“You Always Get Tired”- Francis Ngannou touts not getting tired is impossible

Francis Ngannou opening up on his cardio

Francis Ngannou will take on Interim Champ Ciryl “BON GAMIN” Gane at UFC 270 at Honda Center, Anaheim to unify the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Ngannou is training with his head coach Eric Nicksick at Extreme Couture. It would be Francis Ngannou.’s first title defense.

Ngannou gave a behind the scene look at his training in the recent Youtube video on his channel. Ngannou is going all-in for full five rounds to better his cardio. This part of the training is referenced as ‘Sico Saturday’ and is the favorite part of the training for his coach Nicksick.

“THE PREDATOR” talks about how everybody is in shape but fighters get tired no matter how much they train. Ngannou also points out that when you see your opponent getting tired, you get rejuvenated as a fighter and get the confidence to go on even if your lungs are not okay with it. Ngannou said “You always expect yourself to never get tired, you think you are going to that point but that would never happen. You always get tired. Being in shape is like fighting that fatigue. You are in shape and remember the guy in front of you might be more tired than you. When you see somebody tired, it refreshes you, you have new power“

FS Video

Here’s the full video:

Francis Ngannou speaks on overcoming the cardio issues

Francis Ngannou won the HW championship from the greatest heavyweight of all-time Stipe Miocic in a rematch at UFC 260. Ngannou after losing two straight fights to Stipe Miocic and Derric Lewis came back with four first-round KOs over the top contenders. The only snag could be the lack of time he spent inside the octagon.

In the first match with Stipe Miocic, Ngannou got tired in the first round after having an early flurry. Ngannou and his team have suggested that he have fixed these issues but Ngannou’s opponents have not been able to test it so far. The rematch, with Miocic, was the only time we saw him fight in the second round after his resurgence.

Francis Ngannou took a very methodical approach in the second fight with Miocic. Gane, even though have a lesser experience in MMA, has competed for five rounds before and looked good throughout. Gane’s performances against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, and Derrik Lewis have shown that he doesn’t slow as the fight progress. Gane moves his feet a lot and has a very good defense as well as sneaky offense.

Once training partners, Ciryl Gane and Francis Ngannou could be future opponents if Gane is able to capture the interim heavyweight title at #UFC265 ? (via @mmafactory_fr) pic.twitter.com/pr2WH2c6km
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 6, 2021

Ngannou and Gane have trained together. Both probably know how they fight and what they felt during their sparring sessions. There has been a sparring video released from Gane’s camp which has Gane getting better of Ngannou. Even though sparring footage could be unreliable in predicting the outcome of a fight, it is an advantage for Gane that he has faced the power of The Predator. The mystic of Francis Ngannou will not be a factor for Gane.

Also, Ngannou’s focus might not be 100 percent on the fight. He has a few things outside the fight luring around him. Ngannou recently went on a Twitter rant with The Gypsy King. This is the last fight on his contract. He has publicly shown his disappointment with how the UFC has treated him. He has issues with his former coach Fernand Lopez, who is the head coach for Ciryl Gane. These could be the difference in this highly competitive match. Ngannou should keep his head in the fight and worry about the interim champion and not other things. It would interesting to see whether he can manage to stay focused and retain his championship.