Eric Nicksick shares the story of how a
thoughtful gesture from Francis Ngannou brought one of his coaches
to tears šš„ @MMAFighting
#UFC
#MMA
pic.twitter.com/9UR5dzj31gā Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
August 10, 2024
Advertisement
Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick recently revealed how a
gesture from Francis
Ngannou moved one of his other coaches to tears.
Nicksick shared how fellow coach Nate Pettit is one of the hardest
working guys in the gym, devoting his whole life to the Las
Vegas-based camp. A couple of weeks ago, a teary-eyed Pettit walked
up to Nicksick in the gym and said Ngannou had just handed him a
check.
When Nicksick later thanked Ngannou for looking out for Pettit,
āThe Predatorā said he didnāt want the coachās efforts to go
unreciprocated. Nicksick also credited Pettit for a significant
role in preparing Ngannou for his knockout title win over Stipe
Miocic at UFC 260 in 2021.
āNate Pettitās one of our coaches in the gym. Nateās just one of
the hardest workers youāre gonna see in the room,ā Nicksick
recently told MMAFighting.com. āLike the guyās just
constantly holding pads for people, constantly on the road, heās a
dogā¦ Doesnāt have a family, doesnāt have a life ā his life is this
gym. Weāre putting the new cages together, Nate came up to me with
tears in his eyes. This is like two weeks ago. And heās like,
āDude, Francis just handed me a check and just said thank you for
everything that you do.ā I don’t know what the amount was. I didn’t
even ask. But it was enough to move this man to tears, to an
emotion. And I say to Francis later on, I was like, ‘Hey, thanks
for giving, hooking up Nate.’ He’s like, ‘Of course, bro. I see how
hard he works and I want to pay him for all the time that he’s
given to others that maybe is not reciprocated back to him.’
“So, you know, just keeping it in the house, keeping it in the
family, and the way he takes care of his coaching staff [and]
people around him. Nate had a huge role in helping Francis beat
Stipe
Miocic. Nate ran those wrestling practices along with Dennis
Davis. So, paying it forward to Nate, man, that’s just the type
of person Francis is.”
Ngannou hasnāt competed in MMA since defending his title against
Ciryl
Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. Ngannou is now set to make his
Professional Fighters League debut against 2023 heavyweight
winner Renan
Ferreira on Oct. 19 in Saudi Arabia.