Club Shay Shay - Francis Ngannou Part 2

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

But the real knockout is Francis Ngannou's incredible journey from Africa to Paris in 14 months – barbwire fences, inflatable boats, and more adversity - which displays why Francis isn’t afraid to go up against anyone. How about a culture lesson? Francis breaks down the true meaning of polygamy in Africa. Also, Francis shares the moment he knew he made it after traveling to the USA for the first time. Hold onto your gloves; this episode's a title bout of surprises. For example, you’ll never guess who Francis want to play him in a movie. Hint: it rhymes with “Skilled This Fella”. It's a heavyweight talk you won't want to miss! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He was born in Cameroon. What was Francis' life like in Cameroon?

It was very tough, very, very tough. But I do believe that that was my... That's your foundation. Regardless of what happened, I mean, if I have to go back, I swear to God, I would not choose that life. Although I still believe that it's still the best life that I could have had as a kid. Even though I couldn't, I can't choose that life, it was the best thing for me that I needed.

Your father was a street fighter. Is that kind of what drove you to the MMA? Is that what, I mean, how, because, I mean. He was a multiple staff. He wasn't only that aspect. First of all, I love combat. OK, like at my very always you always as far as I can remember, I always love combat, you know, in in Cameroon. The men's ball would be like soccer, football. OK. And I was playing football because it us it's like culture. Right. You know, like you don't have to love football to play football.

It's like culture stuff. Everybody, every kid play football. But it wasn't my thing. My thing was fighting. And I remember like I was asking kid around like, okay, let's try this. Let's try this. Play the bad guy and the good guy and this. And I'm like, you're too violent.

You're too violent. Were you always the bigger kid? For my age, yes. But I grew up around people that were like three years older than me. You know, we were going to school like I was three years younger, but we were all the same size until like maybe the day that at school they have to read our birthday and people will look around like,

damn, there's a baby in the class. What the hell are you doing here? Right? Like, because I was younger, but I was just as big as everyone. Right. But they didn't know. Right.

How many brothers and sisters do you have? I have three brothers and one sister. I'm the second oldest, and then second older, and then my sister is the fourth out of five. So, obviously, in Cameroon, I'm assuming that you come from a working class family, that you guys had to work. You worked, if I'm not mistaken, in Saltmire as a child. No, it's Sandmire. Sandmire, yeah. Well, I think we were even a little below the working class. Okay, you were below that. I don't quite know below working class, but okay, we'll go with that. Yeah, we were below working class because unlike us, my brother and I, no other kid started to work at that age.

Right. Right? Like nine-year-old working in the sun quarry, what the hell can you do? I mean, like even the shovel, empty shovel for a nine-year-old kid was already enough, right? Lucky for me, I was bigger than nine years old, so I could have carried that and I was

strong. Right? So I could have carried that and shriveled a little bit of sand and after go do different stuff. You know, we had to do that in order to sustain our life to help in the house. So, yeah, I did that my entire life. So later on, when we were teenagers, other kids were coming, maybe around 14, 13,

other kids were now coming to do that because they feel like, okay, this is the age that they can start. But by the time we were pro... But they started 13, 14. You is the age that they can start. But by the time we were They started 13, 14, you already been doing that since you were nine. So we were like the teacher, like teaching them how to start, how to work, you know, working them through everything. What I tell people is that my upbringing was kind of hard too, but working the jobs that I had, Francis, it let me know what I didn't want to do for the rest of

my life. Doing that in the sand mines, did that let you know, man, I ain't trying to do this when I get my dad's age or when I get older? Oh, absolutely. I mean, it wasn't only that. Everything that I have done in my life, I remember so many times I haven't worked, but this was like later on, I will work in the sand mine because I was always concerned about my life, like future, think about my future, like okay what will happen at this moment and I would walk in the sand mine, I see this guy like maybe 55, 60 years old, he's shivering in sand, I would look at him and then have like, you know, feel weird like this, you know like I have a goosebump like shit so if I don't do something I can find myself here at 60 years or something that's not

going to happen right there's no way that that's gonna happen I have to change right to be different and that's happened to me a lot even when I left the village I went to the city we were uh carrying uh merchandise on loading truck and stuff um and there was a people older that was working that job and i'm like man so if i stay here if i get settled i might just end up like this guy because this guy actually uh just think like oh okay let's just do it and then didn't think of tomorrow and then year just go by he didn't realize then i'm like no i have to be awake i have to be awake notice the time going and because this can end like this i can find myself here at this age

but the problem is that like when you have those kind of thoughts, if you express it, then it's kind of like insulting those people. And then in Africa, when an adult feels, an older person feels insulted by you, it's very disrespectful, right? maybe I'm 10 years old, 12, 15 years old and they all believe that I'm going to become a farmer or a carpenter or maybe go learn mechanics and stuff. I'm like, no, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be a professional fighter. They'll be like, like who? Nobody has ever done that here. It's not meant for us, right?

It's not for us. It's for somebody. Look around you and this is your reality. And I'm like, yeah, I agree. But although I still want to give it a shot. So therefore, it seems like, okay, you are looking down to people. Like you didn't have a better life. You didn't choose a better job.

And then they started to feel that and reject on you. They didn't just because nobody has a big dream, big enough to understand that you are just dreaming. You know, you are not even thinking about them, but you're thinking about you and what you want. You're not looking down on them, but you're looking better for yourself. On them, but you're looking up for yourself.

Yeah. Right. So that's how like my upbringing was also tough because like just carry just keep dreaming just have this mentality of a dreamer he was something hard to manage out there in the in mirror of a people that they don't have dream they don't expect something big to happen for them and that set me to the point that people were like, oh, this kid is a bad kid. I was a very bad kid for people. Like, when I go someplace, people didn't even want me to mix in the middle of their kid.

