Francis Ngannou landed monstrous uppercut KO to win UFC debut and begin journey to superstardom
01/24/2025 08:47 AM
Humble beginnings define Francis Ngannou, the PFL super-fight heavyweight champion, and lineal UFC openweight and heavyweight title holder.
‘The Predator’ hails from Cameroon, where he embarked on an arduous journey to create a better future for himself and his family in the West. His story could be a Hollywood movie with ups and downs words cannot describe.
Ngannou found his way to Paris, France, where he slept in the gym and planned a career in boxing. However, it wasn’t until he debuted in the UFC that he discovered his true calling: slumping the UFC’s biggest and most dangerous fighters.
Francis Ngannou debuted in the UFC as an unknown fighter and delivered a highlight-reel knockout
Ngannou made his UFC debut in 2015 with a record of five wins and one loss. During those early days, the commentary team struggled to pronounce his name correctly. Francis ‘Gannow’ was an enigmatic figure – few could have predicted the power he would unleash in his fists.
8-1 (1NC) 22-year-old heavyweight Luis Henrique was Ngannou’s debut opponent, and he offered a stiff test. Henrique took Ngannou to the ground early, but favorable refereeing separated the two heavyweights after a bout of inactivity. This happened multiple times throughout the fight.
Ngannou capitalized on his withered foe halfway through round two, where a 1-2-3 combination found its mark, sending Henrique reeling across the cage. Smelling blood, Ngannou lived up to his ‘Predator’ monicker by stalking Henrique to the cage side and uncorking a monster uppercut that slumped his foe like a sack of potatoes.
Francis Ngannou is the lineal UFC champion
Ngannou doesn’t hold the UFC heavyweight title, but he never lost it, which makes him the lineal titleholder. Until Ngannou loses in MMA, this title will never be spiritually passed on. Ngannou last defeated Renan Ferreira in the PFL.
One lesser-known fact about Ngannou is that he is also the lineal UFC champion, starting back at UFC 1, where Royce Gracie defeated Gerard Gordeau for the inaugural championship.
- Nov 12, 1993: Royce Gracie def. Gerard Gordeau for the inaugural UFC title
- May 1, 2000: Gracie lost the lineal title to Kazushi Sakuraba at PRIDE GP 2000
- May 1, 2000: Igor Vovchancyn defeats Sakuraba in the PRIDE GP 2000 semifinals
- May 1, 2000: Vovchancyn loses the lineal title to Mark Coleman in the PRIDE GP 2000 finals
- Sept 24, 2001: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeats Coleman at PRIDE 16
- Mar 16, 2003: Fedor Emelianenko defeats Nogueira at PRIDE 25
- Jun 26, 2010: Emelianenko defends the lineal title for seven years before losing to Fabricio Werdum in Strikeforce
- Jun 18, 2011: Alistair Overeem defeats Werdum in Strikeforce
- Feb 2, 2013: Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva knocks out Overeem at UFC 156
- May 25, 2013: Cain Velasquez mauls Silva at UFC 160 and unifies the lineal and undisputed UFC titles by defeating Junior Dos Santos at UFC 155
- Jun 13, 2015: Werdum returns, defeats Velasquez at UFC 188
- May 14, 2016: Stipe Miocic knocks out Werdum at UFC 198
- Jul 7, 2018: Daniel Cormier upsets Miocic at UFC 226
- Aug 17, 2019: Miocic reclaims gold in the rematch with Cormier at UFC 241
- Mar 27, 2021: Ngannou sparks Miocic to take the title and hasn’t been defeated since
As for the inaugural UFC heavyweight title, which started with Mark Coleman at UFC 10, that title also finds its way back to Ngannou.
