On Wednesday, the Professional Fighters League announced that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will finally make his return to the MMA cage. The Nigerian big man, who has not been in an MMA fight in over two and a half years, took a hiatus from the sport to try his hand at boxing, when he went he distance with heavyweight champion Tyson Fury before being flatlined by Anthony Joshua in the second round of their bout last March.
In MMA, Ngannou had been on a four-fight winning streak before he captured the UFC title in a rematch against Stipe Miocic in Mar. 2021. He followed that up with a successful title defense at UFC 270, when he picked up a decision victory over Ciryl Gane. At PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants, on Oct. 19, Ngannou will face 2023 PFL tournament winner and PFL vs. Bellator Super Belt titleholder Renan Ferreira for the newly minted PFL Super Fights heavyweight title.
Ferreira followed up his 2023 season win with a 21-second TKO of Ryan Bader at PFL vs. Bellator last February. Ngannou has only lost three times in MMA, and all three were by decision. He has offset those losses with 12 knockouts and four submissions in 17 wins. Ferreira, on the other hand, has had an interesting MMA history.
Officially, Ferreira has a record of 13-3 with three no-contests. However, one of his losses was a disqualification in Legacy Fighting Alliance for illegal strikes, and two of his no-contests were decision losses that were overturned due to opponents testing positive for banned substances. On the flip side, his other two losses were stoppages, and the third no-contest was originally a TKO win over Fabricio Werdum that was later overturned when it was proven that Ferreira submitted earlier in the fight. All of that being said, he will be a formidable opponent for Ngannou’s MMA return. The Brazilian is on a four -fight winning streak with all four ending in first-round or second-round knockout, and two of them were championship fights.
The co-main event of the card will be of PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants will be another superfight, as the 2022 lightweight and 2023 featherweight PFL tournament champion Larissa Pacheco will face, Cris “Cyborg” Justino, who is the former UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta FC featherweight champion, who also currently holds the Bellator featherweight title.
Pacheco is on a 10-fight winning streak in the PFL, knocking out all but three of those opponents. Cyborg is 27-2-1 as a pro, and has only lost once since her pro debut in May 2005, That loss happened was when she suffered her only knockout loss to Amanda Nunes in Dec. 2018. Since then, Cyborg has won seven fights in a row with four knockouts, one submission and one going the distance. These two buzzsaws will lock horns for the PFL Super Fights featherweight title.
While the the venue has not yet been announced, PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants will take place as part of the PFL PPV Super Fights series, and will air live on ESPN+ pay-per-view and DAZN.