Francis Ngannou’s unbelievable story is just not solely a rags-to-riches story but additionally how he went via hell to succeed in the brass ring on the high.
Rising from grinding poverty in Cameroon, staring loss of life within the face throughout his travels in Africa to being homeless on the streets of Paris, he suffered all of it earlier than rebuilding his life and turning into the newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion.
Africa has their first heavyweight champion!
🇨🇲 @Francis_Ngannou is the heavyweight king. #UFC260 pic.twitter.com/Db83Z4lIjp
— UFC (@ufc) March 28, 2021
‘The Predator’ scripted historical past when he turned the primary African to win the heavyweight championship, knocking out Stipe Miocic along with his fierce punches at UFC 260.
The powerful begin
Life was onerous and unfair for Ngannou proper from the start as he needed to begin working in a sand quarry from the age of 10 to help his single mom.
#ThrowbackThursday – I could also be high ufc heavyweight, however once I go house to my village, each time I at all times cease to the sandmine to work with my buddies like after we grew up. Today, it’s gratifying and enjoyable to do, however as a child pressured to do it, it was a stone on my throat .. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Qh9OdX39MX
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) June 25, 2020
“I hated this place growing up…I hated the sand mine, everything, I hated my life…Sometimes you’d argue with a rat in the trash…It really hurts me to remember everything where I came from…,” Ngannou mentioned in a latest interview for the podcast ‘Joe Rogan Experience’.
It was then, on the age of 17, that he determined to concentrate on what was inside his energy and alter for the higher. He determined to turn into a fighter and moved to Morocco in pursuit of his dream. However, there have been a number of hiccups earlier than he might lastly attain his objective.
Fighting with rats
During his journey from Cameroon to Morocco, Ngannou crossed borders illegally, lived in a bush and scrounged the trash to search out meals.
His progress was halted a number of occasions within the Sahara Desert the place he needed to drink water from animal-infested wells.
Francis Ngannou’s journey was crammed with twists and turns. (Twitter)
When he lastly did attain the promised land of Europe, there was yet one more roadblock — he was jailed for illegally crossing the Morocco-Spain border by sea. After his launch two months later, Ngannou fled to France.
Paris & Parking Lots
“I was homeless then, but at that moment, it wasn’t difficult for me anymore. You might think being homeless in Paris in the fall when it’s cold was not great, but the enthusiasm that I had at that time… Beyond everything, I was happy to be in the land of opportunity,” he mentioned. This a part of his life is what he remembers because the happiest as a result of he was ever so near his dream.
2013: 7 years in the past we have been freed by Spanish homeland safety after spending 2 months in jail for illegally coming into Europe by sea. This, after trying for one yr from Morocco. I had nothing by then however a dream and a religion of pursuing it.Some folks will at all times (1/3) pic.twitter.com/ogfyDT5ZNw
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) June 11, 2020
“Even though I was sleeping in parking lots and I didn’t have food or money, I was just free. Compared to where I was in Morocco, a parking lot was like a five-star hotel,” he recalled.
To make ends meet, Ngannou labored at a homeless shelter ‘Lo Chorba’ the place his job was to cut greens. It was right here that his life lastly took a flip for the higher when the director of the La Chorba basis launched him to Didier Carmont, who ran a boxing coaching centre in Paris.
Carmont launched him to the MMA Factory in Paris and it was right here that Ngannou, who idolises Mike Tyson, began studying boxing for the primary time in his life. “Until I went to France, in 2013, that was the first time then I walked to the gym,” Ngannou mentioned, casting his thoughts again to his early years.
Recollecting his coach’s phrases, the 35-year-old mentioned, “They said if you need the faster (road to fame and fortune), you have to do MMA. Then I’m like, what’s MMA? What’s mixed martial arts? I didn’t know UFC at the time, I didn’t know what was UFC.”
Living the dream
In November 2013, roughly three months after starting his MMA coaching, Ngannou made his debut and registered a first-round win by way of submission. He acquired an quantity of two thousand Euros, one thing which he treasures up to now.
“Two thousand Euros! Wow, that was my first money in Europe. I call Africa, I’m like ‘Hey mom, you have to celebrate this, because it’s March 8th, you can have a special international women’s day. Your son is out here and (can) take (you) out to dinner,” he mentioned.
By April 2014, ‘The Predator’ gained his first heavyweight match and in 2015, he was on the radar of the UFC with whom he penned a contract.
In 2018, when Ngannou, as a 32-year-old was on the edge of being a champion, he was stopped by Stipe Miocic at UFC 220. Taking the defeat in his stride, Ngannou labored more durable to come back again stronger and after three lengthy years, he lastly had a shot at redemption.
This time, Francis Ngannou would present why he’s the all-conquering beast as he knocked out Miocic within the second spherical of their rematch, thus fulfilling his boyhood dream.
Ngannou has now gone on to create the Francis Ngannou Foundation – a charity that provides folks in his village the prospect to attain their desires in the identical method he has. He has constructed the primary official gymnasium in his hometown, Batie and hopes to open many extra throughout Africa.
It offers us nice pleasure to see the smiling faces as the youngsters on the Francis Ngannou Foundation obtain their customized Scramble gis. We are very joyful to donate these gis to assist with the muse. Scrambler Sam Crook is presently in Cameroon giving his effort and time to the youngsters. pic.twitter.com/uRb3W2BSC9
— Scramble スクランブル (@Scramble_) November 11, 2019
“A lot of children now in Cameroon, because of me, they have a dream. They say, ‘I will be a champion in MMA. I will do boxing like Francis,’ because they saw me when I was young. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any opportunity. And today, they see me and they are dreaming. They are thinking that something is possible. Even when they are so poor, something is possible in life… It’s not easy. It’s so hard, but it’s possible.”
