Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou was undefeated in the UFC when he faced Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 for the heavyweight title. He was defeated by unanimous decision but Ngannou says that was the ‘best fight of his career.’
Speaking on Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson, Ngannou explained what that loss did for his mentality and how much he learned in that fight.
“I was never really like MMA stuff until I got the UFC contract. Then I was like hmm, then I think I need to do this right because it’s whether you do it or you don’t do it. You don’t do it half way. That’s the moment I really get into MMA,” Ngannou said.
“I get the UFC contact and then I’m like, okay, this was not just to make fun anymore. You have to go all in. That’s where I was like, okay, Im going to do this,” Ngannou continued.
“I get there and everything seemed easy for me. I would just get in there, I didn’t have no experience, but I was knocking people out. At some point you kind of not push yourself until I get the Stipe Miocic fight. That was my first real fight. I lost that fight and then from that night I understood everything. If you ask me, so far, that’s the best fight of my career. Not the outcome that I wanted.
“The Stipe fight was my best fight because after that fight I knew that wasn’t going to happen again and I knew why. I knew how it felt to be there, at that moment, to get in deep water, looking for oxygen to breath. I didn’t get prepared for that fight properly. Everything around that fight was wrong, but I wouldn’t have figured that out if the fight didn’t go wrong.”
Ngannou left the UFC after fighting out his contract in January 2022. He left the promotion on a six-fight winning streak but couldn’t come to terms with the UFC during negotiations for a new deal.
He later signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) and landed a boxing match against Tyson Fury. He and Fury are set to fight on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia. He’s expected to earn more in that fight than he did in all of his UFC bouts combined.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufcnews/francis-ngannou-says-loss-to-stipe-miocic-was-the-best-fight-of-his-career