Comments Thread For: Francis Ngannou expects Deontay Wilder talks to begin soon

[Willow The Wisp]

Three of his first four wins in MMA were via submission and he got them with three different holds (one arm triangle choke, one armbar, and one guillotine choke). And he also had a pro kickboxing fight around the time he turned pro in MMA, there is footage out there. Yes, they built around his boxing base because that's what he had going in. Like every other fighter that started in a single sport (wrestling, karate, judo, BJJ, whatever). But he started training kickboxing, wrestling, and submission grappling after only one year of exclusive boxing training. Boxing is what he's best at but you're vastly underselling his other abilities to push your silly narrative. Get a grip on reality.

You keep that thought. Doesn't hurt anything.

[famicommander]

You keep that thought. Doesn't hurt anything.

Right, all I did was prove conclusively that you have no idea what you're talking about. You said he was at a non-fighter level in grappling and kickboxing, but he won 3 fights with 3 different submissions in his first 5 pro MMA fights and he had a professional kickboxing fight.

[Willow The Wisp]

Right, all I did was prove conclusively that you have no idea what you're talking about. You said he was at a non-fighter level in grappling and kickboxing, but he won 3 fights with 3 different submissions in his first 5 pro MMA fights and he had a professional kickboxing fight.

No need to be insulting my friend. I know those people and I know how Francis has trained. Of course his training has focused on the rules governing where he fights, but it’s always been his boxing that sets everthing up. You said it best when you wrote that "Yes, they built around his boxing base because that's what he had going in".
We're not actually very far apart on him.
As far as my "Not knowing what I'm talking about"? I resemble that remark.

[famicommander]

No need to be insulting my friend. I know those people and I know how Francis has trained. Of course his training has focused on the rules governing where he fights, but it’s always been his boxing that sets everthing up. You said it best when you wrote that "Yes, they built around his boxing base because that's what he had going in".
We're not actually very far apart on him.
As far as my "Not knowing what I'm talking about"? I resemble that remark.

Don't try to back out of it now. You made ridiculous claims and were proven conclusively incorrect. You said he's just a boxer, you said his grappling is at a non-fighter level, you said his kickboxing is at a non-fighter level.

But the reality is he's fought in professional kickboxing.
The reality is three of his first four wins in professional MMA were via three entirely different submission holds.
The reality is that his total time spent training boxing is only one year longer than his total time training boxing, kickboxing, grappling, and wrestling together.

And yes, they built around his boxing. That's what happens to literally every fighter that comes to MMA from another sport, which is the vast majority of fighters in the world.

Very few guys walk into an MMA gym for their first foray into martial arts or combat sports. Most of them started in karate or wrestling for their school's team or doing Judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or boxing or Sambo or Taekwando or Muay Thai or Sanda. And then when they switched to MMA they filled in the gaps around their existing skills. That's literally why they call it mixed martial arts.

Francis has been training grappling, wrestling, and kickboxing pretty consistently for 12 years now. Boxing was his first sport and his strongest skill but your dismissal of 12 years of near-daily training in all aspects of fighting is absolutely ludicrous.

The man tapped out Anthony Hamilton. Hamilton is a brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and an All-American wrestler in junior college, and Ngannou tapped him out with is "non-fighter" level grappling skills?

You don't get to weasel out of this after you tried to present yourself as some authority on the matter. If Ngannou were "just a boxer" as you insist he'd have had his legs kicked to oblivion and been choked out inside a minute ten times over by now.

[Willy Wanker]

Ngannou royally ****ed over the PFL. They sign him in 2023, then have to wait almost 18 months for him to fight for them, and by that point nobody really gives a **** because he got made to look like a total bum in a matter of minutes by AJ. Now 10 months later he hasnt had a second fight for them and is talking about boxing again. The one fight he had for them allegedly cost around $10 million in purses while generating basically no interest. Oh and dont forget he made them promise to create PFL Africa, and make him the chairman of it, only for him to not even attend the events when they happened.

