Coach Dewey Cooper has reflected on Francis Ngannou’s triumph over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Francis Ngannou in the Octagon. When he did, he took on Ciryl Gane, successfully defending his UFC heavyweight title at UFC 270. Ever since, fans have been intrigued to see what his next move would be and now we know he will make his PFL debut next year. After Gane’s win, it was revealed that Ngannou had suffered serious knee injuries before the fight. Despite this, he was able to win the fight.
Francis Ngannou played it all out
During a recent interview, Dewey Cooper spoke candidly about this magnificent achievement.
“There is a certain depth in having had the courage to jump off that cliff. Because you can die from this fall or be propelled to astronomical levels. Prior to the Ciryl Gane fight, Francis looked spectacular in the gym, I’ve talked about that many times. I said to myself: “Francis is going to kill someone and then he destroys his knee three weeks before the fight“.
“Everyone, myself, coach Eric, Marquel, everyone, said man, this is your last fight, you refused to sign your new restructured contract, you are crazy to accept this fight. If you lose, you will be banned and you will have a ridiculous prize. Francis knew the repercussions of a loss. In fact, with the injury he had, the success went from 100% to, I don’t want to say the percentage, but it wasn’t very high! »
“I believed in him, but I thought we were going to have problems. Anyway, he got a multi-million dollar offer a few days before the fight, which most people would have signed on the spot… For Francis to not sign, take this fight and win it like he did it, then take a year off because of the championship clause, it’s crazy. But guess what? All his thoughts about what he wanted were more important than the money, man.”
