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Associated Press

Francis Ngannou has knockout power that snaps back heads like Pez dispensers and earned him comparisons to Mike Tyson in his ferocious heyday.
Ngannou has stood tall against all opposition in his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career and his terrifying run has shaped the challenger into the betting favourite in this weekend’s heavyweight championship bout against Stipe Miocic.
He’s not afraid to go face-to-face with anyone – even against his fellow Cameroon native, NBA star Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ngannou, 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, was absolutely dwarfed by the 7-2 Embiid in a visit at a Sixers practice session.
“He should be my next opponent,” Ngannou said.
“I think I’d kick his ass,” Embiid said, laughing.





Meeting the big Cameroonian brother @joelembiid today in Boston. #UFC220 #TeamNgannou #TheProcess #237 #cameroonians
A post shared by Francis Ngannou (@francisngannou) on Jan 18, 2018 at 1:04pm PST



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Embiid pulled in Ngannou for a hug and predicted the No 1 contender would win by knockout in the second round.
“That’s a good prediction,” Ngannou said.
It would also be a long night of work for Ngannou. The 31-year-old (11-1) hasn’t needed to go beyond the first round in any of his last four bouts and has never gone past the second in his 12 pro fights.
Knock out Miocic, and Ngannou would complete the made-for-movies tale of homeless to heavyweight champion and position himself as perhaps UFC’s most dominant big man since Brock Lesnar.
Ngannou fights just seven weeks after his stunning victory over Alistair Overeem at UFC 218, sealed with a left uppercut that rolled the eyes of the fallen foe to the back of his head. The crushing KO has been replayed in perpetuity to hype the Miocic fight.
At Fenway Park, the heavy hitter said he can’t escape the clip of his biggest swing.
“Any time I open my email, my Instagram, my story, people send it to me in different versions,” Ngannou said. “I think I did very well. It was all about to connect. And I connected.”
Blink and you might miss the crowning of a new champ.
“Good for him. He got a great knockout,” Miocic said.

Ngannou’s rise was hardly as swift. Much like Embiid, who only started playing basketball at 15, Ngannou was a late-bloomer to mixed martial arts.
He was raised as one of five children in the poverty-stricken village of Batie and was only 12 when he went to work in the sand mines to support his family.
Basically raised by a single mother, Ngannou was a Tyson fan and wanted to box, so he dabbled and drained in the sport for a few years.
He knew there was little future in fighting stuck in the mines and realised if he wanted to become serious about the sport, he’d have to leave Cameroon.
“If it was easy for me, I would have stayed in Cameroon,” Ngannou said. “I like to be close to my family. But one day, I felt like I didn’t have a choice.
“I left everything of my 26 years life behind me, closed the door and go somewhere where I don’t know what it looks like.”

Miocic vs Ngannou!!!!! This Saturday LIVE on PPV! #UFC220 pic.twitter.com/b86IIDcm4L
— Dana White (@danawhite) January 18, 2018

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His new home was Paris. But Ngannou had no friends, no plan, no support system and lived on the streets. Ngannou worked in the kitchen for a humanitarian organisation that helped the homeless in Paris.
“Being in the street in Paris, it wasn’t scary,” he said. “I embraced that situation because I knew worse than that. I’ve been in a worse situation than that one. Being in the streets in Paris was more comfortable than almost all the situations I’ve been though in my life.”
And the worst situation?
“I wasn’t able to have a kid life,” he said. “It’s not a good one. I don’t like it.”
Ngannou found his way in his 20s and eventually visited the MMA Factory where he met his eventual coach, Fernand Lopez. Lopez would convince Ngannou to forget about boxing and drilled him in jiujitsu and wrestling and a career in MMA.
Ngannou made his pro debut in 2013 and was in UFC about two years later in December 2015.

Ngannou, who speaks French and English, has not forgot his past and was offended when President Donald Trump reportedly used a profane term to describe African countries last week.
“All those people that he was talking about are people like us,” he said. “It’s kind of difficult to accept a thing like that.
“For myself, the goal for me was to lift my country and [to] see someone who just wants to break that dream, that hope for people [is tough].
“This guy is like a shame for America. America was built from immigration. America is the country that the world, the poor countries look at and, not expect America to give them something, but just to look at them as an example and build their own country and get a better situation.”
Ngannou’s family is still in Cameroon and he wanted his mother and a 17-year-old brother (“he’s very smart”) to come live in the United States.
Up first, a shot at the title.
Standing in his way is Miocic (17-2), who has a date with heavyweight history and will set the UFC record for consecutive title defences in the division at three with a victory.
Ngannou has one plan – for that UFC title to get wrapped around his waist.
“Life beat me up a lot of times,” Ngannou said, “and I want to take my revenge.”

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

The Mike Tyson of MMA, Francis Ngannou could go from homeless to UFC heavyweight champion

Francis Ngannou (left) knocks out Alistair Overeem with a thunderous punch in the first round at UFC 218. Photo: AP

Stipe Miocic, top, fights Junior Dos Santos in a mixed martial arts bout at UFC 211 for the UFC heavyweight championship, Saturday, May 13, 2017, in Dallas. Miocic retained his heavyweight title. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan)

epaselect epa06425896 US President Donald J. Trump waves as he attends the College Football Playoff National Championship game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 08 January 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

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Cameroonian faces Stipe Miocic in the main event at UFC 220, just five years after leaving a life of poverty in his homeland behind


The Mike Tyson of MMA, Francis Ngannou could go from homeless to UFC heavyweight champion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Cameroonian faces Stipe Miocic in the main event at UFC 220, just five years after leaving a life of poverty in his homeland behind

Cameroonian faces Stipe Miocic in the main event at UFC 220, just five years after leaving a life of poverty in his homeland behind