I'm like, this kid is a bad kid. He's going to intoxicate our kid right here. Like, his mindset is not good. His dream is so high. Like, he's going to end up robbing a bank a bank because he want an easy life right like what do you mean an easy life i'm saying i'm gonna i might just go out there and get punches to my face not easy life right like but they didn't believe that it could have happened basically in the country that they really have not example no example of a person

that have done it have have succeeded in it. Even people that has more opportunity and started earlier. When you see a documentary on their life or watch them on the news, they go back and want to tell their story. This guy is in a house with uh dust everywhere he couldn't even have a cement floor and stuff like that and it was tough so like to be honest to this day i

don't blame people those people not to believe me because the reality around was tough enough to believe in something like that. But I was so driven by my dream. The power of my dream was so big. And I could feel that only on my own. I could share with people what I'm feeling. And I was so confident about it. And people were looking at me like, this kid is losing his mind. He's out of the real world like come down on earth bro right you know like yeah so it was that i read you were a a loner as a kid

yeah i mean i wasn't really a loner by choice by uh decision just happened like that you know people don't want you playing with their kids because you're a bad influence you dream too big no like um when my parents get divorced i was six years old okay um so uh we started to live in in different family uh like we're gonna go to this family member that will help take us for like maybe six months and within these six months uh maybe we will go to school and you will start a new school and you don't have a friend. Not only you don't have a friend, you're a new guy.

You need time to have friend. But one thing that wasn't playing on my advantage was the fact that to get to the, even at the school, when you come at In a new school and then you're the cool guy is it's easy to have friend Everybody want to be your friend, but you're the kids that come with your shoes. That is I don't know like No, right and then they're gonna kick you out Of school of the classroom someday because you didn't just have a pen to take

notes or you didn't have a notebook or stuff like that or you didn't pay your scholar fee. So you had to pay to go to school? Oh yeah, we paid to go to school. Oh yeah. Oh, we paid to go to school. For regular public school, you had to pay? Yeah. It's cheaper, but we paid. you had to pay. Yeah. It's cheaper, but we pay.

We have to pay. And so you're a new kid, and then you're the one that is always being embarrassed. So everyone want to step back. Nobody's very interested to be your friend. You want to be friend. You want to fit in. You know, you're just a kid. You know, you want to be friend you want to fit in you know you're just

a kid you know you want to belong right but you don't belong it's hard to find uh you don't you you never bring food at school to share with somebody so nobody want to share with you because usually when kids share with you is in the expectation that tomorrow maybe you share with them as well but you never bring anything right nobody want to share with you is in the expectation that tomorrow maybe you share with them as well but you never bring anything right nobody want to share with you nobody want to even hang out around so then he was like that continuously and then uh and then i kept trying but one thing that i was doing i created a virtual war in my mind you mind because the life was so tough. A lot of things were missing in my life that the only way that I could get those things right as I wanted was in my mind.

And I created it. And I was living a life in my mind. I was living two lives actually. One on earth for real and one just in my head and it was a real life that i have a family and everything and we go to school everything is good we come back home there's food we eat and go do our homework everything like just perfect as i want with my parents always at home my siblings which by the time i didn't even know where they were my other sibling where one was here the other one was there two was there we were all

spread around so the only way to reunite us was in my in my mind and you say your parents got divorced when you were six did you understand did your parents sit you down and says you know no no no they don't do that we don't have that uh aspect in africa they don't have that uh meant emotion aspect in africa you have to understand like i'm talking of a uh like growing up for example as a kid maybe never get hug even when you're home with your dad you never get hug by with your dad so this the level of emotion emotional attachment is my emotional attachment it's not that we

don't take that emotional component like I was after one year with my parents being divorced, I was with my aunts. And I saw because when they divorced, I stayed with these aunts like two years and a half, almost three years, before I started to go this place six months, one year. But that was the longest that I stayed somewhere else from maybe six to, I don't know, six to 15 or 16. So I was there like, was just seven years old. And one day I asked my aunt, which is the biggest sister of my mom, I asked her like, why my dad and my mom couldn't live like your husband and you that wasn't a good question to ask because she didn't understand how a seven years old kid can understand something

like that can think like that so for them i was just a spirit living in the kid body so they always believe she always believe she passed away like five years ago but even though she believed that i wasn't just me like a spirit was living in me she didn't understand that i was just missing my family so much that he was i was able to know this stuff like that because all the time i'm looking at this i'm like why where's my parent my own parents right i'm seeing at this, I'm like, where's my own parent? I'm seeing them with their kid. I'm like, where's my own parent? Why my own parent? You wanted what they had.

I wanted what they had. So from the moment that I'm missing those stuff, I notice it. Right. You said you worked in the sand mines for over 10 years. So until you were 22 and you saw people die in the same minds, and you said, as you mentioned earlier, you saw someone you believe to be 55, 60 years of age, and you were just a child. And you said, I don't want that to be me. That's not going to be me. I see better. And you mentioned that you had two, you lived two lives. You had the life that you had in Cameroon and you had the life that you had in your mindon and you had the life that you had in your mind Yeah that you envisioned that there was something better for princess and gandu away from Cameroon

At that moment. I wasn't thinking a way of Cameroon. I was just thinking of the future I don't know where that future would would have been until I think Until really like when I started boxing at 22, I realized that even with boxing, I'm not going anywhere in Cameroon. I'm not going to do anything, even if I'm the best. Right. It's not going to be helpful. So that's when you, so at 22 is when you first got into the combat, the boxing game. Yeah.

And you're like, obviously you're beating up all the people in Cameroon. He's like, okay. What was the next step? What was your thought process? Okay, I'm winning in Cameroon, but I'm never going to be what I believe I can be just being in Cameroon.

Well, even in Cameroon, I didn't do boxing so much because after one year, I got sick. Hepatitis B. And it wasn't great. And I was boxing and was working at the same time because I was already on my own so now I have to take care of myself

do this regime for like six months and stuff so I stopped boxing and that was the moment that another like glass of cold water was thrown on my face. Like, look at the reality. And the reality was that I'm going anywhere with this out here. I better get out of this country and go somewhere with more opportunity. Your story, here's where the story gets really, I mean, you had the childhood is that when you're in the third world country and you're living in the, you said we're lower than working class, but here's where it gets very interesting. And people follow me with this. At 26, you left

Cameroon. You go to Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, Morocco, the Sahara desert, the Mediterranean sea and Spain just to make it to Paris, France. Now, I'm not Magellan, I'm not this great navigator or anything, but it seemed like you were just traveling in circles before you got to your ultimate destination. So, Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, Morocco, Sahara Desert, Mediterranean. It took you over a year.

