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Francis Ngannou's coach recently weighed in on the upcoming PFL: Battle of the Giants heavyweight clash against Renan Ferreira. The former UFC heavyweight champion will be making his promotional debut and will mark his first MMA bout in over two years.
There is plenty of interest surrounding the heavyweight bout, especially considering the Brazilian's knockout power. It is an intriguing bout as Ngannou is coming into the bout following a devastating knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in their heavyweight boxing bout.
While speaking to MMA Fighting, 'The Predator's coach Eric Nicksick weighed in on his pupil's MMA return and addressed the questions on whether the knockout loss to Joshua will affect his performance. Nicksick mentioned that both Ngannou and pfl-battle-giants-francis-ngannou-vs-renan-ferreira-fight-card-date-start-time-streaming-watch-venue" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Ferreira are powerful heavyweights and the bout likely won't be going the distance:
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"You understand the concern [of Joshua's knockout] but it is part of the game, especially at that division. It turns into a coin-flip, right? Like, these guys touch you with 4oz gloves, somebody's going to sleep. Now what we do have in our favor is I think the fact that Francis [Ngannou] has been working a lot of his boxing, footwork and understanding how to roll with those punches, how to tie his counters into his defense." [7:54 - 8:14]
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Check out the full interview with Francis Ngannou's coach Eric Nicksick below:
Eric Nicksick says Francis Ngannou has significantly improved his striking
In addition to addressing whether the knockout loss to Anthony Joshua will affect Francis Ngannou's performance, Eric Nicksick said that his pupil's striking has significantly improved.
During the aforementioned interview, Nicksick mentioned that Ngannou was unable to showcase areas he has improved during his bout against Joshua. He said:
"The evolution of [Ngannou's] striking has gotten much more crisper, much more pristine over the last couple of years and I know that we weren't able to show that in the Anthony Joshua fight but leading up to that...he literally was the best I've ever seen him." [8:16 - 8:31]
Check out the promo for Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira below:
