Francis Ngannou’s coach shares what Cristiano Ronaldo told ex-UFC champion inside locker room before his emotional win over Renan Ferreira

Eric Nicksick, the coach of MMA star Francis Ngannou, has revealed the details of a conversation that took place between Cristiano Ronaldo and his client. Ngannou returned to MMA action in PFL's "Battle of the Giants" PPV, standing in the octagon for the first time since leaving UFC.

With the bout set for Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Ngannou was to face Renan Ferreira in the main event. Before the fight, he received a surprise visitor in his locker room in Al-Nassr captain Ronaldo along with his son Cristiano Jr.

Cristiano Ronaldo was in the locker room to encourage Ngannou to find the level required to emerge victorious from the fight, his first since losing his son. The heavyweight champion lost his 15-month-old son Kobe in April 2024 following congenital malformations.

Nicksick revealed to MMA Junkie that Ronaldo was able to connect with Ngannou on a personal level due to experiencing a similar loss, saying:

“Really down to earth, and then at one point, Francis got up to wrap his hands, and then Ronaldo was kind of talking about like, you know he could feel Francis’ energy. You know he just goes, 'I wanna give him words of encouragement.' Like he was talking about the loss of one of his children, um, and just kind of how he related to that and things like that.”

Cristiano Ronaldo was in a similar situation to Ngannou in 2022 when he was still on the books of Manchester United. His partner Georgina Rodriguez delivered a pair of twins, but the couple lost one child, Angel, shortly after the delivery. He returned to action with the Red Devils shortly after before leaving the club in January 2023.

Ngannou appeared to have been fired up by his meeting with Ronaldo, and he won his fight via a first-round knockout. The Cameroonian fighter was in tears after the bout as he remembered his son even in victory.

Cristiano Ronaldo poses for picture with MMA star in Riyadh

Cristiano Ronaldo posed for a photo with MMA star Paul Hughes following his victory over former Bellator champion AJ McKee in Riyadh. The mixed martial artist had fought against McKee on the undercard of the Ngannou-Ferreira PPV in Saudi Arabia.

Following the fight, Hughes caught up with Ronaldo and took a picture with the 39-year-old Al-Nassr forward. He posted the photo on Instagram afterwards, expressing his delight at meeting the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and captioned the post:

"Cherry on top there 😂 Great to meet you @cristiano."

A keen MMA fan, Cristiano Ronaldo watched on from ringside as Hughes took down McKee by majority decision in their fight, recording an upset. The Irishman improved his record to 13-1 after the three-round win over his opponent.