COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – Renan Ferreira would love to be the one to welcome Francis Ngannou to the PFL.
Ferreira (11-3) meets Denis Goltsov (32-7) in the heavyweight final Nov. 24 at 2023 PFL Championships, which takes place at The Anthem in Washington D.C. and streams live on ESPN+ PPV.
While his focus is on Goltsov, Ferreira can’t help but think of the opportunities that could come out of winning the championship – one of those being a potential fight with Ngannou.
“I feel like this is almost a make it or break it moment,” Ferreira told MMA Junkie through an interpreter at a PFL media day Wednesday. “It’s tough to even say this because there’s so much on the line between the belt and the million dollars, but there really is more on the line when you talk about future opportunities and the opportunity to fight a guy like Francis after this.”
Ferreira has finished all but one of his 11 professional wins, with nine of them coming by knockout – most recently shutting the lights off Maurice Greene in the first round in August.
He sees a matchup against a fellow knockout artist in Ngannou being an entertaining one for the fans.
“It’s definitely a fan favorite (fight),” Ferreira said. “It’s two tough guys that swing big, that have a lot of knockout power, two exciting heavyweights. I feel like this is the kind of stuff that fans of the sport want to tune in and watch.”
Ngannou has business of his own to attend to first. The former UFC heavyweight champion makes his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury in a 10-round bout on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou is a big underdog, but Ferreira says you can never count out his power.
“Tyson Fury is Tyson Fury. He’s been in the business for a while,” Ferreira said. “He’s a professional boxer. But you can’t count Francis out. He’s a top-level MMA heavyweight with incredible knockout power in his hands, so it’s going to be a good fight.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2023 PFL Championships.
