The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Voting Rights and Wrongs | Francis Ngannou

Episode Date: January 21, 2022

Republicans and Democrats spar over voting rights legislation, Desi Lydic talks to influencers encouraging vaccination, and UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou chats with Trevor. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Does anyone celebrate the Super Bowl? Who? You damn straight. Greatest sporting event ever. I love it. Yeah. The Super Bowl half-time show was trending today because they revealed the lineup.

It's going to be Kendrick Lamar, half-time show, not playing in the game. Kendrick Lamar is going to be there. Eminem is going to be there. Dr. Dre is going to be there. Snoop Dog's going to be there. Mary J. Blige is going to be there. It's going to be the dopest half-time performance of all time. It's also going to be one of the quiet the point of that? Eminem's gonna come out. Let me tell you about the and the, and the, more, but the, and the, more, over to you, Snoop.

La, la la la la, it's the mother. Snoop, dog, M-Snup, Dogg, M- Everyone's gonna be sitting at home like, what the, up, uh, uh, and then Mary J. Blyschell singing people, like, she was amazing. It'll be funny if she's just like surprised people. Let's get it, it's fucking pumping. No, Mary! Coming to you from the heart of Times Square in New York City, the only city in America. It's the Daily Show, Ears Edition.

Tonight. Millennial M&M's, Voting Rights Gets Mansion, and Francis Inganu. This is the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Hey, what's going on everybody. Welcome to the Daily Show. I'm Trevor Noah. Let's jump straight into today's headlines. We kick things off with the COVID vaccine. It's the reason you no longer think heroin when you see the syringe emoji. Personally, I believe that everyone should get the vaccine. I mean, except maybe Superman, right?

Because he's the only one who's not vulnerable to COVID. And also, the needle would just break on his skin, which I guess means that Clark can't get the vaccine because.......... the only one who's not vulnerable to COVID. And also the needle would just break on his skin, which I guess means that Clark Kent can't get the vaccine because then people would know that he's Superman. So now he just has to pretend to be an anti-vaxer so that he doesn't give away his secret identity. So then he gets fired from the daily planet. So now he works for Fox News. Anyway, the point is, the federal government tried to make it the law that all large businesses must require their employees to get vaccinated.

But last week, the Supreme Court said you can't do that. And now companies have to decide whether to keep those requirements in place. And as you can imagine, no matter what the companies choose, they're screwed either way. Well, two big-name companies are taking dramatically different approaches to the federal vaccine mandate. Carhart is standing by its employee vaccine policy. The decision, though, has sparked some backlash on Twitter with people threatening to boycott the company.

Meantime, Starbucks is no longer requiring workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The company decided to reverse its policy that was announced earlier this month. The coffee giant's decision not to require to to to to the vaccine the vaccine to the virus the virus the virus to the virus the virus the virus announced earlier this month. The Coffee Giants decision not to require workers to get the COVID vaccine or test for the virus is not sitting well with some customers. People on Twitter are calling for a boycott. Okay, before you panic, it's important to remember that just because people say they're going to boycott something doesn't mean it's going to happen. I mean the company that people on Twitter say they're going to boycot the the the the to get to get the th.. to get to get the th to get th the th th their their th th their th their their their their their their their their to get to get to get to get their their their to get to get their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to get their tecoecoev.ecoe.e.e.e.e.e.eck.ecoeck.ecoeck.ecoe c.ecoe c.c-coau.ecoa.e tecoe te.c-coa. te. te. te. te. te. t're going to boycott something doesn't mean it's going to happen. I mean the company that people on Twitter say they're going to boycott the most

