FRANCIS NGANNOU went from borrowing money as the MMA champion of the world to earning millions in the boxing ring.
The heroic Cameroonian – who emigrated from Africa to Europe over the course of a year on foot – put his cage career on hold in 2023.
His life changed after switching from MMA to boxing[/caption]
He walked out on the UFC as their heavyweight champion to pursue a his lifelong ambition of boxing.
At the time, he had beaten Ciryl Gane in January 2022 but had no plans to re-sign with the UFC.
He made only £450,000 for the bout and revealed he borrowed £150,000 from friend and former UFC champ Kamaru Usman.
But after two boxing bouts – against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua – he is believed to have earned over £10MILLION.
And Ngannou told SunSport: “Yes, there was a day that I have to borrow money from Kamaru Usman, I might not have to borrow the same amount today.
“But I can still borrow because my project gets bigger and bigger. So things are changing as a person I’m growing.
“Life is moving, I have different perspective in life. My ambition grows, you know. I set no limit for myself. The sky is my limit.”
Ngannou revealed he leant the money from Usman to focus on his fledging property empire.
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He said: “Personal things, investment, having a house, building a house. I love houses, I love real estate.
“I come from a family that we never owned any house. We never had a house.
“Then my first thing was to build houses in different city and then maybe buy one wherever I’m living make some investment.
“Think of my future. Think of a potential retirement plan or in case things don’t work out.
“I’m doing a job that I have no guarantee, no insurance. I have no guarantee of the future of tomorrow, everything can stop right now.
“So yes, you think about that. When you think about that, you need to plan things out at least, like for 1,2,3 years or more in case s*** happens.
“So you have something you have some time to reset and start back. I think that’s what every single combat sports athlete should do.”
Ngannou left Cameroon when he was 26 for a better life, having began working in the sand mines from the age of just TEN.
It took him 14 months to go from his hometown of Batie to eventually France, where his journey as a fighter began.
Now, he is a former world champion with two huge paydays in the bank – but there was once a time when securing food to eat was his biggest problem.
He said: “There were days that when I wake up my only worry, my only concern was what I was going to eat that day. There were days like that in my life.
Ngannou used to work in the sand mines in Cameroon and often visits back[/caption]
Ngannou left Africa for Europe on foot[/caption]
It took him a year to emigrate[/caption]
“Basically growing up there were days that going to school, I worry because I didn’t have a pen to take notes or because I didn’t have a note, because my school tuition hasn’t been paid.
“So life evolved, doesn’t mean he was that bad day. I think it was just a process.
“Because at the end of the day, life is mostly a journey that you have to understand, enjoy the journey is not a destination.
“Because, if you set a destination and then you get to destination, then what’s happened? It’s the trusting the process.”
Ngannou, 38, sensationally dropped Fury, 36, on his boxing debut only to lose a controversial decision.
He then remained in boxing but was knocked out by Joshua, 34, in two rounds in March.
Now, he returns to the cage for the first time in over two years to face 6ft 8in Brazilian Renan Ferreira, 34, in his Professional Fighters League debut.
And he welcomes the familiar feeling of strapping on the tiny 4oz MMA gloves and stepping foot back in the cage.
He said: “I would say the transition was going from MMA to boxing not to from boxing to MMA, because that’s not the transition.
“I’ve been doing MMA my entire career. I mean, both are definitely two different trainings which MMA has their own complexity.
“But, I’m more used to the complexity of MMA.”
