{"id":405281,"date":"2026-01-12T20:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405281\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T20:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:53:08","slug":"francis-ngannou-eager-to-get-back-into-mma-with-several-options-for-next-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/405281\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou eager to ‘get back into MMA’ with several options for next fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francis Ngannou is keen to return to MMA, and his coach would love to see it happen in the UFC Octagon.<\/p>\n

Ngannou is the former UFC heavyweight champion. Several years ago, he famously left the promotion\u2014vacating the title in the process\u2014to seek out new opportunities as a free agent.<\/p>\n

Initially, it looked like Ngannou might have fumbled, as the kids say, but he later signed a lucrative deal with the PFL. Things then got even better for him when he scored a pair of blockbuster boxing matches with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He lost both, but made bundles of cash in the process. More than he ever made in the UFC.<\/p>\n

Ngannou\u2019s last fight occurred under MMA rules, as he smashed Renan Fereira to a first-round TKO in the PFL cage. However, that was way back in late 2024, and his long absence has left fans wondering about his future.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting<\/a>, Ngannou\u2019s head coach Eric Nicksick shed some light on what\u2019s next for the former champ. The biggest revelation was that Ngannou is apparently chomping at the bit to fight again. He is also apparently already in fantastic shape, despite his hiatus from competition.<\/p>\n

Francis Ngannou aims to fight again soon\u2014and his coach wants a UFC return<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk all the time and he was out in Dubai, he\u2019s back in Cameroon, he\u2019s coming back to Vegas here soon,\u201d the Ngannou coach said. \u201cFrancis always holds his cards close to the chest and I just know Francis. He\u2019s a guy that he\u2019s going to call me up on a Sunday and say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re fighting Friday.\u2019 It\u2019s one of those things with him. We talked recently and that\u2019s basically what he said. He goes, \u2018Hey, Bubba, I want to come back and get back into MMA.\u2019 I told him, \u2018We need to get back before a fight is booked and start getting your body to where we\u2019re comfortable,\u2019 and he\u2019s actually in really, really good shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the lightest I\u2019ve ever seen him,\u201d Nicksick continued. \u201cHe called and FaceTimed, I saw his face right away and it was like chiseled. Usually, he\u2019s like a little bit more plump and he\u2019s been eating and stuff like that, but his knee is feeling good, so he\u2019s getting his roadwork. He\u2019s training every day and his weight was down. I was like, \u2018Yo, we got something coming up?\u2019 And he goes, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m working on a few things.\u2019 So hopefully, we see him back in the cage in 2026. And then the sky\u2019s the limit for him, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of his next opponent, Ngannou has options.<\/p>\n

If Nicksick has his way, his next fight will be back in the UFC\u2014though he left the promotion on extremely hostile terms.<\/p>\n

If a UFC return isn\u2019t possible, Nicksick is also open to a fight between Ngannou and PFL star Vadim Nemkov.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a personal level, I\u2019d love to be able to see him compete in the UFC just because of the level of competition that he would go against,\u201d the coach said. \u201cBut if he fights Nemkov, sh*t, he looked great in his last fight, too. So he\u2019s a guy that we\u2019ve got to take serious. So whatever opponent rises, we\u2019ll be ready for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who do you want to see Francis Ngannou fight next?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou is keen to return to MMA, and his coach would love to see it happen in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-405281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}