Ex-UFC champion outlines one way Francis Ngannou could have become 'Fighter of the Year' in 2024: "It is not even a question"
A former UFC champion has put forth an assessment of how Francis Ngannou could've captured the 2024 'Fighter of the Year' honor. The veteran combatant also placed 'The Predator' in his list of the best fighters of this year.
The World MMA Awards transpired in Vegas earlier this month. Ex-UFC middleweight champion and reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira won the male 'Fighter of the Year' award. Two-time UFC women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili won the female 'Fighter of the Year' award. The awards were for events from the timeframe of July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
On their Pound 4 Pound podcast, former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo put forth their picks for 'Fighter of the Year.'
Cejudo's top five fighters of 2024, listed from No.1 to No.5, were UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, UFC light heavyweight kingpin Alex Pereira, UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, and UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Usman's top five listed from No.1 to No.5 were Topuria, Pereira, UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, Jones, and PFL Super Fights heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Since his UFC departure in January 2023, Ngannou competed in a pair of high-profile boxing matches against heavyweight boxing greats. 'The Predator' was narrowly outpointed by Tyson Fury in October 2023 and was knocked out by Anthony Joshua in March 2024.
Ngannou then ended his MMA hiatus, dating back to January 2022, by making his PFL promotional debut and knocking out the fearsome Renan Ferreira in October 2024.
Usman, who's long been friends with Ngannou, suggested that the latter would've surely been hailed as 'Fighter of the Year' if he'd put away Joshua and achieved marquee wins in two different sports in 2024:
"Had Francis been able to go out there and put away Anthony Joshua, it is not even a question Francis Ngannou is 'Fighter of the Year.' Because not only do you put away Anthony Joshua, you come back to MMA and you put away arguably the most dangerous heavyweight we've ever really seen outside of the UFC right now. And he put him away too. That would have been it. But, unfortunately, he didn't get it done."
Check out Usman's comments below:
Watch Usman and Cejudo discuss the topic below (58:30):
Kamaru Usman explains placing Francis Ngannou in his list of top five fighters of 2024
In the aftermath of his victory against Renan Ferreira, Francis Ngannou spoke to Ariel Helwani and indicated that he's open to both boxing and competing in MMA under the PFL banner, potentially in the second quarter of 2025. During his podcast conversation with co-host Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman was all praise for Ngannou.
Usman reaffirmed that what Ngannou attempted to achieve in two sports this year was applauseworthy. He emphasized that it was even more valiant given that Ngannou competed this year despite the unfortunate passing of his 15-month-old son Kobe in April 2024. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' said:
"And [Francis Ngannou] then came back [to MMA] and fought the scariest man outside of the octagon right now. I'm gonna have to definitely put Francis up there, for sure." [1:02:47-minute mark of the podcast episode]