is Twitter. You see how that turns out. And also good luck boycotting Starbucks. Yeah, how are you going to boycott America's number one bathroom provider? Because I mean I've got principles but my number one principle is. to not go number two in my pants. But still man the fact the fact the fact the fact the fact the fact that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. they's they're they're they're they're they's they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's they's is they's is th. th. th. they's is they's is th. they's is they's they's they's they's they's they's their. their their th. th. th. th. thin. th. thin. th. th. thin. th. the the their their their their their that people even jump to this just shows you how polarized America is. You can't even buy coffee or clothes without it being part of like a cultural. You bring cookies to a party now and people will be like, you got some balls bringing chips ahoy here after what they said about Panda Bear Rights. This is an Oreo house. Ultimately though, these companies aren't trying to make a political statement. Whether or not to have a vaccine the the the the the the the the the the tho tho the tho the the the the the the the the the the the the the to have to have to have to have to have to have to to to to to to to to to the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. to th. th. th. to tho. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. to the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. to. to. te. today. today. today. today. toe. toe. toe. to. to. to. to. to. Ultimately, though, these companies aren't trying to make a political statement. Whether or not to have a vaccine mandate,

it's just one of many decisions that businesses have to make about what policies work best for them and their employees. Most of the time, just for them. You know, it's like how CVS keeps a strict one cashier per 2,000 customers ratio. And if you don't like it, you can use the self-checkout that can never tell when you've actually put your item in the bag, so you need to call that one cashier to come and help you. Those are your options. But let's move on to some science news. We all know that the surface of the earth is getting warmer, making life more difficult for everyone, except Superman. Because you see Superman, you know what, never mind, never mind. But while we're worried about the outside of the planet getting too hot,

now it turns out we also have to worry about the inside of the planet getting too cold. New this morning, Earth's core is cooling faster than scientists initially thought. Yeah, researchers made the discovery while studying a mineral found between the Earth's core and mantle. Scientists say as the Earth cools it will, it th the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the outside the the outside the the outside the outside th outside th outside th outside th outside th outside th outside th outside th outside thout thoes outside thoes outside thoes outside thout out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out the ths th is is is th is studying a mineral found between the Earth's core and mantle. Scientists say as the Earth cools, it will eventually lose its magnetic field and become a solid, uninhabitable rock. While they don't have an exact timeline on all of that, it's not expected to happen until millions of years from now.

Yeah, believe it or not, scientists say that the Earth's core is cooling faster than we thought. And look, guys, I'll be real with you. I didn't even know that the core was cooling in the first place. You know, sometimes I feel like living on earth is like owning your first home. There's always something new that's random and breaking. And we just got a plumber coming in like, so it turunds. The pipes in your light switches are leaking. I have pipes in my light switches? Yeah, how do you think your light stay hydrated? Now look, when I first heard that the core of the earth was cooling, all I thought was, wow, great.

Now we can finally dig a hole to China. But it turns out, if the core cools down, the magnetic field protecting Earth from cosmic radiation will disappear, and then Earth will turn into a cold, lifeless rock. And I don't mean like upstate New York, I mean like really cold. The silver lining to all of this is that it's only going to happen millions of years from now. And by then, all humans will be dead and we'll all be living in the metaverse.

I'm living next to Snoop Doug. So I don't know why scientists are even wasting their time with this. You know? I feel like scientists need a focus. If we don't fix COVID, I can't poop at Starbucks. Finally, let's talk about M&M's. The only time it's okay to say, I don't like the brown ones. When you have a brand that's been around for 80 years, it's important to keep up with the times. Yeah, even Superman.

He used to wear underwear outside his pants and now he has a suit that's more like body armor, even though that's not really necessary since his skin is already impenetrable. But that's not what matters, it just looks cool. So yeah, Eminems have been around for a really long time, which is why its famous advertising characters are getting a makeover for 2022. Eminem making some rebranding changes. Company leaders say they're trying to make the characters, particularly the female ones, more current and representative of their consumer.

Green has swapped her go-go boots for sneakers. Brown is sporting lower, more sensible heels. You're going to see our brand evolve in its look and feel to reflect a dynamic and progressive world that we're living in. For example, Green, you'll see her better reflect empowerment and confidence. You're going to see Green and Brown together being a supporting force for women who are throwing shine and not shade. Okay.