Yeah, it took me 14 months to get all the way to France because all this was illegal immigration. Right. A lot of people that are looking for a better opportunity for a job, for stuff like that. I mean, I left on my own, but on the way, we met. You met with people coming from different places. And by the time you get in Morocco, there is like all the nationality of South, of Sahara, South,

Sub-Saharan African that are up there. They have different community and all with the same goal to get in Europe. I mean, watching that is scary. You know, I'm like, okay. So all these people are looking to go.

It's been like this amount every time. Where am I going exactly? You know. But you were undeterred because you mentioned you were on the raft sometimes and you got turned back. Every time, where am I going exactly? You know, you feel. But you were undeterred because you mentioned you were on the raft sometimes, you got turned back, you got, and you just like, I'm not, I'm not going back.

And that's the journey of a lot of people out there. In fact, I was out there just for one year. I can say, yes, I was very determined. I was going again and again and again. I didn't settle because some people at some point they get tired, they get exhausted, they get burnt out and they just go back in the city and sit and just start to find a job as a builder or help somebody like work, you know, and they are all in, they are not in a a good situation so they can even afford a good job so um yeah i was just doing the same it was the same process as a lot of people some people had a better chance have better chance they will do it make it from the first attempt some people second attempt some people will try two three times and don't make it and just give up, you know, or quit.

How many times did it take you before you became successful and got crossed over? So, in the ocean, he was, I fell six times and he was the seventh time. I went to the gate like three times. It didn't work. The first time, I get really, really caught by the barbed wire. It didn't work. The first time, I get really, really caught by the barbed wire.

Okay. Really bad. You got stuck? You got... Yeah, I still get some deep scar on me. That reminds me. But I always prefer water

because I was more comfortable in water and stuff. But I finally succeeded the seventh time. And it was like one year exactly from the day that I left Cameroon. Basically like one year anniversary from when I left Cameroon. So I remember when we get rescued by the Red Cross in the ocean. We get rescued by the Red Cross in the ocean. He was around like maybe 8 to 9 a.m. in the morning and April 3rd, 2013.

That's my daughter's birthday. Really? 2013? No, April 3rd. April 3rd, yeah. I was there and these people, the other people, because it was nine of us in this raft, this little swimming pool raft. And then they were celebrating and I was just there thinking, then a ray just hit me. Some people were calling their family, but I've been there so long that I have nothing, even not a phone, no money, nothing.

nothing even not a phone no money nothing there even the reason why I was in that raft was because I have so much experience by failing that I was a captain I don't know how to follow yes but I know how to paddle you said you like water more so than but you can't swim no Hold on you in the Mediterranean Sea and you can't swim a lick no Oh, my goodness, so you you think you think if you can swim you you can swim from the Mediterranean? No, but I mean So that I know I say it's with us with I'll be I go go straight down like a rock I mean I can stay up I can stay afloat for a while. And then what would be the end of it? You can get back to the raft.

If you fall out to the raft, if you freeze it. No, then I will get back. How? If there's a possibility to get off to the raft, we have life jacket at least. Oh, so y'all had, where'd y'all get the life jacket from? Oh, no, no. The first rule is to have life jacket. Okay.

You are going to the, in the ocean. Yes. Hey, with this raft, you need a little nail like this to blow that shit, like and it's over. Doesn't matter if you know how to swim, if you're in the middle of the ocean, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all.

So the minimum, the bare minimum is a life jacket. And sometimes we don't have a life jacket. You know this thing that, I don't know how to call it. We call it in French, versi, that they put inside a tire. Yeah, in a tube. In a tube. In a tube. Then we take it, we blow it, and then we cut the other one.

We tie it and put on our waist like this. We get it wrapped on our self like this. That one is even better than this. Better than life jacket. And cheaper. You said you didn't tell anybody that you were leaving. Why? Because if I say I'm leaving, what would be your first question?

Where you going, why? Exactly. Where you going? And if I say I don't know, what would you think of me? Well, since you don't know where you're going, well, you might as well stay here. I'm going to try to talk you out of it. Yeah, I mean, yeah. You might just think that I'm crazy.

Yeah. Basically, that since I've been having this crazy dream that nobody understand, then now I wake up someday and say, oh, I'm going. Where are you going? I don't know. Come on, man. What the hell is that?

Right? And also, it was so stressful. I mean, you don't know. You're walking into the unknown territory. You don't know if you will ever come back or not. You don't know. You're walking into the unknown territory. You don't know if you will ever come back or not. You don't know how it's out there.

You don't know if you will make it, if you will survive. You don't know if you come back alive or if even your body will ever come back or if you will come back in five years or in ten years. You don't know. I mean, like, how are you going to tell that to people? You didn't think your family would be worried that you just took off in the density? Like, where's Francis? Francis didn't go, where's Francis?

Yeah, but if they're worried when I'm gone, that means I'm gone already. I'm gone already. So that's another thing. So when you get ready, so what do you guys do for food? Okay, you're going, you're going to be in this raft and you're going to be in it for an extended period of time. How much food did you get? No, in the raft, you don't have food.

I mean, and it's not. What y'all eating? No, it's not like you don't spend days on the rough, right? It's hours couple hours. Hey in that situation You can do 24 make 24 hour without eating you ain't you ain't get nothing you get no fruit You ain't grab no bananas. You ain't grab nothing No You don't I mean

uh you're done i mean it's a very you're hiding from the police and sometimes you can get stuck somewhere for five hours just stay in one spot because there is a police car there because there is a police somewhere around or somebody that can potentially alert the police or something and then you will just hide like that all night long we are doing this all night long we start our journey as soon as the night fall and then waiting in the morning like maybe five five to six it depend the moment that they call prayer because there's this prayer every morning that we call and is a a sign. We are expecting the people that are watching, overnight watching, to go pray at that moment. So it's the opportunity for us to put the raft in the water.

