It might be a while before we see Francis Ngannou in mixed martial arts competition, according to his coach Eric Nicksick.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou, who won the PFL’s inaugural Super Fights heavyweight championship in his most recent bout in October of last year, has competed in the cage just once since the start of 2022 — and per Nicksick, you can probably expect this inactivity to continue a while longer.
Speculation has intensified in recent week that Ngannou’s next combat sports assignment could once again come in the boxing ring, with former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder again been mooted as a potential opponent.
And speaking to MMA Junkie, Nicksick said that he’s not had any recent substantive discussions with Ngannou regarding his next move in mixed martial arts.
“We talk regularly, but we just talk as buddies,” Nicksick told the outlet.
“I know the Wilder rumour has been kicking around. I talked to him a couple of days ago, but it was more about just life and family. I’ll see him next week.
“I head out to Paris with Brad Tavares next week, and then I’ll be able to spend a couple of days with Francis out there and get caught up on a lot of this stuff and see where he’s at training-wise and what his next plan is. It sounds to me like he wants that Wilder fight, and I haven’t heard much more about the MMA side at all, to be honest with you.”
Of course, Ngannou has competed in two high-profile boxing matches recently. In his professional debut, he took former world champion Tyson Fury the distance, dropping him in the third round before losing a close decision.
In his second outing, he was knocked out in the second round by Anthony Joshua.
“Of course,” Nicksick said when probed as whether he would like Ngannou to return to MMA sooner rather than later.
“That’s my specialty on the side of things. I still feel like we have a lot more we can do on the MMA side. It’s tough because, when I look at our relationship as a whole, when he lived in Vegas during the COVID-era and fighting for the UFC, we spent so much time together training and building that MMA skillset that he has.
“It sucks because I felt we were growing so much and doing so many things, and all of a sudden you feel like you got the rug pulled out from under you. I don’t know if that’s the right term to use. He shifted his focus more over to boxing, and for me on the MMA side of things, I miss that growth and maturation that we had.”
Ngannou has a 0-2 record in professional boxing, and has compiled an 18-3 ledger in mixed martial arts.
