PFL Superfights: Battle Of The Giants: The Mayadeen; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
So much for cage rust. You’d think if you were away from something for just under three-years, there’d be at least a slow start. Well, Francis Ngannou buried that thought. Right after he buried Renan Ferreira at 3:32 of the opening round in their superfight. Showing that the king is back, and is just as dangerous as he was before.
The duo didn’t waste any time as they traded kicks with the Brazilian owning the center of the cage. But Ngannou pressed forward inch by inch getting Ferreira near the cage. That’s when he scooped him up with a double-leg takedown.
Ferreira, from bottom position attempted a triangle to no avail. Ngannou was able to take Ferreira’s back and slammed away with ground-and-pound till referee DAN MIRAGLIOTTA jumped in to saved the unconscious fighter.
It was Ngannou’s 12th-first round stoppage, and 17th overall out of his 18 wins. Post fight he didn’t name names, or wasn’t specific about his future. Except for dedicating the victory to his recently deceased one-year old son, KOBE.
The King Has Returned, But Is It For Good
Ngannou now has a full plate, besides fighting and charity work. He has become the PFL’s main man in setting up expansion in his native Cameroon. But when push comes to shove, is it back to boxing, or does he choose to stay in MMA?
Being that he left the UFC, being their heavyweight champion, never being defeated for it, he’s now the MMA version of the lineal champion. Despite both Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall owning pieces of the strap now. Fights with either would be incredible, but that is a merry-go-round we’ve all been on before. But those battles will have to remain “what if’s”? because of Dana White‘s hatred of cross-promoting.
But being everyone is taking Saudi money, and doing what Saudi wants… who knows who is really pulling the puppet’s strings. However, with the PFL management firing barbs at the UFC this week, it will be interesting to see if the Saudi’s want the two organizations to go at it.
Although he looked great in this short burst, we didn’t see everything. Which still leaves questions. We did not see him in any real danger. Nor did we see his gas tank get tested. All we saw was his wrestling, at least in under five-minutes with no sweat built up yet, is still what it was before he went on his boxing journey.
If his next journey is still in MMA, the PFL’s heavyweight division does have some decent talent that would absolutely test his tank. They are led by FEDOR-TEAM fighters Valentin Moldavsky and Oleg Popov. However, neither one’s chin has really been cracked. And not many can withstand the smashing truck force of Ngannou. But for now he gets to sit on the throne because the king has returned.
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