All night long, we will be watching the wave because your raft is this big. And then sometimes the wave is coming all the way high here and you look at your, the way you look at your raft is this big. And then sometime the wave is coming all the way high here. And you look at your, the way you look at your raft, you're like, there's no way. And sometime you try, you're forced to go to those waves. And then he will take you and smash you back. And you better be on somewhere that there is no rock because if you go in a bit in

between of rocks to put the raft even if you find a spot to put a raft sometime when wave is very big they will grab you and slam you on those rocks right so what about like water? Did you take water? No. So basically for 24 hours, I mean, maybe 24, maybe 40 hours. I mean, sometimes some people, yes, sometimes you can have something in your pocket. You get prepared, but you're not going to carry food. If you have something like a cereal bar or a bread, you know, is a capsule, is burned very low. If you have it, good. But you also have to know that sometimes people go to those places without even having what to eat. They don't have nothing left.

But their only drive is to get to a better life. Right. So what was it like? Because not only you had to go through the forest sometimes, you had to go better life. Right. So what was it like? I mean, because not only you had to go through the forest sometimes, you had to go by land. I know you said you chose you like water better than land. So the conditions, and you mentioned it was so many. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast,

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Different sub-Saharan that was making this trek. You know, on estimate, how many people you think it were on a given time making that trek? A thousand? Ten thousand? Five thousand? Twenty thousand? No, not that much,000, 5,000, 20,000? No, not that much, but a couple thousand. A couple thousand?

At least, yeah. The condition, when you're trying to get, because when you're trying to get, you guys are going to live in the forest. Right. And then even like in the winter, in the winter, the water condition is very bad, very aggressive, it's very cold. The water is not stable at all, so you can't even try.

So there's a time, like, okay, we're going to go, say, like, the spring or the summer, the water's calmer, the water's warmer, and you have, you know, the weather's nicer. You don't want to be on the water when it's cold. Yeah. There's a moment that they call it out. Nobody is going on the water because it's a... It's too dangerous. Yeah, too, too dangerous.

So on all those words, so what did you do to stay in shape? Because, like, you're a fighter. You said you always wanted to be a fighter. That was going to be your thing. So did you, like, if you were in the forest forest did you do push-ups did you do sit-ups i mean what i did push up than i can do now like uh i was doing i get to the point that i was doing like uh 300 push-ups a day like five sections of 60 push-ups, like normal. And then with some abs, some stuff like that. But just because we have nothing to do.

And then we get into Spain after that, afterward. They put us in jail for two months. Nothing. You can't do anything there. Just maybe push-up, work some bench. Right. Whatever you can do. So you spent two years in in Paris so how long were you

in almost four years almost in jail no no two months two months two months in Spain in Spain was in Spain then you got to Paris yeah then I left when the free house we went to this those Association After a couple weeks, we left. And actually, I was going to Germany. I wasn't going. Yeah, you wanted to go to Germany. Why would you want to go to Germany? What's in Germany?

There was a Klitschko brother, and the heavyweight boxing at that time was moving up there. Okay. In France, there wasn't really, like, boxing stuff that was driving me there. and I was chasing boxing because at first If I would have to choose I would have come straight to America, right? There's not a path like that to come to America. Then I want to go to the UK But problem now the UK is not in the Schengen zone. So even when we get there with not

You trying and get into Europe and when they free you you need to do another Similar stuff and go north in France and try and wait for months And I don't know maybe more to trying to go to the UK. I was like, oh man, I'm tired. I'm going to Germany, right? I mean, I don't speak any German but Sport doesn't need language. I will learn over time, but by the time I will be boxing. How did you meet people? How did you make friends? Because, you know, you say you weren't alone about choice.

Is that, you know, when your parents separated and, you know, you had to go with this aunt and you went with this relative. And so when you go to different schools, kids were a little apprehensive. Um, so how did you meet people? How did you make friends? Well, I wasn't going to make friends. I mean, I think, uh, over, uh, I get to the point when I was a kid, I get to the point that I understand my reality. Uh, and then I stopped trying to make friends. I just, and I, and I think that was even the best thing that happened to me. You know, like I just accept my situation and just take it as it was and just be my own friend. And he, he worked out perfectly.

Uh, I've never been dependent on anybody. I just, you don't have a whole lot of friends now, do you? No, no, I don't. anybody. You don't have a whole lot of friends now, do you? No, no, I don't. Even now. Because the problem is that when I get later on in life, I get in a good position,

a better situation, but I was so used to being alone. And then that's the moment that some people would think, I mean, you're a good profile to be friend. You're a cool guy now, but you're so used to be alone that contact with people,

being around all the time, you can't do it. You know, like if I go somewhere, if I go into a party or somewhere that there's so many people, like at some point, I need to step out to go somewhere that I'm alone.

Otherwise, because it drains my energy. You're an introvert. Yeah, it gets me exhausted. So I need to go out somewhere that I'm by myself. Then I refuel my energy. Right. But if I can't deal with like constant company. You find a boxing gym.

How did you know that the people there were legit? How did you know like, okay, this is it? I didn't know that he was legit. I just had to try and I know that I had to start somewhere. It wasn't about being legit. Boxing, at the end of the day, boxing gym will not make you a boxer the only thing you can find the best boxing gym but you are not just a boxer and you will never become a boxer right it's up to you and if you are really a boxer

maybe you start in some gym which is not that great or that doesn't have that level later on you will understand and you will find yourself in a good good തതതેরຶັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັັেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরেরের� named Didier Carmon. So I asked if I could meet him. They said yes, until the end of the class. So after the end of the class, I met him and I explained the situation. I said, I just came from Africa, I'm asleep. I don't even have where to sleep, but it's okay. I'm not asking for, I just want a place to train because I want to be, I'm going to be a world champion.

You know, it's a little, it's a little cocky when you meet people at the gym and none of them is even like French champion. And you just throw it at their face like you're going to be a world champion. Right. You know, like you think we are hanging out here just for fun. But that's how he came out. But he was a really good guy. And then he helped me a lot.

How long did you stay in Germany? I didn't go to Germany. That was in France. France. Yeah. So you didn't go to Germany. So I just stopped in France because I met with a group of people there that were all going to France. So I'm like, okay, let's stop in France and see.