I appreciate what this chocolate company is trying to do, but making the green Eminem less sexy? I'm sorry guys. I refuse to live in a world where I don't want to f-my candy. That's just going against nature. And also, who does, who does this really help? Like, were there women who identified with the green M&M? I'm genuinely asking, genuinely. Because as a guy, I know, I've never looked at any of those M&M's and being like, yeah, that's me, bro.

I feel seen. Like, this whole movement is just weird to me, because I'm awful representation where it matters, but not in the things that we eat. Like, I don't want to see KFC going, our new chickens could be in your family. Okay, dig in. But I guess that's 2022, right? Women will probably lose the right to an abortion. But on the plus side, the green M&M gets to wear comfortable shoes, Haakuna Matara. Oh and they're not just updating the green Eminem and

the brown one. No, the red Eminem is going to be less bossy and the orange Eminem will embrace his anxiety, which I mean I guess that makes sense. You should be anxious if you're about to get eaten. I know it's someone's job to think about this stuff but I feel like we're getting too in-depth on these M&M personalities. now they're they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're like they're like they're like they're like they're like they're like they're like, they're like, they're like, I they're like, they're like, they're like, I they're like, I'm th, I'm th, I'm th. I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. So, I th. So, I th. So, I th. So, I th. So, I th. So, I th. So, I th. So, th. So, th. So, th. they're th. they're they're they're thi, thi. thi. they're the, the. they're the. the. they're the. they're the. the. they're the. the. th're getting too in depth on these M&M personalities. Now they're like okay so the blue M&M was raised in a single parent household at the height of the Cold War and his family, f-fee-fee-fee out of here man it's a chocolate. Let me eat it and get fat. All right enough of that. Let's move on to our top story. It's about Superman. It's to to to to to the their their thx- tholome tholome th. th. th.'s not. It's about the midterms, which is just as exciting. America's basic cable elections are coming up in November,

which is just five COVID waves away. So, now's as good a time as any to check in on how America's elections are shaping up in our ongoing segment, Vote Gasm, 22. 2020. Voting. It's what makes America the greatest democracy in the world. And if you don't like American democracy, America will come invade your country to show you in person how good choosing for yourself is. And as we approach the 2022 midterm elections, Republican-led states across America are busy fine-tuning their voting processes to make sure that they're even more perfect.

Take Texas, for example. During the last election, people were so frustrated by how many voting options they had. They could vote in person, they could mail it in, there was drive-thru voting, too many choices. It was so annoying. So now Texas is saying, don't worry. mail it in, there was drive-thru voting, too many choices. It was so annoying. So now Texas is saying, don't worry. We're giving you fewer options so you don't have to worry about choices anymore. Oh, and in Georgia, voters were complaining about how many convenient ballot drop boxes were cluttering the streets.

Well, thankfully, there's going to be a lot fewer of them, and they're going to be a lot harder to find this November. In Iowa, they're reducing early voting and closing the polls earlier on election day, which we can all agree is great, because who wants to vote after work? I mean, that's prime Netflix time, baby. Democracy can wait. Now, all of these changes have just affected the process for voting. But some of America's most respected leaders also trying to fine-tune the process for counting votes. And they're doing this to make sure that the votes are counted the right way. Allies of Donald Trump are trying to remove some of the guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 election. Now, according to the post, Trump and his supporters are pushing a plan to place loyalists in key election posts, from poll watchers and precinct judges,

to county clerks and state attorneys general. We have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the vote. There's a famous statement, sometimes the vote counter is more important than the next time when it comes to counting the vote. There's a famous statement sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate and we can't let that ever ever happen again. They have to get tougher and smarter. Is that a famous saying? There's a famous saying that the vote counter, I've never heard that saying in my entire life. I know I'm gonna get a lot of flag for saying this, but Trump is totally right. He's right about being tough. You've got to count those votes hard.

If you show any weakness, those ballots are going to take your girl. And for Trump to say the vote counter is more important than the candidate, I mean, that just shows you how committed he is to ensuring the democratic process, to about it. Donald Trump said, stop thinking about me so much. It's unprecedented. So, that's just some of the admirable work Republicans have been getting up to. But the Democrats have been trying to make changes of their own. And if you ask them, everyone should be able to vote with barely any effort, which would be crazy because then everyone would vote, including Bill Cosby. Oh.

