26 Facts About Ngannou

1.

Francis Zavier Ngannou was born on 5 September 1986 and is a Cameroonian professional mixed martial artist.

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2.

Ngannou won the title by knocking out Stipe Miocic in March 2021.

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3.

Ngannou was born and raised in the village of Batie, Cameroon.

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4.

Ngannou lived in poverty and had little formal education growing up.

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5.

Ngannou's parents divorced when he was six years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt.

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6.

At 10 years old, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry in Batie because of a lack of funds.

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7.

However, Ngannou refused and instead decided to use his father's negative reputation as a street fighter as motivation to do something positive and pursue boxing.

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8.

At the age of 22, Ngannou began training in boxing, despite the initial reluctance of his family.

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9.

Ngannou did various odd jobs to make ends meet, until at the age of 26, he decided to head to Paris, France, to pursue professional boxing.

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10.

Ngannou made his UFC debut against fellow newcomer Luis Henrique on 19 December 2015, at UFC on Fox 17.

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11.

Ngannou next faced UFC newcomer Curtis Blaydes on 10 April 2016, at UFC Fight Night 86.

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12.

Ngannou won the fight via TKO, due to doctor stoppage at the end of the second round.

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13.

Ngannou then faced Anthony Hamilton on 9 December 2016, at UFC Fight Night 102.

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14.

Ngannou won the fight by submission in the first round, and earned his first UFC Performance of the Night bonus.

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15.

Ngannou faced Andrei Arlovski on 28 January 2017, at UFC on Fox 23.

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16.

Ngannou was expected to face Junior dos Santos on 9 September 2017, at UFC 215.

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17.

In turn, Ngannou was removed from the card after promotion officials deemed that a suitable opponent could not be arranged.

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18.

Ngannou faced Stipe Miocic for the UFC Heavyweight Championship on 20 January 2018, at UFC 220.

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19.

Ngannou faced Curtis Blaydes in a rematch on 24 November 2018, in the main event at UFC Fight Night 141 He won the fight via TKO early into the first round.

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20.

Ngannou headlined the UFC's inaugural event on ESPN, UFC on ESPN 1 against Cain Velasquez on 17 February 2019.

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21.

Ngannou faced Junior dos Santos on 29 June 2019, at UFC on ESPN 3.

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22.

Ngannou won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

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23.

Ngannou was scheduled to face Jairzinho Rozenstruik on 28 March 2020, at UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs Rozenstruik.

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24.

Ngannou won via knockout just 20 seconds into the first round.

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25.

Ngannou faced the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane for his first title defense on 22 January 2022, at UFC 270.

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26.

Ngannou won the fight by unanimous decision, the first decision win of his career.

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