Ngannou’s MMA return date confirmed for October

Francis Ngannou will face Renan Ferreira on his return to MMA on 19 October.

The Cameroonian heavyweight will make his promotional debut for the Professional Fighters League (PFL), having previously been a champion in the UFC.

On the undercard, long-time Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will face PFL two-weight champion Larissa Pacheco.

Winners of both contests will receive the PFL’s newly established “super-fights championship belt”.

Ngannou, 37, has spent the past year concentrating on boxing, with fights against former world champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou lost both bouts, suffering a second-round knockout to Joshua in March after a split-decision points loss to Fury.

Brazil’s Ferreira won the PFL’s 2023 heavyweight tournament and has been touted as Ngannou’s opponent since beating Bellator’s heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in February.

Ferreira, 34, has 13 wins, three losses and three no-contests on his MMA record.

Eleven of his 13 wins have come via knockout.

Ngannou has 17 victories in 20 MMA fights and his last win was a points decision over Frenchman Ciryl Gane in the UFC in January 2022.

He left the UFC at the end of his contract in 2023, citing a desire to switch to boxing.

Ngannou signed with the PFL last year and was named as the chairman of the PFL’s African league, which launches in 2025.

The PFL uses a league format in the United States, with British flyweight Dakota Ditcheva reaching the final of the 2024 tournament.

Ngannou’s fight against Ferreira will be a one-off, with the Brazilian deciding against entering the 2024 heavyweight tournament as he waited for a bout with Ngannou.

Ngannou has become one of the most recognisable faces in boxing in the past year, but MMA – mixed martial arts – is where he really thrives.

What made him such an exciting prospect in boxing was his feared knockout power, which Fury tasted first hand in their encounter.

His meeting with Ferreira is expected to be a firefight, with the Brazilian also boasting an impressive knockout rate.

Ngannou burst on to the MMA scene in 2015 with a one-punch knockout in his UFC debut. He only picked up the sport two years previously.

He claimed the coveted heavyweight belt in 2021 with another one-punch knockout of Stipe Miocic.

His return to MMA will be a welcome boost to the PFL as its continues to try to rival the UFC.

Ngannou is by some distance the PFL’s biggest star but the league has been made to wait, albeit patiently, for his boxing adventure to end.

It is unclear if Ngannou will continue to box, but at 37, it seems his fighting career, whether in the ring or in the cage, is in its final chapter.