So they've been pushing their own laws in Congress, and last night, they almost got their way. We're going to begin with a major setback for Democrats on Capitol Hill. What would have been their landmark voting rights bill failed 52 to 48 in the Senate last night with two Democrats joining all 50 Republicans in opposing a rules change to push it through. To no surprise, it was Senators Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin who helped Republicans kill hopes for filibuster reform and voting rights. Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out.

It wasn't meant to be easy. Yeah, Joe Mancans is right. Everything in the Senate should be as difficult as possible. If Democrats want a pass a bill, Chuck Schumer should have to carry it through a stage of American Ninja Warrior first. But yes, Republicans were able to use the filibuster to block the Democrats' voting rights bill. With the help of Democrats, Joe Manchin, and Kirsten Cinema. Because, you see, those two do support the Democrats' voting rights bills, they just don't support making sure that they pass. Which, when you think about it, is actually so inspiring, you know?

Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema believed so strongly on the power of voting that they used their vote to block voting rights for the entire country. They were unvoting, voting by voting. So it was the right thing for Manchin and Cinema to do, and basically everyone loves them for it. But as usual, there are haters out there who just don't get it. If you think this bill makes sense, and if you're worried about the future of American democracy, and if you are prepared to vote for the bill, then why are you wasting everybody's

time and not voting for the rule change that allows us to pass the bill. It's like inviting somebody to lunch, putting out a great spread, and saying you can't eat. This is why people shouldn't debate on an empty stomach. If we're not going to pass this bill can someone at least pass me a god-dame sandwich? But this is just classic Bernie Sanders man. He thinks just because those two Democrats say they support the bill they should vote accordingly. Really Bernie? It's called politics not logic ticks. See what I did there? Changed it. it was politics and I made it.

Maybe if he had spoken after lunch, Bernie would have understood how much sense this makes. Because what Joe mentioned is saying is, I want to help you out of the water. I'm not going to throw you a rope, but I want to throw you the rope. And any drowning man would agree. that the man? Hube over, I can't hear what he's saying, but he agrees. So, for whatever reason, the right to vote has gotten people very passionate on both sides. In fact, it's become such a big deal that they even woke up Joe Biden so that he could weigh in.

With the voting rights push hitting a dead end, President Biden was asked whether this year's midterms would be fairly conducted and legitimate, after many Republican-led states enacted new voting restrictions. It all depends on whether or not we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election. It's never good for an American president to sow seeds of doubt in the legitimacy of American elections. The language is being used is clearly concerning. I thought that undermining our election results

was a threat to our democracy. The last thing you wanted to hear was to hear from President Biden that there are questions about the legitimacy of the elections. You needed the president to say, no, we've got the best electoral system in the world. Yeah, that's right. Joe Biden needs to step up and say that not a single other country in the world has a better electoral system than America.

People in Denmark, they wish. They wish they could spend all of election days sweating in a high school gym. I mean, sure, that's why most functioning countries actually have the elections run by nonpartisan, independent commissions, you know, to make sure that politicians can't twist the voting laws for their own gain. But, I mean, that would just be ridiculous. I mean, think about it. You want the people in charge of the election to have some skin in the game, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, the, to have, the, the, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, their, their, their, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, to have, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, and, and, and, their, and, and, and, their, and, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, toe.s.s. toe. toe. toe. the the the the the the the the the the the election to have some skin in the game, right? That's how you know it's fair. Imagine how stupid it would be if a basketball game had a separate group of people on the court just to enforce the rules. That would make no sense. That's why instead the strongest teams get to decide for themselves

whether they committed any fouls. And that's why my friends, America's electoral system is still the best and why nobody should ever say otherwise because it's not true and also because even if it was it it will be really uncomfortable to hear. All right when we come back Desilich will become a famous Tick-Tock influencer. You don't want to miss it. Welcome back to the Daily Show. A big challenge of the COVID pandemic has been, well, A, breathing, and B, convincing people to get vaccinated. But one place in America thinks it has found a solution. Desilic when to find out. This last year has shown us that Americans don't trust any authority figures anymore.

