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Francis Ngannou has expressed his gratitude after being given a ‘Best Local Champion’ award. The Las Vegas Weekly’s list of 2022’s ‘Best of Vegas’ award winners includes UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou.
The Las Vegas Weekly – a weekly newspaper operating out of Henderson, Nevada – acknowledged the same via its official Twitter account. A tweet from the account read as follows:
“Congratulations to @francis_ngannou for winning our #LVWBestofVegas Best Local Champion award! We're proud that Las Vegas is one of the places you call home.”
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‘The Predator’ posted a tweet in response, asserting that he’s happy to call Las Vegas home for the past five years. Thanking them for the honor, Francis Ngannou tweeted:
“Happy to call Las Vegas home the last 5 years. Thank you for the nomination.”
Cameroon native Ngannou moved to Paris, France, where he trained at the MMA Factory from 2013 to 2018. He then moved to Las Vegas in 2018 and started splitting time between Xtreme Couture in Vegas and the MMA Factory in Paris.
Ngannou eventually left the MMA Factory altogether and started training at Xtreme Couture on a full-time basis in 2019. While Ngannou also trains at the UFC PI (Performance Institute) in Vegas, he primarily spends time at Xtreme Couture under the guidance of head coach Eric Nicksick.
Francis Ngannou believes he’s just getting started, has five more years to conquer everything
A Twitter user with the handle @DaredevilUFC recently tweeted regarding UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. He also tweeted UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for being the three reigning African UFC champions of the same era.
The user added, however, that we may never see them compete on the same UFC fight card. Another Twitter user with the handle @pike_brendon replied by suggesting that Ngannou might not ever fight again.
‘The Predator’ noticed this tweet and responded by asserting that he’s just getting started. The 35-year-old Ngannou emphasized that he has at least five more years to "conquer everything." Ngannou tweeted:
“I'm just getting started bro ! I have at least 5 more years to conquer everything. #3KINGS”
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou last competed in January, in what was the final fight of his current UFC contract. Furthermore, the duration of Ngannou’s UFC contract is expected to end in December.
Ngannou is reportedly willing to re-sign with the UFC, albeit only if he’s given a pay raise and allowed to compete in the sport of boxing too. Ngannou has expressed interest in facing boxing great Tyson Fury in a mixed-rules fight next. That said, he’s currently recovering from knee injury issues and is expected to return no sooner than 2023.