Then I stopped in France. But next day, I was just going. I didn't just stop to like, okay, let's enjoy France. I was just going. Then I find something that I keep. And you kept finding something. Yeah, keep digging, keep digging. So basically, you left France and came to the U.S.

Yeah. What was it like getting on that plane, coming to the U.S.? Oh, because getting in France, yes, it was good. It was another, but that was just the beginning of another chapter. Then you have to figure out your way in France. You are in France. You have no situation, no regulation situation in France, big black guy with your African accent, good luck with that.

But the women probably liked you. Big black guy in France with an accent. See? So this is the thing. So this is the thing. They so, usually, I mean, when they know you're in that situation,

everybody know that you need one thing. Paper. How to get your situation regulated. And marriage is one of those situations. So a lot of women... They would try to marry you. They don't want none of that. Because for them,

it's like a rich man thinking a woman is just coming after their money. So for them, you are just coming after their... So they don't even want to think about it. It's not even thinkable. Right. Right?

Obviously, there are some few exceptions, but overall, it's not even thinkable. Right. Because even when you talk to a man, and that man understands that you don't have a paper, bro, he treats you like you are an inferior creature. Right. Like, you're below him just because of the paper.

And I kind of like, man, it's not like something that you earn. You didn't do anything to deserve that. You know, I mean, yes, maybe you get some job. You work hard. You build a house and somebody doesn't have a house. You just happen to be born in France. You just have to be born in France. And that's all.

You didn't do anything. So don't look at, but it's the most people will act like this. So you walk around and trying to sneak and you don't even tell people, right? But you have this battle because without it, you don't, you're not in any system. Right. So when you came to the U S what were the first, where did you like, where did you go to when you came to the US? Where'd you go for Orlando? I was going to Orlando. It was my first UFC fight Okay, so that's when I was coming into us and then as my dream was always to come to the US I remember I landed and then there was this guy I landed and then there was this guy at the baggage claim with the tablet with my name on it UFC on top like Francis Ngannou and then I saw my name

walked through him take my bag and then go to the car drive and at that moment I'm just thinking of that my first time in the u.s and i'm comparing it in my first time in france i'm like this is so different i'm looking like okay and here was what not even four years yeah four years ago four years ago. Yeah, four years ago. Four years ago. Huh? No, two years. Two years, a couple months. Yeah. Because this was December 2015.

Right. I get in France in June 2013. Right. So this was two years and maybe five or six, five months. Yeah, two years and a half. Right. After. Then I'm looking at me getting in france in the subway that i jumped i didn't even pay a ticket i jumped on subway and sneak and was watching police this that's how i'm getting

in france right and then ended up in the in the parking lot that i found the uh uh boxes and put on the floor sleep on it like and then I'm here landing in the US and there's somebody I did I mean that I'm coming from from a plane right and somebody is waiting for me I work there and then get in the get in the car drove me into the hotel. And I was, I'm just laying back, I'm watching for everything, like, okay. Just, it's just going to my mind. I'm just processing stuff, right?

And then we get to this hotel, Hyatt Hotel, Hyatt Residency, massive hotel. I never saw a hotel like that. And I just lay back to go there, check in, and brought my key, gave me my key, room number. We went up, put my key, get in my room. I locked the door.

I make sure the door is very locked. I look my phone. I call Cameroon, and I say, Hey, I have Cameroon and I said, hey, I have made it. I have made it because my whole dream was to be in America. Right. That was like my biggest dream since I was kid. Like I remember like even when, since I was eight or seven, I've been making nicknames,

calling myself American Boy and all this stuff. And they will call me San Francisco. And I'll force people to tell people, my name is San Francisco. To this day, my signature is SF. And sometimes people are like, there's no S on your name i'm like it's my signature you don't know my name so i'm in the u.s and i get in the u.s in the best way no as i get in europe so

like i made it right right i'm here and i remember also 2000 2008 we were in cameron when obama won the election the yeah and then he was the result was came out like he was maybe 5 a.m in cameron nobody didn't sleep we were waiting the first black it was something very important the first black president everybody feel related into that like and then he won and then i was there we were celebrating but in my mind something was racing something else was racing and i tell my uncle i'm like okay a presidency uh mandate is like four years in the US so and renewal one time so eight years at the end of this are gonna be in the US gonna be and so that's I made it in 2017 2015 and he was still president I made it so you made it I made it but so let me ask you a question so when you got you

you got to the u.s you have the fight in orlando you get a check would you do it to money you go buy anything special no my dream is so big that obviously is the money that i never had hard but i'm looking for something else i'm i'm dreaming big i don't have time for that okay that's cool then what next right what what am i having right right uh it was all about like how the the june the process yeah i didn't buy anything I was supposed to I wanted to go in Cameroon for vacation and that would be that would have been my first time since I left then but at the same time I want to fight right back and then they give me a fight yeah no I wanted to go but you know I was sitting there hoping to fight maybe in February so I didn't go to Cameroon.

I'm like, let's wait. Then they gave me, after maybe I think it was January or early, yeah, sometime in January or early February, they gave me this fight, my second fight. I was going to fight Curtis Blade in Zagreb, Croatia. So after that, I went back in Cameroon, and it was four years since I left. Wow. Listening at you, you always, even the situation with the UFC, you thought about other fighters.

PL League, you think about other fighters. You go back home and just thinking about your family, your community, PL League, you think about other fighters. You go back home and it's thinking about your family, your community. How do I put them in a better situation? Where did you develop that from? We grew up in a very tough situation. My family and I, our life get us very close. We are very bound, like very, very close. We are very bound, like very, very close. Like, you know, I used to get sick, sick in a way that I couldn't like go to the bathroom, go out there pee on my own.

I need support, you know, and even like when we are walking in the sand mine, like when I'm sick, they'll use our money, even my brother's money, to take me to the hospital. So he wasn't like my money, your money. He was ours. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook,

Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends.

