MMA talk - PFL, Bellator, KSW, ONE...

[pawel7777]

I've seen Ngannou mentioned in the boxing thread and googled for his next fight to discover it's only 10 days away from now. I almost forgot that Francis Ngannou exists, I've seen zero info on that fight in my feeds. Is it just me or is it massively under-hyped?

Anyhow, Francis is a big favourite, with x1.34 odds, while Ferreira is x3.25. I don't know much about Ferreira, but have seen some highlights of his fights, and think Ngannou could struggle. Not because Ferreira being that good, but because of Francis not having any MMA fight for almost 3 years now, and because of Ferreira's slight size advantage - he's taller and likely will be heavier.

How do you see that fight playing out?

[notblox1]

How do you see that fight playing out?

I think he is big favorite against Ferreira and he should win this fight in his MMA comeback.
I am expecting to see great heavyweight fight and good efforts from both fighters, they both only lost 3 fights in their carriers.
This fight card should not be missed if you are MMA fan, there are many great fights to see.

[pawel7777]

I think he is big favorite against Ferreira and he should win this fight in his MMA comeback.
I am expecting to see great heavyweight fight and good efforts from both fighters, they both only lost 3 fights in their carriers.
This fight card should not be missed if you are MMA fan, there are many great fights to see.

Only one day to go. Weight ins for the event have just finished:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmhJbiQOXis

It was not a friendly face-off, Ferreira was more fired-up but both looked confident and well-prepared. Francis usually has a size advantage, but not this time. The height and reach advantage is on Ferreira's side, but in terms of weight Renan is only 4.7 pounds heavier, which is nothing in the heavyweight category.

Bookies are giving Renan a bit more chances than before, but he's still the underdog.
Everyone expects the fight to end by KO and betting on it going to distance you could get a payout of x8.0, and I can envision a scenario of that happening, i.e. if Ngannou is dominant in his striking, it could force Ferreira to take it to the ground, but it won't be easy to keep him there or submit him.

[notblox1]

Only one day to go. Weight ins for the event have just finished:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmhJbiQOXis

I watched face-offs and those two Ngannou and Ferriera looked angry and scary
This is going to be one of the best PFL fight cards in history, and I am skipping ufc this weekend.

Bookies are giving Renan a bit more chances than before, but he's still the underdog.
Everyone expects the fight to end by KO and betting on it going to distance you could get a payout of x8.0, and I can envision a scenario of that happening, i.e. if Ngannou is dominant in his striking, it could force Ferreira to take it to the ground, but it won't be easy to keep him there or submit him.

Ngannou is better fighter and most experts would say that, but I am not sure if he is going to have good comeback in MMA after losing his kid.
Maybe that motivates him to perform better, but I dont think this fight is going to distance.

[cygan]

today the ksw #99 event takes place in gliwice/poland
this evening there will be again 9 cage fights with various fights for the belts in the respective weight classes
who will fight against whom in the cage can be seen in the following graphic:

[tokeweed]

Loving the matches this weekend...  PFL up first at 1:00pm ET followed by the UFC at 4:00pm ET.  Aaahh perfect time to be an MMA fan.  If these events over lap I'll be watching them both side by side.    Can't wait to see Ngannou back in the cage again after his two stints at boxing.

And from the looks of it at the face offs, I'm guessing it's gonna be over at R1.  Lolol.  Ngannou via brutal KO at R1.  That's around 2.30 but that's the only way to go with this.  I guess R2 KO at 4.80 is value.

[TopTort777]

The Predator did it again. First round KO. But somehow I have expected more from this fight. It was way to short. Just one some swarming on the ground, Ngannou took back and started landing punches. Either Renan have blocked them or not, they still hurt a lot and make dizzy. It was kind of fight where first who takes good position wins.

[coin-investor]

The Predator did it again. First round KO. But somehow I have expected more from this fight. It was way to short. Just one some swarming on the ground, Ngannou took back and started landing punches. Either Renan have blocked them or not, they still hurt a lot and make dizzy. It was kind of fight where first who takes good position wins.

The take down did it all for Ngannou I thought he will be trapped in the triangle attempt by Rennan but his quick thinking got him out of that and the rapid punches Rennan cannot block made him to turn around and that's where Ngannou pour him a lot of punches I thought the ref was late stopping the fight, Rennan was already unconscious but Ngannou keeps hitting him.
The predator is back and he is very emotional after the fight as he dedicated the fight to his departed son Kobe

Here is the highlight of the fight

FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS | FRANCIS NGANNOU VS. RENAN FERREIRA

[cabron]

The Predator did it again. First round KO. But somehow I have expected more from this fight. It was way to short. Just one some swarming on the ground, Ngannou took back and started landing punches. Either Renan have blocked them or not, they still hurt a lot and make dizzy. It was kind of fight where first who takes good position wins.

The take down did it all for Ngannou I thought he will be trapped in the triangle attempt by Rennan but his quick thinking got him out of that and the rapid punches Rennan cannot block made him to turn around and that's where Ngannou pour him a lot of punches I thought the ref was late stopping the fight, Rennan was already unconscious but Ngannou keeps hitting him.
The predator is back and he is very emotional after the fight as he dedicated the fight to his departed son Kobe

Here is the highlight of the fight

FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS | FRANCIS NGANNOU VS. RENAN FERREIRA

For a HW fighter to hit an unconscious opponent, it would already be an overkill. The referee couldn't step in because he knows HW fighters regain back easily as well. Those overhead shots are scary, one hit could KO either of them.

Francis took this belt easily from Ferreira and this was his first fight in PFL. He is lighter this time and Ngannou seems better than in his last fights but almost caught in a triangle on the ground.  Congrats to Ngannou.

[TopTort777]

The Predator did it again. First round KO. But somehow I have expected more from this fight. It was way to short. Just one some swarming on the ground, Ngannou took back and started landing punches. Either Renan have blocked them or not, they still hurt a lot and make dizzy. It was kind of fight where first who takes good position wins.

The take down did it all for Ngannou I thought he will be trapped in the triangle attempt by Rennan but his quick thinking got him out of that and the rapid punches Rennan cannot block made him to turn around and that's where Ngannou pour him a lot of punches I thought the ref was late stopping the fight, Rennan was already unconscious but Ngannou keeps hitting him.
The predator is back and he is very emotional after the fight as he dedicated the fight to his departed son Kobe

Here is the highlight of the fight

FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS | FRANCIS NGANNOU VS. RENAN FERREIRA

To be honest, I cant say that this can be called a real return for Ngannou. Fighters in PFL are not on the same level as UFC fighters. Lets look on Ferreira profile. He is huge, knocks people down easily. But what is his fighting style? As a Brazilian, he supposed to be a bjj black belt as minimum, but he does not have any belt. He has been fighting and training for years, yet he is not master of any combat sport. First take down attempt by predator, and Ferreira is already on the ground. What Ferreira did in this fight? Threw 2 low kicks, 1 overhand, felt on the back, made 2 slaps on the ear and went to sleep. Oohh, he tried kimura from very weird position.

[pawel7777]

Ngannou did not disappoint. I expected Ferreira to cause much more trouble and maybe even get a surprise win (given Francis' long time off of the MMA) but he got destroyed in less than 4 minutes of round one. So pretty much what most people expected.
I wonder what's next for Ngannou.

Results of all the fights of the event:

Francis Ngannou def. Renan Ferreira - KO (punches)
Cris Cyborg def. Larissa Pacheco - Decision (unanimous)
Johnny Eblen def. Fabian Edwards - Decision (unanimous)
Zafar Mohsen def. Husein Kadimagomaev - Decision (unanimous)
Paul Hughes def. A. J. McKee - Decision (split)
Raufeon Stots def. Marcos Breno - Submission (rear-naked choke)
Makkasharip Zaynukov def. Dedrek Sanders - Decision (unanimous)
Ibragim Ibragimov def. Nacho Campos - Decision (unanimous)
Taha Bendaoud def. Tariq Ismail - Submission (triangle choke)

To be honest, I cant say that this can be called a real return for Ngannou. Fighters in PFL are not on the same level as UFC fighters. Lets look on Ferreira profile. He is huge, knocks people down easily. But what is his fighting style? As a Brazilian, he supposed to be a bjj black belt as minimum, but he does not have any belt. He has been fighting and training for years, yet he is not master of any combat sport. First take down attempt by predator, and Ferreira is already on the ground. What Ferreira did in this fight? Threw 2 low kicks, 1 overhand, felt on the back, made 2 slaps on the ear and went to sleep. Oohh, he tried kimura from very weird position.

Belts don't mean much nowadays in jiu-jitsu, especially since the no-gi form became more popular ("gi" is a JJ's kimono), so no belts are actually worn anymore. But I'd assume Ferreira would have at least some belt, maybe just his wiki page doesn't mention it. But I'm guessing, he would find a school that would make it easy for him to get a black one, if that was his priority. Even Alex Pereira got one.
And I don't think bjj would cover much of a takedown defence or protection from punches, so him getting wrecked by Francis doesn't have to say much about his bjj skills.
But it's also entirely possible that he faked his fighting background history, just to make it easier to get a contract.

