Cameroon's MMA champion
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2019
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By the age of 10 Francis Ngannou was working in a sand quarry, where he dreamed of becoming a world class boxer. As a young man he traversed the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea to find himself homeless in Paris. From there, within an extraordinarily short amount of time, he exploded through the ranks to the highest echelons of the fastest growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.
He is now a leading contender for heavyweight champion of the world and a global star. He returns to his village in western Cameroon, where he is investing in the next generation. Zak Brophy travels to Cameroon to hear the story of his incredible life, and his dreams of becoming a role model within his community.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | That is the sound of the hardest recorded punch on the planet. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm watching Francis Inganu training. |
| 0:12.0 | He's a tower of muscle stacked upon muscle and it's clear why he's one of the most successful and feared fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts. |
| 0:29.2 | Mixed martial arts or MMA bouts are fought in a 9 metre wide caged octagon, punches, kicks, elbows, knees, tackles, throws, chokes and arm bars are all fair game. |
| 0:35.2 | It isn't for the faint-hearted. |
| 0:37.3 | Francis is a frontline contender for the belt of heavyweight champion of the world in the ultimate |
| 0:42.4 | fighting championship, |
| 0:44.0 | the most expensive sports organization in the world |
| 0:46.6 | and the leading force in the rapidly expanding domain of MMA. |
| 0:50.0 | And if he is not the scariest power puncher to have ever touched down on that canvas, |
| 0:55.6 | I'll take your other nominations. |
| 0:57.6 | He said that Mike Tyson is his hero. |
| 1:00.6 | Well he's the Mike Tyson of mixed martial arts. |
| 1:03.0 | Francis now lives and trains in Las Vegas, |
| 1:06.0 | but he spends several months of the year back in his home country, Cameroon, |
| 1:10.0 | which is where I've come to meet him |
| 1:12.0 | and explore his extraordinary and |
| 1:14.2 | improbable life story. Welcome to the documentary on the BBC World Service. |
| 1:18.5 | I'm Zach Brophy. |
| 1:20.1 | We stopped at a busy roadside market where everything is on sale from plantains to roast |
| 1:28.6 | meats, beers, but you can hardly move for everyone trying to get a picture with Francis, and that's a |
| 1:35.0 | far cry from his experiences here as a child. |
... |
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