The rise of Francis Ngannou: From walking ten kilometers to school in Africa, sleeping rough in Paris and borrowing money to LIVE – even after becoming a UFC champion – ‘The Predator’ has hit the big time with the Tyson Fury fight

In the cage he is known as The Predator. For good reason too. Francis Ngannou has had to survive and look for opportunities all his life.

By securing a superfight with Tyson Fury, the 37-year-old has cashed in on the riches that will flow from Saturday night’s Saudi exhibition fight.

We’re talking about a fighter whose biggest payday from his UFC days was £518,000, when he fought Ciryl Gane in a heavyweight bout in 2022.

After leaving the organization in January for more “freedom” and security and quickly signing a flexible agreement with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), the world has become his oyster.

With all eyes on his highly anticipated super fight against Fury, Mailsport has looked at the Cameroonian’s surreal rise to the top of the martial arts.

Speaking about his ‘life-changing’ pay package received to face Fury, Ngannou’s manager Marquel Martin has claimed it is bigger than all his UFC purses combined, ‘many times over’.

“The bag is so big he might drop it on the way to the bank,” he told MMA Fighting. ‘Let’s just say that. I don’t know what the haters are trying to say, but they will be proven wrong again. This is life-changing, this is exactly what we planned and visualized, so we are happy.”

It’s quite a turnaround for a man who once struggled to pay his bills during his career and previously had to borrow money to survive.

“I have fought twice in the past two years and then I have to borrow money to live!” he said in September 2022.

‘No one cares about that. I have no guarantee that year and I have no protection, so based on that experience I want to get something better on my contract and obviously what I deserve.”

Ngannou now has what he deserves – and more – but he has come a long way and a painful road to get here.

Ngannou grew up in the Cameroonian village of Batie and was raised by a single mother. He was forced to walk ten kilometers every day to go to school and was already digging sand mines at the age of ten.

As he grew older, he made the journey from Cameroon to the north of the continent – ​​through Nigeria, Niger and Algeria before reaching Morocco, driving across the desert in pick-up trucks.

There he was able to emigrate to Spain by water, but not before being forced to live in the Moroccan forests and eat food from garbage bins as he prepared to cross the border.

Once he arrived in Spain, he was picked up by police and put in a detention center for two months before being released and secretly boarding a train to France – knowing that police checks in Britain were much stricter.

He settled in Paris, but ended up sleeping in a parking lot when he started looking for a boxing gym – eventually meeting trainer Fernand Lopez, who would convince him to take up MMA instead of boxing.

Speaking to the Sun, Ngannou discussed his experiences of living in Paris, saying: ‘I never really wanted to be an MMA fighter.”

‘Five years ago I went to France and then I wanted to become a boxer, because I did a bit of boxing at home (in Cameroon). It was difficult because I didn’t know anyone in France, I had no money, so I slept on the street without money and tried to survive that way and that was difficult.

“For me, I just got into MMA for fun. I had time to train, so I thought: why not train MMA too?

“And then it happened really quickly and they started asking if I wanted to fight. And I said, “Yes, let’s do it.”

“I didn’t realize how fast it was happening until the coach said to me, ‘We have a UFC contract for you.’

The rest, as they say, is history. Ngannou was signed by the UFC in 2015 before becoming their heavyweight champion in 2021 by knocking out Stipe Miocic.

But Ngannou wasn’t done there yet. Becoming champion of his division wasn’t enough, not when he felt like the UFC wasn’t maximizing his potential – having previously attacked the organization for ‘dropping’ fighters.

So he took power into his own hands and left the UFC, signing an extensive multi-fight deal with the PFL on a flexible contract that allows him to pursue other lucrative avenues.

The money will flow in now, now that Ngannou is free, can put on as many mega fights as he wants and wants to build his own personal brand.

Remarkably, Tyson Fury has via the mirrorthat the MMA heavyweight star will pocket £8.2 million ($10 million) for their clash this weekend.

Meanwhile, Derek Chisora ​​has claimed that ‘The Gypsy King’ will earn £41 million ($50 million) for the fight.

But Ngannou isn’t just here to make up the numbers either, he’s here to make a statement and believes he can take down Fury when they clash on October 28.

After all, he holds the world record for the hardest hit ever recorded.

In 2018, he finally recorded a punch force of 129,161 units on a PowerKube (which measures the power of a punch by analyzing its power, speed and accuracy).

The last person to attempt to topple the MMA star was former World’s Strongest Man winner Eddie Hall, but failed; his opening attempt landed around 91,000 points. It later reached 93,000 and then 98,000, before reaching 100,000 and peaking at 113,999 units.

“I’ve been waiting for the last three years to face Tyson in the ring,” Ngannou said after the fight was announced. ‘My dream was always to box, and to box the best.

“After becoming the undisputed MMA heavyweight champion, this is my chance to make that dream come true and cement my position as the baddest man alive.

“I would like to thank Riyadh Season and my team at 3Point0 Labs for their help in putting together this event. All I can say to Tyson for now is that he better dance in that ring because if I touch him, he’s going to sleep.”

Those were Ngannou’s words shortly after the fight was announced. With the fight just a day away, the Cameroonian has been doing some ‘fight talk’ ahead of the fight.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport, Ngannou warned Fury not to try ‘tough things’ when they meet in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening.

“A lot of people he fought have raised that issue and I don’t know if it’s a fact, if it’s true or not, but we have to double check that because he has to be equal,” he told Mail Sport .

“If you want us to fight bare-knuckle, let’s fight bare-knuckle. If we have to fight with four-ounce gloves, let’s fight with four-ounce gloves. But don’t be difficult. Don’t do difficult things.’

It was also revealed ahead of the fight that Fury requested a larger 7 meter ring – larger than the regular 6 meter ring used in most fights – but Ngannou was undeterred by the request.

“It will be a challenge in the end,” he added. ‘It could be on a football field or in a telephone booth. We’re going to fight and it’s going to be a tough fight.’

It is clear that Ngannou has reached the top. From the lowest lows to the top of the fighting game. His biggest wallet, his biggest moment, his biggest opponent.

After everything he faces in life, facing the world heavyweight boxing champion will be a victory no matter what.