Francis Ngannou Breaks Down Sharing Heartbreaking Story: "I Don't Know The Purpose Of Fighting Anymore", "I Feel Powerless", "I Don't Know How To Deal With This!"

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Education, Business

4.5 • 18K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2024

⏱️ 128 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Crossing oceans, deserts, national borders, and finally the entrance to the UFC ring, you've never heard a journey like Francis Ngannou's Francis Ngannou is a martial artist, professional boxer, and Lineal Combat Sports Heavyweight World Champion. He became UFC Heavyweight Champion in 2021 and holds an MMA record of 17 wins and 12 victories by knockout. In this conversation, Francis and Steven discuss topics such as, Francis’ painful childhood, how Francis worked in a sand mine aged 10 and dreamt of boxing, his struggle to find a place to train, and the death of his 15-month-old son. (00:00) Intro (01:13) My Childhood: Surviving on Less Than $1000 a Year (05:17) Overcoming Struggles in Rural Cameroon (11:52) My Dream of Becoming a Professional Boxer (13:59) Choosing a Different Path Than My Father (16:27) Growing Up with a Violent Father (17:11) Coping with My Father's Death at 15 (18:57) Wishing for One More Day with My Dad (23:22) The Struggles Of Chasing My Boxing Dream (24:30) The INSANE Journey to Reach Europe (27:41) How We Survived the Sahara Desert! (31:47) The Hardest Part of My Journey (33:59) Waiting to Cross the Border (35:53) Two Ways Out: Swimming the Ocean or Climbing the Barbed Wire Fence (41:15) Six Attempts to Cross the Sea in a Dinghy (48:02) Months of Survival in the Forest (49:56) Evading Police Radars (57:26) Calling the Red Cross for Help (01:01:60) Two Months in a Detention Center (01:04:07) Surviving on 50 Euros (01:06:49) My Coach's Support: A Place to Stay and Guidance (01:09:15) My First Experience with MMA (01:10:12) Facing Rejection: No One Wanted to Fight Me in Paris (01:11:40) How I Made It to the UFC (01:13:20) My First Fight in America (01:15:04) Winning the UFC Heavyweight Title (01:20:10) The Conversation with Dana White (01:23:31) How the Contract Took My Freedom (01:26:44) The UFC Contract and Its Clauses (01:28:40) Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou (01:31:41) My Future Goals in Fighting (01:33:53) Ads (01:34:51) The Truth Behind the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou Fight (01:42:17) Coping with the Death of My Baby Son (01:46:29) Going Through Grief (01:51:37) Returning to Cameroon (01:58:05) The Last Guest Question Follow Francis: Instagram - https://g2ul0.app.link/1NxVsZgZPLb Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/LLWRzrkZPLb Watch the episodes on Youtube - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACEpisodes My new book! 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' is out now - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACBook You can purchase the The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: Second Edition, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just getting tired being tough was the purpose of fighting if I would end up not being able to fight for the only person that I could fight for. I was 13 years in battle. U.S.C. Heavy White Champion of the World.
0:28.0	I was 13 years and I decided that I was going to be a professional fighter.
0:32.0	But I have no money, we don't have shoes, we don't have food.
0:35.8	There's not a gym. I have to do something for that dream, so I left Cameron.
0:40.9	You need to get to Spain. I was reading that people died.
0:43.7	Oh a lot. And you were drinking water that had dead animals.
0:46.7	We had no choice. I had them in the ocean. I fell six times.
0:50.3	I tried to climb the fence. But that wire it was the toughest part.
0:54.0	Why didn't you give up?
0:55.0	When your dream is so big it's hard to give up.
0:58.0	And the day that we arrived in Paris, I could start that dream to become a war chunk. that train is
1:04.8	is heavyweight in the world.
1:05.8	You left the UFC because a disagreement with Dana White.
1:09.4	What's the truth?
1:10.4	Easy, he didn't want to...
1:12.4	And then you fought into Joshua.
1:14.0	Honestly, on that fight, there was in a lot of unfairness.
1:17.0	What do you mean?
1:18.0	They have a lot of tricks.
1:19.0	Do you think they were doing that intentionally?
1:21.0	Yeah.
1:22.0	He was so messy. and then life shows how cruel it's capable of being.
	...

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