Francis Ngannou

Francis Zavier Ngannou (born 5 September 1986) is a Cameroonian-French professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer who is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL). He also competed in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion at the time of his departure from the promotion. Early life and education Ngannou was born and raised in the village of Batié, Cameroon. He lived in poverty and had little formal education growing up. Ngannou's parents divorced when he was six years old, and he was sent to live with his aunt. At 10 years old, Ngannou started working in a sand quarry in Batié because of a lack of funds. As a youngster, he was approached by several gangs in his village to join them. 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. At age 22, Ngannou began training in boxing, despite the initial reluctance of his family. After training for a year, Ngannou stopped training due to an illness. He did various odd jobs to make ends meet, until age 26 when he decided to head to Paris, France, to pursue professional boxing. However upon reaching Europe, he was jailed for two months in Spain for illegally crossing the border. After he reached Paris, he had no money, no friends, and no place to live. After living homeless on the streets of Paris, Ngannou found his way to a boxing club where he met coach Didier Carmont (cousin of Francis Carmont) who was understanding towards his situation. Carmont convinced the gym to let him train at no cost, and introduced Ngannou to the sport of MMA. Additionally, Ngannou became a volunteer at Lo Chorba, a non-profit organization in Paris. When his boxing gym closed for the summer, Lo Chorba's director Khater Yenbou introduced Ngannou to Fernand Lopez and the MMA factory. Being a fan of Mike Tyson, Ngannou was originally interested in learning how to box but Lopez saw his potential in MMA and convinced him to try MMA instead. Lopez gave Ngannou some MMA gear and allowed him to train and sleep at the gym for no cost thus starting Ngannou's MMA career. Reflecting on his journey across continents and his decision to become an MMA fighter, Ngannou said: