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Cristiano Ronaldo motivated Francis Ngannou with an emotional speech on Saturday, before the heavyweight knocked out Renan Ferreira in Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou, who won the PFL heavyweight title with his victory, was competing in mixed martial arts for the first time in almost three years, having boxed Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua over the last 12 months.
The former UFC champion suffered mixed fortunes in those bouts; while he lost to Fury on points, he dropped the then-WBC champion, securing a ‘moral’ victory, but there was no consolation in his brutal knockout by Joshua.
“AJ” dropped Ngannou three times en route to a second-round win, and one month later, Ngannou announced the death of his 15-month-old son Kobe.
Football superstar Ronaldo, who competes for Saudi club Al-Nassr, has experienced similar tragedy, having lost a son during childbirth in 2022. And the Portuguese icon, 39, discussed the grief around that episode with Ngannou, 38, on Saturday (12 October).
Ngannou’s coach Eric Nicksick told MMA Junkie: “He was so cool and super down to earth. He was a super cool guy and actually a huge fighting fan, so he had a bunch of questions. He was talking to me about [UFC fighter Sean] Strickland, this and that, whatever fight it was.
“Then, at one point, Francis got up to wrap his hands, and Ronaldo was kind of talking about how he could feel Francis’s energy. And he goes: ‘I’m just going to give him words of encouragement…’
“He was talking about the loss of one of his children and kind of how he related to that, and things like that. It was kind of cool. I know how big of a star he is, but sitting next to me and having this very personal conversation made him feel like he was part of the team – right then and there.
“His son was in there with us and hanging out, so it was a very much welcomed energy to have in the room. Especially someone of that stature who understands the highest of pressure.”
Ngannou took down Ferreira and knocked out the Brazilian in round one, in the Cameroonian’s first MMA fight since January 2022, when he retained the UFC title with a decision win against Ciryl Gane.
A year later, Ngannou left the UFC to pursue his lifelong dream of boxing. In the meantime, he signed a contract with the PFL.
Both of Ngannou’s boxing matches took place in Riyadh, like Saturday’s win over Ferreira.
In an emotional post-fight interview in the cage, Ngannou said: “The past two days were very tough, full of emotion. I couldn’t do anything without thinking about [Kobe’s passing].
“I tried to stay strong and tell myself to do everything to keep moving, but it’s hard. It’s just hard. I only did this fight because of him.
“I wanted to fight for him... I hope they can remember his name, because without Kobe, we wouldn’t be here tonight; I wouldn’t have fought. Thank you everyone for coming.”
