Ngannou stops Ferreira in 4 minutes on MMA return – Blueprint Newspapers Restricted

Francis Ngannou wanted lower than 4 minutes to render Renan Ferreira unconscious and have a good time an emotional return to MMA.

Ngannou was returning to the cage greater than two years after his final outing, wherein he defended his UFC heavyweight title towards Ciryl Gane.

He then switched his consideration to the boxing ring, giving Tyson Fury an enormous scare solely to slide to a factors defeat, earlier than he was brutally knocked out within the second spherical by Anthony Joshua.

The 38-year-old shed tears as he devoted the victory to his late 15-month-old son Kobe, who handed away earlier this yr.

“I can’t think about anything [other] than my son Kobe. I only took this fight because of him,” mentioned Ngannou.

“I went to fight for him. I hope they can remember his name because without Kobe, we wouldn’t be here tonight. I wouldn’t have fought.”

Since leaving the UFC as its heavyweight champion 22 months in the past, Ngannou has develop into one of many world’s largest fight sports activities stars following blockbuster boxing bouts towards Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

But he has been adamant within the build-up to this encounter that he “never left MMA”, and at all times deliberate to battle once more within the cage.

Ngannou thought-about retirement earlier this yr, however mentioned he had chosen to battle on in reminiscence of Kobe as a means of “honouring him”.