Francis Ngannou could embark on his debut with the Professional Fighters League as early as this Summer. This recent news came per PFL figurehead Donn Davis. Despite his stoppage loss in the second stanza of his clash with Anthony Joshua in the boxing ring, Ngannou will again don the small gloves later this calendar year. This will transpire against PFL’s top heavyweight Renan Ferreira.
PFL Saudi Arabia will resume operations after their champions vs champions card with Bellator MMA in Q1 of 2024.
In another Davis announcement, Cedric Doumbe is also set for that card against a yet-to-be-announced adversary. Plus, Davis also announced another big bout on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. He quipped that Cris Cyborg and Larissa Pacheco as the co-main event bout below Ngannou vs Ferreira.
Summer was mentioned for the return of the former UFC heavyweight champion but the PFL co-founder said the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia foray for Ngannou will be no later than September.
PFL Saudi Arabia
In a transcription courtesy of MMA Fighting, Davis said,
“People asked me before the fight [with Joshua] when I was interviewed, you know, ‘Who do I think will win? Who would I want to win?’ And I obviously root for Francis all the time. He’s our partner and I truly do [root for him to win his boxing matches], but he would not have fought in MMA until the first quarter of 2025 [if he won]. We talked to him about that, and I was very vocal about that, that he would have absolutely fought. But it would have been December at the earliest, more likely February of 2025.”
“So he was locked in, but he would have then gone ahead [to] fight Fury, as we all said, had he won this fight. So it would have delayed [his PFL debut]. So I’m rooting for Francis all the time, but now he’s coming back early. Will it be as early as July? Maybe. Will it be as late as September? No later. But you’ll see Francis now in 2024, in PFL, against ‘La Problemo’ [Renan Ferreira] in what I believe is going to be the fight I’m looking forward to the most in the heavyweight division of all of MMA.”