He has pretty much turned into a cautionary tale for other MMA promotions aiming to compete with the UFC. All its done for the PFL is speed up their demise.

I can see why Dana White wants absolutely nothing to do with Ngannou at this point. Not a fan of Dana, but Ngannou was one of the few guys he actually made a lot of effort to promote and to build as a star. Feeding him old legends and hyping him to the moon with not just his scary knockout power, but also his inspiring rags to riches story only for him to play hardball at the negotiating table after he became champ and he priced himself out of a new UFC contract.

People forget how much he was hyped up when he fought Stipe the first time, Dana basically already crowned him the new UFC Heavyweight champ during the press conferences and showed a lack of respect for Stipe.

[Docholiday]

Another match between two low IQ sub-humans with no skill. I don't know anyone in their right mind that would want to see this.

[pollywog]

Another match between two low IQ sub-humans with no skill. I don't know anyone in their right mind that would want to see this.

I loves me some sub humans fighting. Redneck Brawl anyone ?

Not too keen on them pale face Russkies slaughtering their own paleface Ukrainian cousins though.

Too much inbreeding with you lot. Makes you dumber than a bag of hammers!

[Elastic Recoilz]

Ngannou is a better counter puncher than wilder and has a better left hook. I'd also argue that Ngannou possesses the greater power of the two. wilder never did have the best of technical abilities and it seems he can't pull the trigger like he once could. I can see nothing other than Francis flattening him with relative ease in a fight.

[Willow The Wisp]

Don't try to back out of it now. You made ridiculous claims and were proven conclusively incorrect. You said he's just a boxer, you said his grappling is at a non-fighter level, you said his kickboxing is at a non-fighter level.

But the reality is he's fought in professional kickboxing.
The reality is three of his first four wins in professional MMA were via three entirely different submission holds.
The reality is that his total time spent training boxing is only one year longer than his total time training boxing, kickboxing, grappling, and wrestling together.

And yes, they built around his boxing. That's what happens to literally every fighter that comes to MMA from another sport, which is the vast majority of fighters in the world.

Very few guys walk into an MMA gym for their first foray into martial arts or combat sports. Most of them started in karate or wrestling for their school's team or doing Judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or boxing or Sambo or Taekwando or Muay Thai or Sanda. And then when they switched to MMA they filled in the gaps around their existing skills. That's literally why they call it mixed martial arts.

Francis has been training grappling, wrestling, and kickboxing pretty consistently for 12 years now. Boxing was his first sport and his strongest skill but your dismissal of 12 years of near-daily training in all aspects of fighting is absolutely ludicrous.

The man tapped out Anthony Hamilton. Hamilton is a brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and an All-American wrestler in junior college, and Ngannou tapped him out with is "non-fighter" level grappling skills?

You don't get to weasel out of this after you tried to present yourself as some authority on the matter. If Ngannou were "just a boxer" as you insist he'd have had his legs kicked to oblivion and been choked out inside a minute ten times over by now.

That's a great post! A little emo there at the beginning but, I don't argue anything there. I don't argue that Francis Ngannou has continually developed.
So you can relax reading this.
Did you not see where I rank him as a well rounded Mixed Martial Arts legend?
My dialog spoke to his history, of which I am better familiar with than you might imagine, kicking around this since Fighting Sports Newsletter times.

So back to what I DID try to relate; People say Francis Ngannou isn't a boxer.
They're Wrong.

[Willow The Wisp]

Ngannou is a better counter puncher than wilder and has a better left hook. I'd also argue that Ngannou possesses the greater power of the two. wilder never did have the best of technical abilities and it seems he can't pull the trigger like he once could. I can see nothing other than Francis flattening him with relative ease in a fight.

I'll take that bet!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll wager that Wilder does him quicker than Joshua did.

I want that newbie money!