Rising knockout artist Francis Ngannou made a run for the UFC heavyweight title on Saturday night, Jan. 20. However, things did not go the fighter’s way. Now Ngannou has come forward to reveal that he feels he may have underestimated his opponent.
UFC 220 went down inside the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday, offering fight fans a night filled with entertaining match ups. Headlining the card, UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic defended his title from Francis Ngannou in a dominant performance.
The two mixed martial arts warriors went the distance, with Miocic locking in a unanimous decision victory from their five round heavyweight war for the title.
Speaking at the UFC 220 post-fight press conference, Ngannou offered his thoughts on the tough loss.
“I’ve been in this sport only four years, and I know I’ll keep learning and improving,” Ngannou said. “What happened tonight was the last step for me to learn about this sport, because it’s the only thing I’ve never faced – a five-round fight, and how to deal with it. I made a mistake, and that will not happen again.”
“I came here today to win the fight,” The fighter continued. “I just discovered a new part (about fighting) that I was ignorant about.”
“The problem is I underestimated my opponent, and I went too hard in the first round, and he was tougher than I thought,” Ngannou said. “So (Miocic) resisted, and he put together a better game plan than me.”
“I’m going to keep improving and come back stronger than I was,” he said. “I learned more (at UFC 220) than I did in the past four years.”
“I still believe I have a lot to learn,” Ngannou stated. “A lot of fighters be doing this for a while, and I just doing for four years. I know that in four years, you can’t learn what people did in 15 years or for their entire life. You still have to improve, double your effort, and work harder. And that is what I’m doing, because I know I was late (to the sport).”
“Tonight, I learned that I never learned in this sport since four years,” Ngannou concluded. “I underestimated my opponent, and I discovered some new parts of this sport that I ignored about it. I learned a lot tonight.”