The government, scientists, doctors, even the English language. Maybe that's why we're ranked 46 in COVID vaccination rates. Nice job Mauritius. But there is one group that can still convince us. Social media influencers. At least that's what the Guilford County Health Department was betting on when they partnered with 41 local social media influencers to spread some fresh fax facts. Our communities are more likely to follow guidance from people that they truly trust. So we decided to do an influencer marketing campaign.

But you're the expert. Why aren't they listening to you? Well, over the last year and a half, a lot of individuals became overnight public health experts. So I think that it also depends on personal ideology on who's an expert and who's not. Yeah, I get it. Sometimes it's better to watch the amateurs do the job rather than the pros. It's just more authentic and natural that way. Um, I don't think that we thought about it that way. And as a self-licensed juice therapist, I am all about avoiding public health experts.

But why would influencers use their powers to fight COVID instead of their regular, no-make-up Mondays, throw-back Thursdays and Fro- Fridays. Most of the time I'm just talking about food. So it's like you guys can check this pizza out if you guys want to, but now I felt like I actually had a role. That was beyond myself, you know? So the caption of that one just says, hey, I got my vaccines, you guys should probably get yours too. Yeah, okay, but why are you wearing a shirt? We just got to get this vaccine together because we're a team and that's the only way we're going to get back to normal. Yes, that's it.

We've had a lot of cases where medical professionals have looked aside African-Americans' problems that they may come in with and for a lot of people in my community, it's just all encompassing no trust in that. But as an influencer, I can influence my audience to go through the steps of getting vaccinated. I'm like the sock puppet, I guess, for those experts that they can speak to that comes off a little bit less big brothery. A song puppet, that's a good idea. Get the vaccine. Mm-hmm. The influencers were obviously buying the hashtag back themselves and they've been spreading the word on the hashtag Bax Life themselves, and they've been spreading the word on their accounts, but is anyone hashtag listening to hashtag what their hashtag saying?

On Instagram, I have nearly 20,000 followers. About 2,000. I have like 1,400 followers, basically just like a public account. Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna take advice from someone on the internet, are you more likely to take it from someone that you know? It's a community. It's not like a, I am Jesus and you are all my followers.

To be fair, Jesus had 12 followers. Yeah, I do have a little more than that. More followers than Jesus? Easy there, John Lennon. But is all this nano-influencing only micro-effective? We believe that those particular influencers connect on a more personal level with their community compared to some of the larger ones that can have hundreds of thousands of followers that might not have that really personal and intimate connection. So you're using the least viral influencers to stop the virus?

You can say that. Okay, so how effective is this program? Are we talking Pfizer level effective? Or are we talking like Johnson and Johnson, it's better than nothing? So we think that the campaign has been incredibly successful. Within two days of that content being posted, we have also seen the increase in vaccination rates. That's good news.

Unfortunately, these micro-influencers are up against heavy anti-bax propaganda casting doubt on the vaccine. How many of you guys are going to be among the first to inject this experimental vaccine that's been rushed into your arms? And this anti-vax content is more infectious than COVID itself. With a social media and other platforms, it's really easy to fall into this world of personal truth. So maybe the most effective way to clean up the mess that social media has made is with more social media. Like a hair of the dog, when you have a hangover and you drink more alcohol to make it feel better.

Or like when you're trying not to catch a virus and you treat your body with tiny amounts of the virus so you don't get it. What's that called? Vaccination? Yes, that's it. If the only thing to stop bad influence on social media was good influence, I wanted to give our influencers one more shot at going viral. Okay. If you're tired of staying inside.

I am very tired. What's up? I'm sorry. We want our people to just stay alive. Now's the time to roll up your sleeves. Sitchie. Now's the time to go get the vaccine, vaccine, vaccine. Get the vaccine. It's okay, we'll workshop it.

