The details of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘personal conversation’ with Francis Ngannou ahead of the Cameroonian’s stunning MMA comeback in Saudi Arabia have been revealed.
‘The Predator’, who had not fought MMA in almost three years following his exit from UFC, took on Renan Ferreira in Riyadh for his Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut on Saturday night.
Ngannou made light work of the challenge, securing a first-round knockout to be crowned heavyweight champion, and dedicated the victory to his late son Kobe who died aged just 15 months earlier this year.
Ronaldo and Al-Nassr team-mate Sadio Mane were among the superstar footballers in attendance in Riyadh at the weekend.
The Portuguese icon has developed a close relationship with Ngannou having met him on multiple occasions for the heavyweight fighter’s bouts.
He gifted Ngannou a luxury watch worth £87,000 ahead of his box-office clash against former WBC champion Tyson Fury last October, which the UFC legend controversially lost by split decision.
Ngannou’s trainer Eric Nicksick has now revealed that Ronaldo visited the Cameroonian’s dressing room ahead of the fight to open up about his own baby son dying during childbirth back in 2022.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, Nicksick said: ‘Dude, he was so cool. He was super down to earth, a super-cool guy. He’s actually a huge fight fan so he had a bunch of questions, like he was talking to me about (Sean) Strickland, he was talking about this and whatever right it was, really down to earth.
‘Then at one point, Francis got up to wrap his hands and Ronaldo was talking about how he could feel Francis’ energy – and he goes, “I’m just going to give him words of encouragement”.
‘He was talking about the loss of one of his children and how he related to that. It was actually pretty cool, I know how big of a star he is but sitting next to me and having this very personal conversation, he felt like he was part of the team right then and there.
‘His son [Cristiano Jr] was in there with us and hanging out, so it was very much a welcomed energy to have in the room, especially somebody of that stature who understands the highest pressure.
‘It was cool, a great guy, very down to earth.’
Speaking about his late son after the bout, Ngannou said: ‘I can’t think about anything (other) than my son Kobe. I only took this fight because of him.
‘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 his last MMA bout, the 38-year-old embarked on a journey which saw him make brief foray into boxing and sign with the UFC’s rival promotion; the PFL.
Over the last year, he took on British stars Fury and Anthony Joshua inside the squared circle – narrowly losing to the ‘Gypsy King’ before suffering a brutal KO to AJ.
However, that wasn’t enough to deter him from returning to the cage and making his debut for the PFL – whom he signed with back in May 2023.
His arrival at the PFL came after an unceremonious exit from the UFC, where the at-the-time heavyweight champion failed to reach an agreement over a new deal with the promotion.
It proved to be a wise move for Ngannou, who has since accrued roughly £23million ($30m), according to reports, before stepping back inside the MMA cage.
