Photos: "2 GOATs" - Fans join in as Francis Ngannou wishes Cristiano Ronaldo a happy 40th birthday

PFL heavyweight superfight champion and former UFC heavyweight kingpin Francis Ngannou recently wished his friend, Cristiano Ronaldo, a happy 40th birthday. Ronaldo, one of the most influential football athletes in history, is a huge fan of MMA and has befriended a few fighters through the years — 'The Predator' being one of his closest.

On February 5, 2025, Francis Ngannou posted a few photos of himself and Cristiano Ronaldo on Instagram with the caption:

"Happy big 40th anniversary LEGEND 🎂🍾 Eat some cake and drink some champagne 😉"

Photos part 1. [Image credit: @francisngannou on Instagram]

Photos part 2. [Image credit: @francisngannou on Instagram]

Many fans have reacted to the post, expressing their well wishes for the football icon. @fmmttf recognized the magnitude of this meeting of two legends, saying:

"Two goats 🐐"

Meanwhile, @african_freddy_b said:

"friendship goals 👏"

Here are more comments:

Comments on the photos. [Image credit: @francisngannou on Instagram]

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Cristiano Ronaldo had some private words with Francis Ngannou before his PFL heavyweight superfight title match with Renan Ferreira

The relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and Francis Ngannou runs deeper than mere hi's and hello's during public events. During his comeback fight at PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants, Ronaldo supported Ngannou, who had experienced one of the most difficult years of his life in 2024 after losing by KO for the first time and losing his son, Kobe.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Ngannou's coach, Eric Nicksick, spoke about the time when Ronaldo went into their locker room before the main event title fight with Renan Ferreira:

“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.”

Ngannou went on to defeat Ferreira via TKO in the first round, claiming the PFL heavyweight superfight title. It was the perfect return for 'The Predator', who had to overcome tremendous emotional upheaval to even make it to fight night.

Listen to Eric Nicksick here: (7:09):