[coin-investor]

The take down did it all for Ngannou I thought he will be trapped in the triangle attempt by Rennan but his quick thinking got him out of that and the rapid punches Rennan cannot block made him to turn around and that's where Ngannou pour him a lot of punches I thought the ref was late stopping the fight, Rennan was already unconscious but Ngannou keeps hitting him.
The predator is back and he is very emotional after the fight as he dedicated the fight to his departed son Kobe

Here is the highlight of the fight

FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS | FRANCIS NGANNOU VS. RENAN FERREIRA

To be honest, I cant say that this can be called a real return for Ngannou. Fighters in PFL are not on the same level as UFC fighters. Lets look on Ferreira profile. He is huge, knocks people down easily. But what is his fighting style? As a Brazilian, he supposed to be a bjj black belt as minimum, but he does not have any belt. He has been fighting and training for years, yet he is not master of any combat sport. First take down attempt by predator, and Ferreira is already on the ground. What Ferreira did in this fight? Threw 2 low kicks, 1 overhand, felt on the back, made 2 slaps on the ear and went to sleep. Oohh, he tried kimura from very weird position.

The fight may look easy, but I don't want to take anything from Ngannou, the fact that he is very determined to get back from the two big blows of his life; the first one was getting knockout in a first round on his last fight, and the second was the death of his son.
It takes a real fighter with determination to get back from those two big blows. I did not see the weakness of his opponent; all I saw was Ngannou proving that he can withdstand life's tragedy, and he is setting a good example to people who face hardship from losses.

[notblox1]

Ngannou did not disappoint. I expected Ferreira to cause much more trouble and maybe even get a surprise win (given Francis' long time off of the MMA) but he got destroyed in less than 4 minutes of round one. So pretty much what most people expected.
I wonder what's next for Ngannou.

I didnt doubt Ngannou would win in this fight, but this was a brutal win in first round of his MMA comeback.
PFL is going to have hard time finding someone in heavyweight category who could compete with him in top level.
I am still hoping to see superfight Ngannou vs Jon Jones before one of them retires from MMA.

[tokeweed]

The Predator did it again. First round KO. But somehow I have expected more from this fight. It was way to short. Just one some swarming on the ground, Ngannou took back and started landing punches. Either Renan have blocked them or not, they still hurt a lot and make dizzy. It was kind of fight where first who takes good position wins.

Yeeeahh Ngannou very may well be the best HW MMA fighter in the world rn.  Just imho...  But too bad we can't see him and Jones fight in the cage.  I think Ngannou finishes Jones and I think he def finishes Aspinall too.  The UFC made a big mistake letting him go.  There was a post fight press conference with Dana White saying Hunter Campbell had regrets with their decision but Dana White said he had none.  I call bs, pretty sure there's some regret in there.

But yeah, hopefully we see Ngannou more in the cage rather than in the boxing ring.

[TopTort777]

The take down did it all for Ngannou I thought he will be trapped in the triangle attempt by Rennan but his quick thinking got him out of that and the rapid punches Rennan cannot block made him to turn around and that's where Ngannou pour him a lot of punches I thought the ref was late stopping the fight, Rennan was already unconscious but Ngannou keeps hitting him.
The predator is back and he is very emotional after the fight as he dedicated the fight to his departed son Kobe

Here is the highlight of the fight

FIGHT HIGHLIGHTS | FRANCIS NGANNOU VS. RENAN FERREIRA

To be honest, I cant say that this can be called a real return for Ngannou. Fighters in PFL are not on the same level as UFC fighters. Lets look on Ferreira profile. He is huge, knocks people down easily. But what is his fighting style? As a Brazilian, he supposed to be a bjj black belt as minimum, but he does not have any belt. He has been fighting and training for years, yet he is not master of any combat sport. First take down attempt by predator, and Ferreira is already on the ground. What Ferreira did in this fight? Threw 2 low kicks, 1 overhand, felt on the back, made 2 slaps on the ear and went to sleep. Oohh, he tried kimura from very weird position.

The fight may look easy, but I don't want to take anything from Ngannou, the fact that he is very determined to get back from the two big blows of his life; the first one was getting knockout in a first round on his last fight, and the second was the death of his son.
It takes a real fighter with determination to get back from those two big blows. I did not see the weakness of his opponent; all I saw was Ngannou proving that he can withdstand life's tragedy, and he is setting a good example to people who face hardship from losses.

That is right to say, easy. Ferreira hasnt been loosing much. Been fighting against PFL and Bellator top fighters. Then comes Ngannou, who hasnt been fighting under MMA rules for several years, and beats baddest PFL guy in about 3 minutes. Moreover, that baddest PFL guy wasnt able to do anything. For me this show that there are top UFC fighters (former as well), and the rest of MMA. I just dont remember that such thing worked opposite way, when top other-mma-promotion-guys came to UFC and beat champs or top3. But we have examples when UFC guys in other promotions dominate.

