Francis Ngannou received a lot of praise from one of the surging PFL Africa fighters, who he helms over in a chairman role for that PFL branch.
Karim Henniene is the fighter in question who touched on this subject ahead of his fight with Boule Godogo at PFL Africa 3 on October 18th. Henniene appeared on MMA Canada to address some of the discussion around Francis Ngannou not being cageside for the last card Henniene competed on. This, despite Ngannou's role as PFL Africa chairman which created some public friction between Ngannou and the promotion.
When asked if he felt any kind of disappointment that 'The Predator' wasn't in attendance for his last PFL Africa fight and if he had any thoughts on Ngannou's absence during that Summer card, Henniene said [via MMA Canada],
"Not at all. Honestly, I don't care. You know, I think I've already faced the most stressful event. You know, as I can say, it was Unified MMA when I fought on the card when there was Dana White Looking For a Fight. So, Dana White and the whole UFC team was there. So this time I was really stressful cuz obviusly all MMA fighters they all dream to be in the UFC obviously."
"So knowing that actually the matchmakers and the UFC president will be there at my fight at Unified that was stressful. But otherwise it's not like he's the UFC president or someone who can change my life you know. He's just the baddest man on the planet. Obviously, Francis Ngannou is like the best fighter, the most scariest fighter, but he's no UFC president or he doesn't have the ability to, you know, change my life like Dana White could."
"So, yeah, fighting in front of Dana White was definitely the most stressful thing I've ever done. So, after that, it doesn't matter which fighter is watching my fight, you know. I've trained with already the best fighters like, you know, from Rafael Fiziev to Georges St. Pierre. I train with those guys. So, I'm no fanboy, you know, I really like; I appreciate those guys, what they did for the sport."
"I'm like, it's just, you know, it's just a guy who's watching the fight and is that he's there or not. It doesn't change nothing to my performance, you know. And no, it doesn't stress me or I don't care if he's there or not. But obviously I respect his record. I respect everything he did for the sport, you know, and especially him. Francis Ngannou have like one of the craziest story in MMA."
"From, you know, traveling from Cameroon to France, you know, been homeless and ended up the biggest UFC superstar, the heavyweight champ. So, I have a lot of respect for him, but that he's there watching my fight. I know it doesn't change nothing to me. But yeah, this time he will be there and, obviously I'll be happy that he'll be watching my fight and obviously I want a picture with him because, yeah, he's the man."
When referencing that he got a photo with Dana White at that referenced Unified MMA card in Toronto, in the context of how he needs to get a photograph with Ngannou now, Henniene stated [via MMA Canada],