We'll get there. Thank you so much for that, Desi. All right, when we come back, I'll be joined by the UFC heavyweight champion of the world, Frances Nganu. So stay tuned. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is Francis Nganu, who came from a poor village in Cameroon to become the UFC heavyweight champion.

He's yet to talk about his upcoming fight to defend his title. Francis, the Predator Ingano, welcome to the daily show. Thank you the the the the thiiiii the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, tho, tho, tho, thof. too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, toe, toe, toe, toe, thu. thu. thu. thu. thu. thu. thu. thu. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thea. thea. thea. thea. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. toea. toofa. toea. toea. toea. Gano, welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you, Trevo. It is a great pleasure to be here. You know, this is such a great experience for me having you here because we have so many similarities you and I. We are both African, right? Yeah. We both apply our trade in different nations and different continents. And then also, I believe that according to the last statistics, you and I both share the strongest punch ever recorded in the UFC.

We do. Yeah, they said when you combine our punch, it is the strongest punch ever in the UFC, which is amazing. Welcome to the show, man. This is great to have you here, champ. Thank you. You forget to mention other thing that we are, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, the have you here, Champ. Thank you. And you forget to mention other things that you and I we have in common. Which is? A shock for American culture.

I think everyone has that when they come here. Everyone experiences that in a... What's the biggest thing that has shocked you about being in America? It's how sometimes they treat kids, people complain, kids complain, and how they treat them. You know, like, usually when I was kid, if I complain about something, I have a scrap, and hear them like, oh, please eat your food, Junior. Please, baby, eat it. Oh, man. I'm like, St. Junior in Africa for two days when she comes back, he'll be eating all his food.

They will realize how blessed they are. Right? Right? Right. Yeah, bro. Well, let's talk a little bit about your life, you know, because a lot of people know you now as the champion, the heavyweight champion of the UFC. A lot of people know you as one of the hardest hits is in the world. But man, so many people don't understand your story

in getting there. Like, you know, it's almost like winning the championship was one of the easiest things in your life because of how hard your life was. You know, you grew up in Cameroon. You know, you the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, th and I, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. ttau, th. th th. th ttau, ttau, ttau, ttau, ttau, ttau, ttau. tta. tta. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. And, t t t t t t t t t t t ttttttttttttta. tta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. ta. you lived a really tough life where you were living with different families, you were separated from your mother, then you were reunited. And I mean at the age of 11, if my research is correct, you were working in a stone quarry. Yeah, in the son quarry. I mean, he was, even since age of 9, and 10 or 10 like, something like that. And we were, I was very small at a time and those job was mean for adult, but we didn't have any choice. Any, we didn't have choices, so we have to go there and like, beg for a job.

You were struggling. You couldn't get food in school. You couldn't even afford to stay in school. And at some point you decided, as Francis, I'm gonna work as hard as I can, I'm gonna save all the money I can, and then you made a really interesting decision, you decided to get into boxing. Why did you think boxing would take you out of that life? For multiple reasons,

they were always kicking me out of the school. So I was a subject of embarrassment. And so I didn't want to be embarrassed anymore. So therefore I decided that I need to do something that's going to outstand me from all those kids and so they can see that I'm not worthless. You know, then combined with the desire of my reputation and everything, my love with a combass sport, that's when I came across with boxing and I was 13 years old. But problem, there is not a gym, boxing gym in the 100 miles radius. So how can I do boxing? Nowhere. Then after years go by, I left school, then stay in the

village couple years and I was 22 by that time and the dream, that dream was still inside of me like a fire. I was thinking about it all the time. I decided then to move on to the city go a chase my dream. You then go to Morocco, you then go to Spain, you get you get arrested in Spain for coming into the country legally. You still managed to make your way out of that and go. You know, is that Francis and Gano goes, I'm going to make something on myself, and you move from boxing to the UFC where you're now the champion, and now it feels like the whole world is watching you. I mean, Cameroon, you're a hero. You know this.

