Nearly 15 months after it was announced that Francis Ngannou had signed a deal with the PFL following his UFC departure, the promotion finally has something on the books.
That should be cause for celebration for all PFL brass, whom have been eagerly waiting for this moment after Ngannou took a side quest into boxing for a pair of high-profile bouts with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. But the timing does bring an abundance of questions.
PFL announced on Wednesday that Ngannou will compete in MMA at its Oct. 19 pay-per-view event for the first time since his January 2022 victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. “The Predator” will take on Brazil’s Renan Ferreira, a hulking physical specimen standing 6-foot-8 who tore through the 2023 PFL season with three consecutive knockouts. Moreover, he needed just 21 seconds to obliterate Ryan Bader at February’s PFL vs. Bellator: Champions event to cement himself as the one who will welcome Ngannou back to the cage.
It’s a solid fight, all things considered. Ferreira is as close to a homegrown product as PFL can find in its heavyweight division, and the power he has displayed in previous fights makes it impossible to rule out his chances at pulling off an upset.
In fact, if you had to handicap Ferreira’s odds of beating Ngannou, a number of external factors might this his best possible opportunity. Why? The prominent questions are threefold around Ngannou at this point.
When you line up everything above in a row, it seems grim for Ngannou. Or at minimum, worrisome. But if there’s one thing this man has proven time and time again throughout his inspiring and harrowing life story, it’s that no obstacle is too big for him to attempt to overcome.
Ngannou has thrived off everyone’s doubt his entire life. They said he would never become UFC champion. They said he would never effectively wield his power to exit the UFC on his terms. They said he would never secure a money boxing match against Tyson Fury, and let alone be competitive in it. Now they are saying the circumstances here might be too much.
Just a few short years ago there was no question Ngannou deserved “The Baddest Man on the Planet” label. We found out that wasn’t the case in the boxing ring, but it might very well still be in MMA. What Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall have done in the UFC has muddied the waters, but Ngannou has the chance to send a reminder in a little more than two months.
If his track record is worth anything, the circumstances will be damned, and he’ll do just that.