And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I was, you know, stuff like that. And then when you get to the point that you understand that you need, you need this, you need them. And they are, for some reason, they are always there. Then you lay there and then you feel powerless and then it's hard but you see them around you know gather to like do everything to support to help you in that position that you of the second thing that I feel very

maybe the first thing that I feel very grateful about because regardless I saw a lot of family around mm-hmm that they were actually doing good that growing up maybe we will expect them to give them their clothes that they don't wear anymore or the shoes that they don't wear anymore or their shoes that they don't want anymore. But I saw how it ended, how their family ended up. In fact, I think our family was by far the best, right? Because we get into the position that we just stick to each other.

I mean, it's comforting to think that if your brother make it, he's going to think about you. Right. And then you're counting on him. You're counting

on each other. So the day that you make it, you also have these days in you. And we were so family focused,

you know, like, and I always miss this, my family reunion that my first goal was to make this happen, you know, until like I started to make the family, those family reunion. I was able to gather everyone and put in one table, maybe for Christmas, for something, or maybe just for the party that I came back home and decided I was gonna throw this party. And the good thing about it is like,

when you feel like you have that power, okay, somebody is not missing because he's out there working. How much you making it work? I get you, bro. Come. When I say come, everybody come. Right. You open the gym.

How difficult was it? Is it difficult for you to say no? Because you strike me as a very generous person. No, I say no a lot. In fact, even... No, no, listen. You have to understand, I'm coming from a country that a lot of people are in very bad condition.

If you take their problem, it's going to drown you. You can't handle. You can't save everyone. You can't save. You have to save yourself first and to get out of the water before trying to take somebody out of the water otherwise both of you you will drown so even when i want to help somebody sometime you will come and explain this problem i'm like bro figure it out that's your shit i will go think of a problem think of like what could be the solution but i don't want a grown man to just sit out there lay back and wait on me wait for you because I'm out here working my eyes

off to I'm not out here sitting and things are just coming to me so I'll let you know you count on yourself because when you count on yourself you never get disappointed right if somebody helps you that that would be a great surprise but when you count on people you always have a bad surprise right it's you you rather have a chance for disappointment a great surprise than a bad surprise how is it going back home now both it's good and bad you probably have to have a police escort when you go back oh no just go out just stay home like a prisoner like you really running away from somebody knowing that you you owe nobody nothing or you're not running away from anything but you still have to stay home because that's the

easiest way you want a good place you just think about like oh people are there people gonna meet me gonna see me and i'm like i'd rather just stay here man leave me alone but it's great overall that's me at what age did you learn english um when i started to come when i started to come in the us um so prior to coming to the US you didn't speak English no even in Cameroon we were speaking a little bit of the pigeon but no pride not too much I wasn't even speaking too much but I always loved English and I understand that at that time I understood that I needed English for me learning English was an investment that i was going to make and i was like one of the biggest decision when i move in the u.s because when i move in the u.s

this was early 2017 bro it was so hard like even the word that i know maybe because i learned at school like water people will say water but we will say water water or something like that and it's and when i say water nobody understand anything and when they say water i'm like what the hell is talking about and the accent and the speed that they are talking sometimes people are talking i think like this guy is singing or he's talking like what's the difference how to figure it out so the easiest thing was just to go back, maybe in France or somewhere. But I'm like, remember why I came here. I need this English.

I need this English for the future. This is a good asset. You speak French? Yeah. Spanish? No. No Spanish? No.

I was in Spanish for like, what, two months and a half? Yeah. And in two months, I was just in for like what, two months and a half? Yeah. And in two months, I was just in jail between us. So we were all speaking French. So we wasn't in Spain. Right. The only thing that we know in Spanish was to go out.

Right. When they are turning the lights on, off, at night for us to go to sleep, stuff like that. What was the hardest language for you to learn? Well, I don't know. I mean, French is not something I don't know when I learned French. I just grew up into it and my dialect, I just grew up into it.

So I didn't actually really learn, you know, even though I didn't, I wasn't speaking too much early in my life. I was speaking the dialect, but the language that I really like, okay, I'm learning language was English. Yeah. But I'm looking at you and I mean, big old six foot five brother with access, speaking French, speaking English. The women, they coming. Well, how many women can you have? I don't know in Africa, I guess you can have as many as you can afford.

Yeah, but you have to commit into that. That's another energy to give someone else. So, we were talking earlier, dating, marriage, what you want to accomplish, what you're trying to accomplish? Is that in the future? I don't know. Right now, I don't think about it. I remember when I left Kimeron, I wanted maybe to get married. I don't know, but what I wanted the most was to have kids because I wasn't knowing where I was going, so I wanted to leave a legacy behind me.

Somebody that they will remember me through. Like, oh, at least one, there was a friend or something, right? So that's something that I really want so hard. And I think that's the only moment that I was thinking about marriage. It was just to have a baby, right? Then after that, I get I start I get into this life that my condition is very bad so you don't think about woman you think about how to get out of the situation out of this situation and

get better and then this thing just keep rolling and even when it's changing and getting better you are in the same in the same pool rolling the same way and don't say you wake up some day, I'm like, it's been 10 years, it's been 80 years, damn. But you don't feel any, like it's something that you want. So, I don't know. Even though, like in Africa, they've been pushing me even before I left Cameroon to get married.

Yeah, you be king. Yeah. No, I say even before I left Cameroon to get married. Yeah, you'll be king. Yeah. No, I say even before I left. Right, to get married. Yeah, even before I left Cameroon for the first time, my grandpa wanted me to get married. I was 20 years old. They wanted us to get married.

And then not to get only married for one girl, multiple. Grandpa, I like grandpa. I made a neat, neat grandpa. No, out there, it's normal. Yeah. Yeah. Although, for some reason, at this age, people don't even want to get married. Right.

Before, it was like kind of like a culture. People have to get married. Right. Before, it was like, kind of like a culture. People have to marry. So marriage is not as big now in Cameroon as it was when you were a kid. Because people now is so more into this Western style.

Like, oh, yes, and this. And women started think differently. Even men, they don't want this responsibility. Because men, they don't want this responsibility because before, polygamy in Africa, at first, most marriage in Africa for men was a responsibility.

