MMA Fighting - Francis Ngannou's Head Coach Reacts To Emotional Knockout, Meeting Cristiano Ronaldo

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

Francis Ngannou's head coach Eric Nicksick reacts to Francis Ngannou's sensational knockout of Renan Ferreira at PFL's Battle of the Giants, talks his emotions after seeing the finish, doing something he's never done before after a fight, what he said to Ngannou in the cage, the referee stoppage, the pre-fight meeting Ngannou held, how Ferreira sparked something in Ngannou after their final faceoff, and more. Plus, a special guest appearance from UFC 308 fighter Dan Ige. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe to MMA Fighting Check out our full video catalog Like MMA Fighting on Facebook Follow on Twitter Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. And once Francis started to break his legs down, that's really it, man. It was just, it was Francis's athleticism and his eyes. It's like, hey, punch him under his armpits, break him back down, rinse and repeat. And, you know, Dan Berglii ought to us at, you know, must have owed him money. All right, let us say hello to Eric Nixick, who was in the corner of one, Francis Inganu, Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the Battle of the Giants, PFL pay-per-view event, as we all know. Francis and Ghana's return to MMA was a successful one as he brutally knocks out,

Henan Faheda, Nasty ground and pound in round one. And now Eric joins us from Abu Dhabi because this man never freaking stops. How are you, man? I'm good, brother. I just caught a little nap. So catching up my boy, Dan Ege. I hear in Abu Dhabi with the team now. And just excited to get back to work.

I mean, just going through. just a normal fight in Saudi Arabia and then having to fly to Abu Dhabi that pretty much hours later, that is taxing in itself, right? And then just going through this entire fight week and having to deal with the emotions that ran through that entire fight week and then the fight on Saturday and the fallout of it, was this the most emotional fight week of your coaching career? Because you've been a part of a few and you've been a part of a couple with Francis himself, but did this top the list for you once you got to Saudi Arabia?

Um, I think so. I think so. I think like Dan and I are just kind of talking about that, um, the heaviness of the, of the process, you know, I think for me it was like really just trying to keep my head level, um, because Francis was really dealing with a lot, um, obviously, but I think fight weak out of another layer of pressure. So the team, myself, Dewey, trip, everybody in the, um, around them just, we just, we, try to make sure that we had a level head and it was heavy bro the whole week was heavy so you know just seeing them get that win and seen him get that off with his chest was was a relief in itself because you could see it as as francis was kind of doing media throughout the week he was you know doing everything he was being very very thoughtful about his answers but you could tell the the eyes the emotions were were behind those eyes and there was a lot of depth to what was going on that, you know, he was kind of talking about certain things, but he wasn't letting it all out. And then Friday, when they had the ceremonial way in, Francis looked jacked up and ready

to go. He got real intense. They went nose to nose, started talking a little bit. It was just a, it was a different Francis. It was a guy who was just like, all right, enough with the talk, enough with the interviews, enough with the media. I'm ready to fight. Did you notice a difference in him from Thursday to Friday heading into Saturday? Oh, you nailed it. That dude, after that, a ceremonial way in, that woke him up. Like, he was like, all right, motherfucker. You know, like, and he said that. We were there.

He's like, the king is back. I'm going to show this guy what's up. I'm like, hell yeah. Like, it had an energy to it. And I was like, we all were kind of happy that Henan did that. We're all kind of happy that he got in his face, you know, and whatever it did, it woke to giant up. So, yeah.

So immediately you were like, in your eyes as the coach and dealing, kind of trying to find your place and all the emotional baggage of all this, this is the moment for you where it's like, okay, we've hit that next level officially. I think all of us felt that. Like myself, Dewey, even Francis, you know, and once that happened, once he kind of like, that was Henan's energy towards Francis. I was kind of excited. I was like, oh, I'm glad he did this because this is the kick in the ass that we kind of needed the wake up call that we needed. I think Francis knew like, okay, I'm in a fight with a scary dude, you know? But he said that right away.

