Francis Ngannou made a successful return to MMA action last night with a first round KO Victory over Renan Ferreira at PFL: Battle Of The Giants, becoming their ‘Super Fights Heavyweight Champion’ in the process.
The 38-year-old Ngannou had last been seen in the boxing ring, where he’d been unable to replicate his impressive performance against Tyson Fury, instead suffering a 2nd round KO loss to Anthony Joshua after being dropped on multiple occasions.
So there was a lot of pressure on Ngannou’s shoulders heading into his first MMA fight in almost three years against the 34-year-old Ferreira, who won his last four fights in a row via strikes, including a 21 second TKO finish of Ryan Bader last time out.
However, Ngannou showed that he’d not forgotten his MMA skills during his stint as a boxer as early in the first round he landed a good takedown and soon began to land heavy ground-and-pound that quickly took a toll on Ferreira, who was already unconscious before the ref finally stepped in to end the fight.
Meanwhile, in the co-main event Cris ‘Cyborg’ made her PFL debut against two-division PFL tournament champ Larissa Pacheco and at 39-years-old showed she’s still one of the best of the best by earning a hard-fought unanimous decision victory to claim the Super Fights Women’s Featherweight Champion.
Pacheco showed off her striking prowess early in the fight as she opened up cuts to both of ‘Cyborg’s eyes, but the long-time Bellator champ didn’t let that phase her as she implemented her own striking game, including a big head kick that her opponent somehow walked through, while crucially also managing to mix in good takedowns in the early rounds too.
Pacheco was not overawed by the occasion or the offense coming her way during the fight, and indeed even challenged her legendary opponent several times to come at her, but Cyborg wisely stuck to her gameplan instead and late in the fight she was the more active fighter of the two offensively, which helped seal her unanimous decision victory (49-46 x3).
PFL: Battle Of The Giants Results:
Main Card
Francis Ngannou defeats Renan Ferreira via KO at 3:32 of Round 1 (Ground strikes)
Cris Cyborg defeats Larissa Pacheco via unanimous decision (49-46 x 3)
Johnny Eblen defeats Fabian Edwards via unanimous decision (48-47 x 3)
Zafar Mohsen defeats Husein Kadimagomaev via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
Paul Hughes vs A. J. McKee via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Prelims
Raufeon Stots defeats Marcos Breno via submission at 3:01 of Round 3 (Rear-naked choke)
Makkasharip Zaynukov defeats Dedrek Sanders via unanimous decision (30-26)
Ibragim Ibragimov defeats Nacho Campos via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
Taha Bendaoud defeats Tariq Ismail via submission at 3:51 of Round 2 (Triangle choke)
