“He brings a lot of composure to Francis”- coach reveals Kamaru Usman’s significance in the corner
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Francis Ngannou(L), Kamaru Usman(R)
Francis Ngannou is all set and prepared for his title unification bout against former teammate and current heavyweight interim champion Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. This fight will prove to be Ngannou’s toughest test yet as he will be making his first title defense since winning the belt at UFC 260.
The French-Cameroonian has been training hard but will walk into the Honda Center with some added aid on his side as UFC welterweight champion and No. 1 pound for pound fighter Kamaru Usman stands in his corner again as he did back when ‘The Predator’ beat Stipe Miocic and became UFC heavyweight champion.
While the ‘Embedded‘ crew documented the fighters behind the scenes for their fight week video series, they asked Eric Nicksick coach of Francis Ngannou to talk about ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’s assistance in the camp and he said, “Having Kamaru here man, it just makes the team feel complete you know.”
“He’s uh, he’s been part of the camps for a long time and he just brings obviously a championship mindset. But, moreover, I think he brings a lot of camaraderie and composure to Francis. There’s a brotherhood there.”
Francis Ngannou was aiming to unite Israel Adesanya along with Kamaru Usman for the fight against Ciryl Gane
Francis Ngannou has a lot of support and aid by his side when he takes on Ciryl Gane in what is his first title defense.
The champ has a welterweight champion and fellow African Kamaru Usman at his corner for UFC 270, however, he tried to bring in UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to his camp in order to back him.
On his podcast, he said, “I took Izzy as a brother so things that I say about him might not be considered by somebody but I say, he’s a great guy, the best striker in the game. By the way, I tried to get him for this training camp, but travel restrictions with New Zealand wasn’t really helpful for us so we couldn’t make it. But he would have loved to come here and help me for the striking part of the game, the footwork and everything.”
Having ‘The Last Stylebender’ backing him in his corner would surely place a lot of pressure on any opposing fighter to face the already monster of a fighter.
Fans even expressed their desire in seeing Adesanya help Ngannou ahead of his fight and it may still be possible if Ngannou does decide to renew his contract for further fights.
The two heavyweights will clash at the Honda Center, Anaheim, California on January 22nd so we can hope all of your eyes are glued to the TV as it promises to be a thriller of a fight.
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Nimish Ganapathy
(135 Articles Published)