In Africa, you're a hero one of the most dynamic fighters to watch. You've got a huge fight coming up against an opponent who is 10 and 0, perfect record. So I'd love to know what you think you expect or what we should expect from this fight because it doesn't seem like it's going to be easy even though you have some of the quickest knockouts ever recorded in UFC history. A fight would never be easy when you're going to fight a man, you don't know what will happen. You know, there's not a fight that's going to be easy, but he's a tough guy. He's a very good talented opening and very good contender for me. But you know, the fact that you say something like the perfect record, there's not

a perfect record, and I have seen 10 and 0 before He's not my first 10 and oh And God's know what happened to those 10 and oh I mean all your fans are behind you everyone can't wait to see what's gonna happen in this fight One of the things people are also waiting to see is what happens after the fights you're you're not the only the only UFC fighter who's come out? the feel like you should be getting paid more. The sports is making so much money now. It's becoming one of the most widely watched sports in the world. And you have said very publicly, you said, guys, Francis Nganu deserves more money. I know this is the last fight that you've been contracted to in the UFC, you know, what do you, what

do you see for yourself in the future and what the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the the the the the the the the UFC, you know, what do you see for yourself in the future and what do you hope that the sport will learn to appreciate from you? Well, for the future, I expect to have a better contract, better contract structure, something that put me in the safe position, you know, I'm doing a sport that is very risky, very tough, and the sport is generating money, and I just need, I'm not asking to share, but I just need to have some respect to see that I'm worth it.

I mean, we need to grow, we need to be safe, we need insurance, we need her insurance. You are doing a sport that you're putting yourself on the line, your hearth, and you don't even have guarantee. And for those fighters who have the minimum salary, they can even afford a to pay for their injury. They can't even afford a physical therapy, they can even afford a good her care, nothing. What I respect about you as well is that you don't just want that for yourself. You also want it for other fighters and you also want that for other human beings.

Talk to me about what you're trying to do and what you dream of doing in Cameroon for kids who grew up in a world that you grew up similar to. Personally, I know how I feel when I meet somebody like that, when I have a chance. I always look up to somebody like the rock, DeWen Johnson, and recently he noticed me, you know, and now we even chat, I text and the rock text back, and sometimes he let me avoid me.

And then when I wake up someday, just listen to a direct voice message. I, you, you, you, you, you, I I I I I I I I I I I I I I go, I go, I go, I go, I go, I go, I go out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out, I go, I go out. I go out tho, I go go out out out that tho, I go. I go out. I go out out. that that that's, I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, that that that that that that that theaugh, I'm that's that thea. I tha. I tha. I tha. I tha. voice voice message, you know, I go out there that day I work double of what I should, I suppose to work. Wow, that's amazing man. I'm just motivated. I'm like, damn, direct just leave me a message. This is it, you know, the enthusiasm, the motivation of that just is message, you know, and then I realize how great is it to be in the position that you have that you that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that you have that that that that that that that that that that that that that that, that that that that that how great is it to be in the position that

you have that power to like maybe just talk to somebody and change his day or his life. And I want to be the same thing for others, basically knowing from where I came from, that's what we need. We just need hope. From my experience, I believe that somebody that has hope and serve believing is a successful person. Doesn't matter if you have zero dollar in your bank account that faith will push you out there and then will make you a successful person. Well, Frances and Gano you're a champion both in and out of the Octagon. Thank you so much for joining me on the show. We look forward to the fight.

We look forward to the future. And hopefully I'll see you again in person, my friend. Thank you so much. Thank you, Trevo. It's been a great pleasure to meet you finally. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you. UFC 270, Mganu versus Gain, takes place January 22nd and you can watch it on ESPN Plus. We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this. Well that's our show for tonight, but before we go, America is facing its worst blood

shortage in more than a decade, largely in part to the drop in donations since the start of the pandemic. But giving blood is easy, and just one blood donation can save up to three lives. So if you would like to help end this blood crisis, you can sign up online with the American Red Cross, or you can call 1-800 Red Cross, or you can find a donation site near you through America's blood centers at the link below.

Until next time, stay safe out there, get your vaccine, and remember, Earth is going to be a dead planet soon. So have sex with your candy while you can. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.