It wasn't to have fun, even to get married, even to have multiple wife. Most of the time, in the many situation, it wasn't like, oh, I like those women so much. It was a situation that you have to first, for example, like when a guy in a community was successful, he needs to get married from wife in a different neighborhood around the community. So to make, to give people give people much many chance because if you get married here other community will be like oh didn't he doesn't care about us he should have

married the kids of us and they will want you to marry the girl from that community wow so then you find out people that are getting married just for opportunity uh to give um opportunity for community to give opportunity for community. Why? Because unlike here, when you have a daughter there, all your life is a worry. You don't know how she's gonna end up. You don't know. You're worried if ever she gonna have a roof

or to have somebody to take care. And then there's this guy that's going to take care of her. You don't care if she's the fifth or the tenth wife. Take it, bro. And that's how some people were getting a lot of wives just to give chance to community. And also one thing that was very important, if your brother or your family

member passed away and left a wife with children, one of you guys have to take that wife. Like, whether you like it or not, somebody has to take it. But you're not going to sleep with the wife, though, right? No, you'll sleep with her. No, no. I mean, you'll take the wife.

Yeah, I'm going to just take it and say, yeah, okay, I'm going to take care of you. Yeah, but you can't take a wife and just not sleep with her. Yeah, you can. You can kill both. You're going to take. Why? Because, and the reason why they were doing that, the family was doing that, because they didn't want a wife to live with their kids and get out there,

get married with somebody that would mistreat those kids. Right. Because with the situation being very complicated, I i mean this guy is going to work hard and then maybe get home barely have food for two three people and then if he has a kid it's for the tree the other guy kid is it's not my kids right so the family didn't want that to happen so they wanted to keep the wife and the kids into the family so somebody has to step up and take that as a responsibility. Wow. I'm glad that it works.

I'm glad that it works in America. Yeah. So polygamy most of the time wasn't by choice. Right. Yeah, it was by responsibility. Give me your four Mount Rushmore MMA fighters. You know what Mount Rushmore is right? ok John John

ok I will put Kamaru Usman ok and Adesanya ok definitely Kamaru Usman. Okay. And Adesanya. Okay. Definitely.

Let's pick one person that I can put. I should have. Maybe Cain Velasquez. Okay. Hmm. Maybe Cain Velasquez. Okay. I kind of thought you might go Anderson Silva. Maybe Horace Gracie. Yeah. I mean, yeah, no, Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre. Yeah, I was going to say St. Pierre.

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, George St. Pierre. Yeah, I was going to say St. Pierre. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, George St. Pierre. I mean, George St. Pierre didn't come to my mind, but I'll put him first. Yeah. What about boxing? Who are your Mount Rushmore boxers? Mike Tyson.

Mike. Mike Tyson. Did you always like boxing? Yeah, growing up. I mean, I couldn't watch boxing, but we never had TV. Right. But yeah, I always liked boxing. How did you learn about American fighters or fighters when you didn't have...

I didn't know much about American fighters. I know more about actors than I know about fighters. Oh, you don't? But Mike Tyson was the one that was going, you know, like, he was globally famous. So everybody everywhere know Mike Tyson. Basically, after his fight against Holy Feet, That was like the most famous fight. Was your journey and everything that you had to endure from the time you were a child and going from Nigeria to Niger

to Algeria to Morocco to the Mediterranean to Sub-Sahara, was that the main reason that you're unafraid to take on any challenge? You didn't fight professional box, and now you say, you know what? I can beat Tyson Fury. You know what? I was the king in the UFC. I was the baddest man on the planet. I'm the heavyweight champion of UFC.

You know what? I'm going to go conquer another sport. Was that upbringing is what gave you the confidence? Definitely. But I think it's also a mindset that without our upbringing

we should have. In my case, I need to go there to have that. I need to have that upbringing, to have that mindset. But at the end of the day, it's something that some people have, which is the right way. I mean, we are all competitive. We are all here. Everybody here wants to accomplish something.

The guy behind the camera wants to make the best piece of content. The guy behind the sound engineer wants to make the best sound. You know, like everybody wants to do something. So you do your best, you do whatever it takes. And almost every time you have to try multiple times to make it. You're going to fail. You're going to try and get wrong and get back, go back, figure it out again, try again. It's just the same concept for everyone.

You know, nobody just wake up and make it like this. Usually like when you see people that things has been very easy for them. Usually when you see people that things have been very easy for them, it's cool, but when those people fall, most of the time they never come back because they don't know this hardship. They weren't trained, prepared for the reality. Do you feel you can accomplish anything? Everything that I want, yes, I believe that. I might not, but I do believe that because otherwise I will not go. If I believe in something, I'm going to make it. I'm not just going to like, okay, let's just go.

I'm going to give my all. And at the end of the day, the most important thing for me is not to conquer stuff, is not to succeed, is to give my all, whatever I can possibly do. If the result is not what I wanted, but I will check with myself. I'm like, did you give your all?

Did you do everything that you should have done? And if the answer is yes, well, it happens. It's just life. I move on. It's just life. I move on. You know, it's an experience. As I'm looking at you, you don't have weight room muscles. You have child labor. You have labor muscles.

You developed this body from a child in the sand mines, walking, doing other things. Is that where you feel your power comes from? No. It's genuine. In my family, it is. Oh, your family built like this, huh? No, they are not all built like this. I mean, like, I think I'm just built,

I'm just a little different physically because even my brother, even people from my... Community. Community. I mean, they are strong people, but they are not as big as me. I'm the biggest in my family. I'm the potentially strong, but my family is strong.

Right. They are so very strong. And we have a reputation of a strong family. Right. Even before I was born, my dad, my uncles, they were all there. But they all worked in the same way, right? No. They did?

No, my dad was a carpenter. Was But they all worked in the same mine, right? No. They didn't? No, my dad was a carpenter. Was a what? Carpenter. Carpenter, okay. Carpenter. So he make roof in the house. So that was his upbringing.

A lot of them work, everybody basically work in the farm. But again, even amongst all those people, my family was known for being very strong. Even my grandpa, I mean, I was born, he was already old, but he's been known as one of the guys. Would you want your story turned into a movie? Absolutely. That would be a movie, but I just think it's not the moment yet. It's not the moment. Because you feel you have other things to accomplish? There's still a lot of things that is coming.