He's like, I'm going to show this guy what's up. I asked you prior to the fight. One of the last questions I asked you about Francis, before we moved on to other things was true or false, more than 25% of this fight will take place with wrestling or groundwork. And you said true immediately. So Francis goes in and he shoots for this takedown.

This is obviously part of the plan, right? Just look for your moment. land that big shot. He landed some heavy leg kicks, too, just some nasty ones. But that moment where he shot for the takedown, I recalled our conversation when you said that immediately. When you saw that, you're just like, all right, this is going exactly the way we wanted to. We just knew that there was a least evasive path to victory. Like, we knew that we can get, we can, we can have the advantage in a certain spot that we just felt like our guy was better in that area.

Um, he went back and watched the tape and, and, and where Henan had problems, like, Auntie Dillia took him down and held him down and then beat him on the ground. Now, can he have improved his ground game since then? Yes, of course, but, um, that was something we definitely wanted to test. Uh, got on the phone with Randy, my mentor, you know, talked to Randy quite a bit about what I thought at the best pact of victory, you know, and of course, Randy has to stay in the middle because he's an analyst for them, but like he's also my, my big brother and my, my mentor. But I like to run him any game plans.

I like to run through Randy and just get his thoughts because sometimes you get tunnel vision on things. But that was something that Francis in his heart felt that he could exploit. And that was not necessarily the game plan, but that was what we were going to lean on once it presented itself. And that's what we talked to him about. Hey, just take your time and find your openings. And if it presents itself, go ahead and put him on his back. And that's exactly what happened. And then he was very patient too.

and when he found his spots, he unloaded. And there was a point where he put a hook in and I'm thinking to myself as I'm watching it live, like, is he going to submit Henan Frere right now? Because it would have just been such a surreal moment. What are you saying to him as he's on top of him and staying so patient? Because especially with all the emotion that has come into this fight, you would think, like, maybe he just goes bananas and burns himself out, perhaps, landing those big shots.

What are you thinking? What are you trying to say to him in that moment? We usually say pit stops. Like we say pit to pit stop. Meaning like, so Randy would always talk about, and Rybert Falls would always talk about like a teeter totter on damage versus control. So like you're always trying to keep that in homeostasis. Like you're not trying to go too far or one or the other.

So when you start to go heavy damage, you're going to lose on control. And then if you're heavy on control, you're not going to get any damage off. So you just have to be able to find that balance between the two. So that was really it. Just like once he had the biggest thing for me, me with we talked about all camp was isolating legs um if you notice in the fight francis either had a

half guard he had a turk or he had like a a staple he was always riding a leg and when it comes to big guys and their get-ups you know they they usually have a traditional way they get belly down they build their base and stand up you're so big about these like technical get-up guys so knowing that i think if we were able to isolate legs um a lot of like what we did versus seril gone that that's where Francis is going to have his best success. And then once Francis started to break his legs down, that's, that's really it, man. It was just, it was Francis's athleticism and his eyes. It's like, hey, punch him under his armpits, break him back down, rinse and repeat.

And, you know, Dan Berg be out of us at, you know, must have owed him money. You let go, bro. I was like, damn, man. It was crazy because he was out like three punches before he stopped it. It was even watching the replay, what else did you need to see? Like, head in his emotionless. on the, he's motionless on the floor with this face, like, in the mat. And then Francis had him that one last time.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh. It was right in front of me, Michael was like right to my left. And I, like, I jumped up prematurely because I thought it, because I saw his body just go to lip. And I'm like, all right, dude, it's out. It's over. And then Brugley Otis just standing there still. So the fight's over and I went up to Dan.

I'm like, damn, early stoppage. He's like, like, like, I don't know of those things. I'm like, fuck, dude, this guy was dead. That last flurry, you could almost see it, right? You could see that the emotion, the anger almost that came out in those shots. It was, it's not exactly the same. What the hell is that? We got balloons flying.

