From Paris Parking Lots to Heavyweight Champion

Francis Ngannou was born and raised in Batie, a rural town of roughly 10,000 people in Cameroon. He has said it took almost ten years from the moment he set himself the goal of becoming a boxer to his first step into a gym, and he had never been inside one when he left home to reach France.

His route took him first to Morocco, more than 2,000 miles to the north. He described that stage of the journey, which lasted about a year, as a series of illegal border crossings in which he scavenged for food. He then crossed to Spain by sea, was detained and held for about two months, and after his release made his way to Paris.

In Paris he was homeless at first, sleeping in parking lots, with no money or food. Bleacher Report quotes him saying that even so he felt free. Eventually he found his way to the MMA Factory, one of the city's best-known mixed martial arts gyms, and began training.

He rose through regional fights and then won his first six UFC bouts by stoppage. He lost to Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 in January 2018 and to Derrick Lewis, then recovered with four straight knockouts of Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The article, written in March 2021, previews his heavyweight title challenge against Miocic at UFC 260, for which he prepared at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. He said he had done everything right. He went on to become the UFC heavyweight champion.