There's still a lot of chapter that is missing. I'm missing. You said you knew more American actors than boxers. So if someone were to portray you in your life story, who would you like for it to be? Uh... I've been asked that question before, and so far, I think the best profile that I would think of

would be somebody like Idris Elba. You're going to have to put him on stilts. You so tall. He's tall too. Yeah, I can see that. He can definitely, he might be the only one that could play you. Yeah.

He might be the only one that could play you. Yeah. Idris Elba. I think, you see, I think you went for the guy with the accent, everybody. You went for the handsome guy. Like who? No, that's who you went for.

Idris Elba. But the only... The guy with the accent, who would that... I'm doing... Why are you thinking of? I don't think... The only guy,

and he's deceased, but he's not big enough, be chagwit bozeman because of his because he because that black panther accent he had I mean it he could he's an acting accent yeah but I'm but I'm saying it's not like I mean he's gonna have to act he's gonna have to do that accent he's gonna have to hang around you and pick up your dialect that's what they do when they take on the role i mean i gotta i gotta be around you and pick up your mannerisms and pick up your your the way you talk how you would say it or it's not gonna be authentic yeah it's kind of like when you like when you're boxing you had to be around a box you had to

get somebody to actually know the okay the combination the shots and you know how you cut the ring off and how you retreat and make sure you don't go straight Back and you move to the side. I Think acting is a little different but you think you want to do it you want to try acting Maybe I think when I'm retired it takes a lot of time though. Oh does it does? Everything takes a lot of time takes a lot of time. I've seen people, like, they go for a movie for, like, four months. Mm-hmm. And at this point of time...

You don't have that kind of time. I don't have that kind of time. Well, the four months is you getting ready to be in the movie. Yeah, but this is my main job. Yeah. This is my main job for now. Millions of people are going to watch this. What was something you would like the kids that watched this

to take from your story? Oh, no. Dream, hope, never give up. Yeah, absolutely. Those generous pitch of motivation, determination, self-believing right but sometimes I think about like my kids like okay I'll have kid they'll grow up and then I just think of their life how they they will grow up and I I just find

out that is sad I mean I did all this for like have give my family a better situation, right? But I still think that it's going to be sad that my kid will not never understand my story. Right. You know, because they will just be in a situation that their problem will be none of like what. What you had to go through. What we had to go through. Like, okay, what should we eat today? Like stuff like that.

Like, could we have soap? Or could I have pen to go to like okay what should we eat today like stuff like that like could we have soap or could it should i could i have pain to go to school monday stuff like that they will never understand but at the end of the day it is what it is some people still do very good but yeah i think like um i think self-believing is like the key. You know, we will talk about like faith, hope and everything. But a man that believe in him, I think he's a man that is have succeed. I wanted to ask you this and I forgot to. Your favorite food as a child growing up and do you still eat that food now growing up I think every food I don't I don't recall a day

that I see a fire up I don't like this I don't like this. Every meal was the favorite one. So is there a place in Vegas that you can go get some of your Cameroonian dishes? No. Or do you have to wait until you get back home? No, really. Mostly in the East Coast. Okay, yeah, like New York.

Yeah, Washington, Baltimore. There's a lot of African communities. I think even in Texas, you will find those. What's a typical Cameroon dish? Oh, there is a lot, man. You will find, like, there is this, the very famous one is indole. We call it indole. I know you're going to ask what is that.

Yeah, yeah, I want to know it. Okay. It's kind of like a leaf, kind of like a spinach. Uh-huh. Okay, it's kind of like a leaf, kind of like a spinach with the ground peanuts, you know, then put all the spice in it. What a meat. Huh? Ain't no meat in it? They put meat in it.

What kind of meat? You can put whatever you want. I mean, so in Cameroon, what did you get? Like goat, chicken? I mean, where did you put it? Everything. I mean, usually they don't put chicken in Dolly. They'll put more like beef.

Beef. Smoked fish. Okay. I mean, not smoked, dry fish. Dry fish. And then even like dry, we have this little shrimp that is so little and they are dry. It's very favorite. So next time I come across a Cameroon.

And our best breakfast is beignet haricot. What's that? It's like peanut. No, it's like donut. It's like donut, our version of donut, with beans, fried beans, and with pap. I know you don't know. I bet the Doley, I might be willing to try the other dish,

but they gotta have some good. Now that you're asking me about food, my favorite Cambodian food, what is American food? Because I walk around, I will see Chinese restaurant. Well, that's kind of not like America. Japanese restaurant. I will see Indian restaurant, Mexican. We more like, we do. I never see American restaurant.

Barbecue. It all depends. Barbecue is not a food. No, no, no, no, no. Like ribs, like ribs, chicken. No, no, no. You said ribs. Ribs is not a food.

Everybody, rib is not a dish. Oh, you're talking about a dish? Okay, where are you? Are you in the South? If you're in the South, we got dishes. We have like mac and cheese or we have- Mac and cheese is not a dish. It is a dish, Francis.

What you think it is? I don't know, bro. What you talking about a dish? Yes. It is a dish. Chicken and waffle? Thank you. You don't got Americanized.

You don't got Americanized now. You talking about chicken and waffle. You talking about going to like Roscoe's or Gladys Knight or somebody. No, but those are dishes. I mean like, so when you say like,

when you say like Dole, that's a staple of like Cameroon because I have Kamara on and he was saying like Fafula and he was like,

yeah, yeah, yeah, he was like, he was trying to, he was explaining to him. I had Michael Blackson on. He was trying to,

like Fufu. Yeah. Y'all eat Fufu? We have Fufu. Ours is a little different. So like, if you go in Africa, every country has like its own special. Yeah, okay. They put their own spin on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

Like when you say dollar, everybody knows that it's Cameroon. It's like saying sushi and they will attach sushi to Japan. Right. Okay. So when can we expect to see Francis Ngannou back in the ring? The square or the octagon? Definitely next year. When exactly next year?

Potentially, no sure. potentially March or April and certainly October. Okay. Francis Ndano. Thank you. Nice to swap all my life. I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

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