But anyways, it was like Ralphie in a Christmas story when he finally tackles the bully and all that pent up aggression that was inside of him. He's just unloading on this dude over and over again. And he's just saying things and just letting it all out. And it kind of reminded me of that. You could just see sort of all the weight falling off of his of his shoulders as every punch is landing. So yes, you jumped up prematurely. You thought the fight was over when you saw him go limp.

But watching that all, after everything you guys have gone through together, what was that like for you? It's heavy. You know, like, I've never jumped a cage before, ever. So, like, I don't even, like, my emotions were like, I just wanted to get to my guy. That was it. Like, and Dewey's like, damn, white boy. never see you jump a cage like that i went i was gone i was like oh shit i'm gonna get fine like i was like so nervous but like in the moment it's like dude i just wanted to just i just wanted to hug them

that was that was all i kept thinking is man i just want to get to my guy i just want to hug them just want to tell him i love him you know i i even like before we left for the venue um we met with the family uh the extended family and we had like this this uh this uh It's kind of like a private little room area. And everybody said a prayer. Everybody said a moment of encouragement to Francis. It was beautiful, bro. And then Francis spoke and he cried.

Like he let out a lot of this emotion right before we left for the fight. You know what I mean? And he said, this is for Kobe. And dude, there wasn't a dry in that room. Like we were all emotionally attached to the situation. And, you know, just I couldn't be happier for him in a, in a time that just of still of grieving you know so i i was it was an honor to be by side yeah the emotions poured out everybody you do like everybody in in the cage even after francis spoke don

davis had some tears in his eyes everything yeah i know you said you wanted to get in there hug him and say that you loved him but we it was sort of a viral moment at least on that we posted on social media as you you were sitting there you were saying something you were whispering in his ear besides telling him you loved him what else did you say to him in that moment I mean, can you share that or is that between the two of you guys? Yeah, I mean, it's, it was nothing, nothing that like is, is too of importance. It was just, you know, I had, I put a wristband on my, on my hand and I wrote the number eight for Kobe Bryant. That's, that's what Kobe was named after.

It's Kobe Bryant. You know, I just, I held up the wristband and I said that one's for Kobe, you know. And there wasn't a lot being said, but just more just. yeah just hugs man yeah what what a performance i because i'd ask you heading into the fight do you think he boxes or do you think he does m ms and you you thought he would go back to boxing and then we talked about how excited you would be if it was dante wilder yeah but at this point i almost feel like it's unfair to try to figure out what's next for francis right because he went through so much on the road to get here and i feel like that road is is going to be still very bumpy

for the rest of his life trying to think about all of this so it's almost like unfair to kind of predict the the short-term future for francis and gano at this moment right have you guys even talked about that man like we didn't really say much of anything it was it was it was it was so weird because we won a world title last night and it didn't feel like the title didn't matter at all like i didn't even see the belt like usually we're taking a picture with the belt like that was an afterthought this was like this was a win for Kobe that was all we cared about was to get this done for Kobe. And once it was done, bro, honestly, Mike,

we grabbed our shit and left. Like, it just, it was, it was, it was very different. Because I don't think the win can ever replace anything. If that makes sense, you know what I mean? Like, I don't, I don't know, man. It just, it was very different. It was very different. Like, we were like, oh, we want a world title.

It didn't even cross our minds. Like, you know, this was for, this is for Kobe. this was for our boy, Francis. And I didn't think he was ever going to fight again after, you know, Kobe's passing. I didn't think he was going to fight again. So, you know, for him to be able to turn around and then go out and form the way that he did versus a high-level opponent, you know, could be happier for him. A couple last quick things. I want to talk about another viral thing on social media that I saw, and it involved you sitting in the locker room with Francis and Gano and Ronaldo.

and it was just a terrific photo. What is the comments section to that photo? Because it's just so, it's just so amazing. It's just you and Francis and freaking Ronaldo is sitting in the locker room. I haven't really been catching up much on social. But it was cool. And man, let me tell you this, though.

