Francis Ngannou could have almost fell asleep throughout warmups for his boxing return earlier this month, however the former UFC heavyweight champion was left unconscious after Anthony Joshua delivered a knockout from hell.
Battle followers can now take a look at the moments instantly following Ngannou’s devastating defeat as “Predator” shared new behind-the-scenes footage on Saturday. Test it out within the above video participant by way of Ngannou’s YouTube channel.
In case you missed it, Ngannou fell flat in his return to the boxing ring. The previous UFC heavyweight king shocked the boxing world by nearly defeating Tyson Fury in his boxing debut final October. Ngannou scored a knockdown in that struggle and appeared poised to present Joshua an actual run for his cash earlier this month in Saudi Arabia. Sadly, issues didn’t go as deliberate.
Ngannou, who had by no means been completed in his fight profession earlier than his tilt with Joshua, was blasted with an enormous knockdown in Spherical 1. “Predator” was utterly caught off guard and nearly had an outer physique expertise when it occurred.
“Even the primary time, I used to be fairly stunned, like, ‘Rattling, I can’t be falling from this punch,’” Ngannou mentioned. “The punch was exhausting, however I don’t assume it was the punch that normally would take me down.”
The chaos didn’t cease there. After regrouping in his nook after the primary spherical Ngannou went again out and suffered two extra knockdowns. The ultimate punch from Joshua despatched Ngannou crashing to the canvas in terrifying trend, leaving struggle followers all over the place in full awe. It additionally left Ngannou enthusiastic about all of the issues that went mistaken.
“I believe it is a knockout, it is a bizarre loss,” Ngannou mentioned. “One thing that I wouldn’t prefer to expertise, however I believe it can keep as a defeat provided that I don’t study from it and are available again from it.
“Simply life, you don’t make any excuse. That’s what we join once you come to a sport like this. You all the time know that there’s stuff like that, that might occur.”
The video additionally captures Ngannou being embraced by relations and teammates backstage as he was recovering from the vicious knockout.
Ngannou, who must be making his official return to combined martial arts (MMA) later this 12 months for his Skilled Fighters League (PFL) debut, can have a while to get well from this wild knockout loss. However now that he’s seen the shadow realm firsthand will the previous UFC champion ever be the identical?
Tell us!
