Francis Ngannou suffered the first loss of his UFC career against Stipe Miocic back at UFC 220 in what was a lopsided unanimous decision win for the American fighter. Miocic retained his heavyweight championship being an underdog in the fight and proved to the world why he will go down as one of the greatest fighters to ever step inside the Octagon.
On March 27, as both the fighters once again get ready to share the UFC Octagon, Francis Ngannou sat down with Adam Catterall of BT Sports and shared his thoughts on what went wrong during the first fight against Miocic back in 2018.
Also Read: Stipe Miocic Looks Back at Daniel Cormier Trilogy Ahead of UFC 260
“It was a first title fight. I have to deal with the preparation of a title fight even though I was not experienced enough for that level of fighter. I learned a lot experience-wise, and kind of learned how to get prepared next time, and how to approach that.”
Ngannou also expressed the emotional rollercoaster that he had to go through after suffering his first loss. Ngannou will go on to lose his next fight as well against Derrick Lewis via unanimous decision, To date, Lewis vs Ngannou is referred by many as one of the most boring fights in the history of MMA. Lewis won the fight via decision despite landing just 20 strikes in the entire fight.
Needless to say, Ngannou’s lackluster performance against Lewis could have a lot to do with his loss against Miocic that evidently had a huge impact on The Predator.
Francis Ngannou feels more confident going against Stipe Miocic
“I remember sometimes going to bed at night, and didn’t want the sun to rise the next day.” Ngannou continued, “When I got back in Cameroon, this is what hurt me a lot. I had like a hero welcome.”
“I was like, they all calling me champ. But I was like, but I lost.” Ngannou revealed that it hurt him that he couldn’t win the championship belt for his people. “It would have been great if I had one the title fight. But then I started to look at it from a different angle.” Ngannou reveals that he later found more meaning in fighting, and watching the people of his homeland celebrate his loss, has changed him a lot in terms of how he approaches his fights. “It was in that moment that I stopped fighting for me, and start fighting for us.”
Also Read: “A More One-Sided Fight” – Stipe Miocic Aims to Finish Francis Ngannou in the Rematch at UFC 260
Francis Ngannou will look to right the wrongs ahead of the rematch that will go down on March 27 at UFC 260 inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas. The much anticipated UFC PPV is billed as the “Biggest Baddest Rematch” in the history of mixed martial arts. Miocic will once again look to snap Ngannou off his winning streak as he takes on The Predator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEoQ1_ABZ-I
UFC 256 will also feature the return of Tyron Woodley against up and rising contender Vicente Luque. The much anticipated Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega for the featherweight championship was pulled off last Saturday after Volkanovski tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus.
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