubt, and Nicksick said that didn’t go away even as the final hours wound down to standing across from Ferreira.

As Ngannou has done over and over throughout his life, however, he found a way to accomplish his goal. He did it when he escaped his native Cameroon in pursuit of a better life. He did it when he survived homelessness in France. He did it when he entered MMA with limited experience and rose to become UFC champion. And he did it again on Saturday in claiming PFL gold.

“I never questioned him, but I know he was questioning himself all the way – even up until the day of the fight,” Nicksick said. “I know that he carried a different type of weight to him and all I told him was, ‘There’s no other person in the world that I’ve met that has the courage and resiliency that you have. And if there’s anybody that can get through some sort of adversity, it’s going to be you. I don’t know what it is about God or fate or the universe that they put things in front of you. They put things in front of you because they want to see you get through it.’ That was my thing for him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.