Tom Aspinall is one man who won’t have been surprised to see Francis Ngannou breeze through his MMA comeback fight.
After 1000 days away from the sport that made him famous, Ngannou returned to brutally KO Renan Ferreira in the first round of their PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants main event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
The former UFC heavyweight champion took his 6ft 8in opponent to the floor and survived a triangle attempt before finishing him with nasty ground and pound.
Many people thought it would be a competitive fight that hinged on who lands first, but Aspinall insisted that Ngannou would easily overcome Ferreira.
Tom Aspinall doesn’t believe Renan Ferreira is an elite heavyweight
A few days before Francis Ngannou’s eagerly anticipated PFL debut, Tom Aspinall dismissed the Cameroonian KO artist’s ‘best heavyweight in MMA’ credentials.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion explained his reasoning as he ruthlessly dismissed Ferreira as ‘not elite’ and claimed that anyone else Ngnanou faces in PFL won’t be top tier either.
“I have a lot of respect for Francis, and I really appreciate his story,” Aspinall told Ariel Helwani. “But it’s hard to debate right now [because] the guy he’s fighting is not elite and the guys he’ll be fighting in the future aren’t elite.
“It’s as simple as that, these aren’t the best guys in the world. The guy he’s fighting fought a friend of mine, a training partner of mine [called] Ante Delija last year and Ante just destroyed him in a minute or two.
“Just took him down, ground-and-pound, and stopped him in a minute; and now this guy’s fighting Francis Ngannou?
“The guy isn’t elite; yeah, he’s big, yeah, he’s powerful, and yeah, he can knock you out but he’s not an elite heavyweight… I’m not disrespecting him, but the elite guys aren’t in PFL, the elite guys are in the UFC.”
Aspinall faced some backlash for his comments, but they were proven right when Ngannou easily took Ferreira to the floor and pounded him out with 15 unanswered punches.
Still, many people think that Ngannou’s performance was impressive enough to cement his spot as MMA’s best big man ahead of Apsinall and Jon Jones.
Tom Aspinall DOESN’T think Francis Ngannou’s next opponent, Renan Ferreira, is elite 😬
“The guy [Francis] is fighting fought a friend of mine… and [my friend] just destroyed him within a minute or two…
The elite guys are not in PFL… it’s difficult to say [Francis] is the… pic.twitter.com/myiQcQD218
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 14, 2024
Who is the best heavyweight in MMA?
Ngannou may have suffered a couple of recent defeats in boxing, but he’s unbeaten in the cage since his infamously dull fight with Derrick Lewis in 2018.
Since then, he’s beaten Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Stipe Miocic, and Ciryl Gane to stretch his professional MMA record to 18-3.
No one comes close to his resume, but Jones is the best fighter of all time regardless of weight class and is viewed by Dana White as the pound-for-pound number one after beating Gane in his March 2023 heavyweight debut.
‘Bones’ will defend his heavyweight belt against Stipe Miocic, who hasn’t fought since being folded in half by Ngannou over three years ago, at UFC 309 on November 16.
Aspinall is a better challenger to Ngannou’s position as MMA’s best heavyweight as he’s stopped eight fighters, including Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov, and Blaydes, since joining the UFC in 2020.
The Englishman is desperate to prove himself against whoever wins the fight between Jones and Miocic – but to be the best he’ll have to get by Ngannou.
Unfortunately, cross-promotion fights between the UFC and PFL seem unlikely, so fans may have to decide who is the greatest without seeing them all fight each other.
Related Posts
