Francis
Ngannou was well aware off the risks he faced defending his
heavyweight title at UFC 270, and he went through with the fight
anyway.
Following his unanimous decision win over Ciryl Gane
at UFC 270, Ngannou revealed to media at the post-fight press
conference that he competing with a torn MCL and other damage to
his knee suffered prior to the event.
“It was pretty bad,” Ngannou said. “I have a grade 3 MCL (tear), I
have damage on my ACL and damage on my MPFL. That was 25 days ago.
I think [I’ll need surgery].”
It was a different style of fight for Ngannou at the Honda Center
in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday night, as he relied on takedowns
and top position to wear down his former MMA Factory training
partner over the second half of the bout. “The Predator” said he
was warned by doctors not to compete, but he elected to take the
risk – even on the last fight of his UFC contract.
“My team was by my side regardless of whatever I decided to do,
that’s what they said,” Ngannou said. “But the doctor said he
wouldn’t recommend me [to fight] because I could have irreversible
damage if I got kicked on that knee. That’s why I couldn’t switch
my stance.
“I could have withdrawn from this fight, but then get in another
fight and get [injured] even worse. We are doing this sport, it’s
very dangerous, you can hurt yourself all the time. So if you feel
like there’s a chance you can do it, you have to do it. I believe
in myself. I’ve been through a lot of stuff in my life. That must
be a dumb decision, but I didn’t want to withdraw from this fight.
I was very confident about my skills to win this fight.”
It became evident something might be wrong when Ngannou came to the
Octagon wearing sleeves on both of his knees. That hindered his
movement in the bout and likely, much of his trademark knockout
power.
“I was very [unstable] trying to hold position, [I couldn’t] move
too much,” Ngannou said. “I didn’t want to slip or something. Just
the idea of slipping or getting kicked on that knee was so
scary.
“Basically, I saw the doctor on Tuesday to clear me and he wasn’t
very optimistic about it but I still decided to move on.”
Ngannou was well aware of the risks involved, and he was willing to
do whatever it took to win in what could be his last Octagon
appearance.
“I don’t care about how [my knee] feels,” Ngannou said. “I know
what I was putting myself into and if I needed to leave that leg in
the Octagon to get the win, I would have done it.”