This past Saturday night in the main event of PFL Battle of the Giants, the Super Fights heavyweight title was on the line as former UFC champion Francis Ngannou (18-3) returned to MMA to face last season’s heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira (13-4, 3 NC).
Ngannou was fighting in MMA for the first time since January 2022 when he successfully defended the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane. Following a year-long negotiation with the UFC, Ngannou left and signed an exclusive contract with the PFL in 2023. His contract allowed him to also pursue professional boxing.
Ngannou boxed twice over the last year against two of the best heavyweights in the world. He lost a razor close split decision against Tyson Fury which should’ve been Fury’s first professional loss, then he was knocked out by Anthony Joshua earlier this year. After that loss, Ngannou was focused on returning to the PFL SmartCage.
However, he suffered a devastating personal loss after the Joshua fight. Ngannou’s young son Kobe passed away and that really shook Ngannou to the core. As a father of a young son myself, I can only imagine the emotional toll that it took on Ngannou. He decided to return to MMA and fight in honor of his son and that return came against the very dangerous Renan Ferreira.
The way Ferreira had knocked out Ryan Bader earlier this year had a lot of people betting on the 2023 PFL champion. However, Ngannou was smart in his approach and did what he had to on Saturday night. Ngannou used his wrestling to get Ferreira to the ground and eventually, he put Ferreira out with devastating ground strikes to capture the Super Fights heavyweight title.
What’s next after PFL Super Fights?
The question now becomes, what’s next for Francis Ngannou. I have a feeling that we might see him dip his toe back into the boxing world after this fight, but there are definite options inside the PFL SmartCage. The most obvious matchup to me is pairing Ngannou against the 2024 heavyweight champion.
The PFL World Championships go down next month and Denis Goltsov will take on Oleg Popov for the heavyweight title. It does make sense to me that in addition to winning the million dollar world championship a reward of fighting Francis Ngannou for the Super Fights heavyweight title should be on the line.
That’s the most obvious matchup. In looking at other heavyweights, they could pair him against the Bellator heavyweight champion. Ryan Bader currently holds that title and if I was to guess, Bader’s next title defense will be against a familiar foe in Vadim Nemkov. Whoever wins that fight could align nicely with a fight against Ngannou.
If I’m the PFL, I’d love to see Ngannou fight twice in 2025. Once against the 2024 champion and once against the Bellator champion. The Bellator title fight could be a unification bout which could see Ngannou hold two world titles at once.