29 min listen
UFC’s Francis Ngannou: “Becoming a heavyweight champion was …. my own revenge on my life.”
UFC’s Francis Ngannou: “Becoming a heavyweight champion was …. my own revenge on my life.”
ratings:
Length:
39 minutes
Released:
Dec 27, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
When MMA fighter, Francis Ngannou, stepped into the octagon to take on then-UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, he wasn’t just trying to win the title. Ngannou was on a mission to prove himself to the world.
“Life threw me a lot of punches,” Ngannou told In the Moment’s David Greene. “Life put me down and made people doubt me.”
Ngannou spent years of his life trying to put that doubt behind him. He grew up in the mountains of western Cameroon and started working in the sand mines when he was just 9-years-old. He said he would be thrown out of school for not having basic necessities like paper or pen. From a young age, he was determined to leave Cameroon to overcome the poverty he was born into.
It took another decade for him to realize his lifelong ambition. On March 27, 2021, in his second bout with Miocic, Ngannou knocked him out just 52 seconds into the second round. He says the victory was “my own revenge on my life, on my childhood.”
Ngannou doesn’t want to encourage Cameroonian youth to make the same dangerous journey he did, but he wants to help them succeed. He’s opened a youth gym in Cameroon and is planning two others.
“The main goal of it was just to empower those kids,” he said. “To make them believe in themselves, because growing up out there, having a dream was very hard.”
Find out about upcoming guests and other news by following Religion of Sports on Twitter or Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter for more sports news.
We initially ran this story on 10/4/2022
“Life threw me a lot of punches,” Ngannou told In the Moment’s David Greene. “Life put me down and made people doubt me.”
Ngannou spent years of his life trying to put that doubt behind him. He grew up in the mountains of western Cameroon and started working in the sand mines when he was just 9-years-old. He said he would be thrown out of school for not having basic necessities like paper or pen. From a young age, he was determined to leave Cameroon to overcome the poverty he was born into.
It took another decade for him to realize his lifelong ambition. On March 27, 2021, in his second bout with Miocic, Ngannou knocked him out just 52 seconds into the second round. He says the victory was “my own revenge on my life, on my childhood.”
Ngannou doesn’t want to encourage Cameroonian youth to make the same dangerous journey he did, but he wants to help them succeed. He’s opened a youth gym in Cameroon and is planning two others.
“The main goal of it was just to empower those kids,” he said. “To make them believe in themselves, because growing up out there, having a dream was very hard.”
Find out about upcoming guests and other news by following Religion of Sports on Twitter or Instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter for more sports news.
We initially ran this story on 10/4/2022
Released:
Dec 27, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (41)
Game of Chance: Main in the Arena: Twenty years ago, a hit by Mo Lewis knocked Drew Bledsoe out of the game. Tom Brady stepped onto the field and a dynasty was born. One small moment can make a huge difference, but is there more to it than thati by In the Moment with David Greene