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Israel Adesanya recently shared his perspective on watching Francis Ngannou's knockout defeat at the hands of Anthony Joshua.
Last month, Ngannou's second foray into boxing ended disastrously when he endured a devastating knockout by 'AJ' in the second round, following two knockdowns earlier in the bout.
Check out Francis Ngannou's knockout video below:
'The Last Stylebender' witnessed Joshua dismantling his close friend from the comfort of his home and had a strikingly impassioned reaction, captured in his YouTube video.
Check out the video below:
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the former UFC middleweight champion recounted his experience of watching 'The Predator' suffer his first-ever knockout in combat sports. Adesanya expressed that while it was painful to see Ngannou go down in such a manner, he still holds the Cameroonian fighter in high esteem:
"I talked to Kamaru [Usman], he put it best, he was like, 'Yo, to us that's Superman.' So, to see Superman hurt like that really messed me up. Even if it had happened with Joshua, I would have felt the same way. I don't wanna see them go through that, that was a bad knockout."
He added:
"Doesn't change anything, I think about Francis. He's still a Superman to me, and he's still the man, he's still the guy who played his own game regardless of what happened in his life and in his career."
Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below:
'The Last Stylebender' consistently supported Ngannou's decisions, particularly when he relinquished his UFC heavyweight title to pursue his boxing aspirations. Adesanya even accompanied 'The Predator' during his ring walk as he entered the squared circle for the first time against Tyson Fury.
When Israel Adesanya expressed awe at Francis Ngannou's knockdown of Tyson Fury
Francis Ngannou nearly engineered one of the sport's most astonishing upsets in his boxing debut last October, marked by a thunderous knockdown of Tyson Fury in the third round.
Israel Adesanya, seated ringside, was near enough to sense the reverberations of the WBC heavyweight champion's knockdown at the hands of 'The Predator'.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel last October, 'The Last Stylebender' weighed in on Ngannou's performance. Adesanya revealed experiencing a blend of tension and anxiety as he watched his friend compete in the ring:
"I was bobbing and weaving. You know when you watch someone you care about fight? You’re just ‘mom’s spaghetti,’ sweaty, so I was just watching the fight. He was holding his own, it was good, he was doing the things they were working on backstage."
He also mentioned that he burst with emotion when Ngannou knocked down his opponent:
"I lost my sh*t. We just lost it. We were up and down, and I was just, it was just a moment. It’s almost like it was meant to happen. I don’t know if that makes sense. It was meant to happen, the knockdown."
Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (10:05):