What now for Ngannou? No more serious opponents left in PFL except Delija. If or after Ngannou beats him, it will be boring for him to stay in mma.

[pawel7777]

I didn't doubt Ngannou would win in this fight, but this was a brutal win in first round of his MMA comeback.
PFL is going to have hard time finding someone in heavyweight category who could compete with him in top level.
I am still hoping to see superfight Ngannou vs Jon Jones before one of them retires from MMA.

I really wouldn't mind seeing Francis returning to the UFC, they should be able to offer him more than the PFL, the question is whether they are willing to.
But even Dana White was to take him back, I don't see a superfight with Jones likely to happen. If Jones wins with Stipe, he would either have to face Aspinall or vacate his belt. I think Ngannou Vs Aspinall would be much more possible, with a winner facing the winner of Jones Vs Miocic later on. That would be something.

I don't quite understand the format of the PFL and what type of contract Ngannou has with them. It's supposed to be a league, but Francis (or Ferreira) is not even listed in the Heavyweight 2024 standings:
https://pflmma.com/standings/2024

And, according to the Tapology, Francis is currently ranked 4th with Ferreira being No. 1:
https://www.tapology.com/rankings/4733-pfl-heavyweights-ranking

[TopTort777]

Wasnt Ngannou PFL contract a unique one? He was kind of advisor? Responsible for Africa region. Anyway, he isnt a regular fighter with a contract in PFL. He has got some benefits or special clause. Like opportunity to participate in boxing fights. Perhaps this is the reason why he is unranked. It was just a fight. Like Ngannou vs Tyson. No belt or title were on the line, no ranking points were gained. As well as Ngannou vs Ferreira fight was named as "battle of giants" - special event where to guys meet without results effects their ranking.

[pawel7777]

Wasnt Ngannou PFL contract a unique one? He was kind of advisor? Responsible for Africa region. Anyway, he isnt a regular fighter with a contract in PFL. He has got some benefits or special clause. Like opportunity to participate in boxing fights. Perhaps this is the reason why he is unranked. It was just a fight. Like Ngannou vs Tyson. No belt or title were on the line, no ranking points were gained. As well as Ngannou vs Ferreira fight was named as "battle of giants" - special event where to guys meet without results effects their ranking.

He is ranked 4th in the PFL ranking according to the Tapology:
https://www.tapology.com/rankings/4733-pfl-heavyweights-ranking
I can't find a similar ranking on the PFL website though, so this may be just Tapology's own rating of the PFL fighters.

In the 2024 Regular Season Standings, neither Ngannou or Ferreira are listed:
https://pflmma.com/standings/2024
I assume they have a league format for a certain group of fighters and they do special fights on top of that.

On Wikipedia, the Ngannou Vs Ferreira fight was denoted as the "PFL Heavyweight Superfight Championship" and he was given the belt after winning, so it's all pretty confusing.

[notblox1]

I really wouldn't mind seeing Francis returning to the UFC, they should be able to offer him more than the PFL, the question is whether they are willing to.
But even Dana White was to take him back, I don't see a superfight with Jones likely to happen. If Jones wins with Stipe, he would either have to face Aspinall or vacate his belt. I think Ngannou Vs Aspinall would be much more possible, with a winner facing the winner of Jones Vs Miocic later on. That would be something.

This will never happen, Ngannou tried to negotiate but Dana and UFC didnt want to make any changes.
I think they would rather kick out fighters like him and Cyborg, than to have rebels making waves in UFC and creating fighters union.
UFC is giving most of their fighters tiny percent of profit, it is rice and beans money, while owners take all the profit.
PFL deal Ngannou made with earnings from boxing fights set him for life.

[pawel7777]

This will never happen, Ngannou tried to negotiate but Dana and UFC didnt want to make any changes.
I think they would rather kick out fighters like him and Cyborg, than to have rebels making waves in UFC and creating fighters union.
UFC is giving most of their fighters tiny percent of profit, it is rice and beans money, while owners take all the profit.
PFL deal Ngannou made with earnings from boxing fights set him for life.

Oh for sure. From a financial perspective, leaving the UFC was a great move. Whoever his manager is, he has done a fantastic job. From a quick google search, I read that Francis made a total of around $30 million from those 2 boxing fights alone, that's probably more than he could ever earn throughout his whole UFC career, as the biggest purse for the UFC fight was $790,000 for the second fight against Stipe.

But from the sports perspective, he won't see much challenge outside of the UFC. He just beat up the most dangerous guy in the PFL, so there's not much there left for him to do. And the question is, would he even want to fight the other guys who are ranked below Ferreira?
Returning to boxing also doesn't sound feasible after he was easily defeated by Joshua. Unless he could get a fight against the winner of Jake Paul Vs Mike Tyson or something.