Like I know how big of a star, a worldwide star, this man is. Bro, he was one. one of the coolest, most humble human beings I've ever met. Knowing the level of stardom this man has, we sat for 30 minutes just being him just chopping it up, like one of the fellas.

And he's like, yo, what's the game plan? What are you thinking with this? What do you want to do with this? Okay, and I'm just talking to him like I would be talking to you right now. And like never even crossed my mind. So we're chatting. And then my wife calls me to, because Knox wants to wish Francis good luck.

So I'm FaceTiming with my wife. I give Knox and Francis the phone and Knox is tapping to Francis for a second. I get the phone back. I sit back down and I'm like, oh, hey, babe, say with something to Ronaldo. And my wife's like, hi. Hi. Hi. I was like, oh, all right, babe.

We got to go. But, yeah, like, if people are out there, to listen to this that you're a Rinaldo fan, you, you, you, you picked the right guy. I mean, just an amazing, amazing human being. He shared some personal things that, you know, I wasn't aware of. Like, he had some, some tragedies in his life with the passing of a child. And, dude, we sat there for 30 minutes and just talked about life. And he was one of the, one of the coolest.

I left there going like, I got a new best friend. That's so cool, man. Ronald are going to hang out later. Like, no, he was great. That's awesome. Last thing before I let you go, you're in Saudi Arabia, or Abu Dhabi, excuse me, you were in Saudi Arabia yesterday. Now you're in Abu Dhabi.

Dan, getting back in there against Lerone Murphy, fun-ass fight. Come here. Oh, Dan, is, are we going to get a celebrity appearance here? And Shirtle's Dan Ige. How is we doing, man? Hi, good, man. How are you, Mike? Good.

Six days away from this fight with Lerone Murphy. This is a good one, man. Yeah, I do. feeling good excited excited papa's here i don't know man it's a fight we're going to go out there and do her thing and uh build that momento and do some great things what he doesn't know is that he's fighting homzot he doesn't know that yet though oh we're going to tell him in the locker room i'm good uh dad well i have you uh friends Francis Ingano set the table for you incredibly nice last night with this split-over.

What was that like for you to watch and see everything unfold with Francis and what he did last night? I mean, I was sleeping. And when I woke up, the first thing I did, I went on Twitter. And it's like, I ignored my whole morning routine. Went on Twitter just to scroll real quick. And I saw, I saw it. They got the dub. Then I saw the highlight.

I texted Eric right away. I sent them a heart. And it just, you know, it feels good. I'm really happy for Francis and I mean I'm emotional you're not just even being a father you know I can't even fathom but I I know how much that meant to him and I know how special it was and then selfishly obviously for me it's like to even have E coming here like coming off a win like I know that's that's a huge relief and just bringing that bring in that energy now we keep the ball rolling keep the momentum rolling that was a huge fight

for Francis and they got the win and now it's my turn. It's my fight week. So I'm really, really happy for Francis. I'm really happy for Eric and I'm happy for Francis's whole entire team. But I have a job to do now and we're going to go get another one. Must be nice to not have to do it on two hours notice, right? Like the last one? Yeah, for real.

I mean, I was just telling Eric that because we were talking about like, I might be super strict about training at this exact time that I'm going to fight. He's like, dude, you just fought him. You fought a couple hours noticed. Like, it doesn't matter. I train when I feel good. We're going to try and we're going to cut the way. We're going to weigh in.

We're going to fight pretty simple. And I couldn't be more excited to go do it. And let's check another side of the world. So it'll be fun. Awesome, man. Thank you so much for popping in. Eric, I'll let you go. as well. Thank you so much. I know you want to get a little nap or two in because you deserve it,

man. Congratulations to you and Francis and the rest of the squad, man. So go take that well-deserved nap, my friend. Appreciate your time and I appreciate you doing this. Always, Mike. Thanks for love and support, my brother. Good talking to you. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.