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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Francis Ngannou suffered an unspeakable tragedy when his 15-month-old son Kobe died.

An immensely private person, the former UFC heavyweight champion hadn’t really spoken publicly about his growing family outside the sport, but he posted a heartfelt statement regarding the death of his son after the news was first revealed back in April. Three months later, Ngannou is still trying to cope with the loss while raising a daughter and preparing to return to work as a fighter in the PFL.

During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Ngannou detailed the medical emergency that led to his son’s death.

“He has some malformation on his brain, which is something that we didn’t know,” Ngannou said. “He passed out twice. The first time was in Cameroon, we took him to the hospital. They didn’t find anything. The second time was in [Saudi Arabia], we took him to the hospital. They ran a lot of exams, they didn’t do anything. They did the EEG, they didn’t do the [CAT] scan or MRI, because according to them, their conclusion was that he had a swollen lung. That is what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and it created that thing.

“After all those exams, they gave him some medicine, that he’s going to be OK. Nothing to worry about. Because at first, they even thought about asthma. They gave, like, a ventilator and then afterward, after some research they took it out. It [made me] confident.”

Ngannou says he trusted that the doctors had properly diagnosed the issues and that his son would inevitably recover. He ended up leaving his home in Cameroon to travel to Dubai, which is where he was training at the time.

“I remember just getting into Dubai and mental-wise, I’m not doing bad,” Ngannou said. “Life is good. I went to the gym, maybe I should go to the club tonight. I don’t go to clubs, I don’t go out. I went to the gym to workout. I’m in the back cycling, and then I tried to call, I wanted to talk to him and I was on the bike. I called his mom and his mom didn’t pick up the phone. I’m like after I’m done, I’m going to go take my shower, lay in bed and call him. Thirty minutes after, I was on the leg machine, my phone rang and it was my little brother.

“He said, ‘Bro, things are not going well here.’ I’m like, ‘What is it?’ [He said], ‘Kobe, he passed out, he’s not breathing, we are at the hospital, they kicked me out from the room.’ I’m like, ‘What’s happening?’ As we are talking, he’s also trying to get information so I lost him for like three or four minutes.”

Ngannou called his brother back and the nurse at the hospital attempted to verify his relationship to the child receiving emergency medical care. That’s when he heard the nurse tell his brother that his son had passed away.

“[She said], ‘Well, he’s gone.’ Just like that. He’s gone,” Ngannou said. “What do you mean he’s gone? How come he’s gone? This kid was 15 months, he was bigger than 15 months. He was growing. He was the most joyful happy kid around. What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where? That was it.

“I thought I was dreaming. I thought they were going to say that’s not true. I kept calling again and everybody confirmed it. I called my mom, my mom is in tears. What the f*ck is this? That was it.”

The news hit Ngannou like a sledgehammer and he struggled to comprehend that his son was actually dead.

Despite giving his family a comfortable life, and knowing that he was providing for them in every way possible, Ngannou admits he felt completely powerless after losing his son. He was reminded of losing his father when he was only 15 years old. At that time, Ngannou knew as a child that he really had no control over the situation. It was much more difficult to reconcile his son’s death because Ngannou tried to give him everything, which included the best possible medical care. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

“That hurt,” Ngannou said. “That hurt a lot.”

Ngannou’s son Kobe—named after late NBA star Kobe Bryant—was laid to rest, but the pain from his loss continued to linger in the days and weeks following his passing. As much as he appreciated the outpouring of support in the wake of the tragedy, Ngannou struggled to fathom how his 15-month-old child was really gone and never coming back.

“You get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing [with], the things that you took from him the other day and put here, it’s right there but he’s not there anymore and will never be there anymore,” Ngannou said. “If they ask you what do you want or what can comfort you, you don’t know. It’s nothing. It’s really about facing it daily, take it one at a time.”

As Ngannou prepares to restart his fighting career later this year, he knows he’ll never escape the pain and anguish that goes along with the death of a child. He can only take solace in knowing that he’ll eventually be reunited with Kobe one day.

“At least whenever I die, I’m going to go see my kid,” Ngannou said. “I’m going to see him. I’m not afraid of [death]. I still want to live but when you get to that point, to think like that. So for some way you’re looking forward for whenever that happens.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

The illegal elbow in mixed martial arts is no longer illegal.  The Association of Boxing Commission and Combative Sports lifted the ban on the 12-6 elbows from the Unified Rules for mixed martial arts.  

The ban on the 12-6 elbows has been in place since the Unified Rules were adopted in 2000.  An ABC rules committee voted unanimously to lift the ban.  The lifting of the ban will not go in effect until Nov. 1.  It will be up to the individual state athletic commissions whether to allow them.  

The rule banning the use of the 12-6 elbow reads, “All elbow strikes are legal except for an elbow that is thrown in a downward trajectory (hand traveling from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock). Any elbow thrown with an arc is a legal elbow. The point of the elbow may be used as striking instrument as well as the forearm or the tricep area of the arm.”  

In a February 2006 interview with MMAWeekly Radio, legendary referee “Big” John McCarthy explained why the rule was made and the back history that led to it’s initiation.

“What it was, was when the Unified Rules were put together they took all the organizations. You had the UFC, Pride. You had the IFC. You had Hook-N-Shoot at the time. There were various organizations that all met together in New Jersey. Larry Hazzard is the one that put it together so he could clarify his rules. Marc Ratner was on a phone line for it, and they ended up having everyone sit there and try to come together with what they could be happy with,” explained McCarthy.  

“One of the things that happed was there was an IFC show that happened before that meeting occurred. There were a couple of fights, and because New Jersey wasn’t comfortable with Mixed Martial Arts at the time, there were a couple of fights that went on to change things as far as what they were going to permit and not permit,” added McCarthy.

“You have all these different organizations, and you have all these people with what they want to be able to do, so it’s tough to get people to agree on things. Finally, one of the things that was brought up is in one of the fights a fighter took another guy’s back and tried to sink in a choke. He couldn’t sink in the choke, so he started taking his hand and bringing it up and elbowing to the back of the guy’s head and neck,” McCarthy continued.  

Related: Sean O’Malley blasts ‘mentally weak drug addict’ Conor McGregor

“The doctor from New Jersey had a conniption about it. He said, ‘I will never ever pass something that allows that type of strike. That could be life threatening,’ and he started going into his thing, and so the one elbow they took out was that elbow, that type of position. The way that they wrote it up, you could interpret it a ton of ways, but the true position they were talking about was the hand coming up to twelve o’clock to six o’clock.”

The most famous incident of a fighter being disqualified due to an illegal elbow came in December 2009 at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale.  Jon Jones fought Matt Hamill and dominated through the first four minutes of the opening round when referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight and disqualified Jones.  It’s remained the only blemish on Jones’ Hall of Fame worthy resume.  

After the ban was lifted, Jones reacted to the news via social media.  “Undefeated then, undefeated now,” Jones wrote.  “We gotta get that loss out of the history books.”

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is holding a special pre-fight media day for select combatants competing on the UFC 304 pay-per-view (PPV) fight card this Sat. night (July 27, 2024) at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

UFC 304 will be headlined by the welterweight title fight pitting reigning 170-pound titleholder Leon Edwards opposite No. 2-ranked title contender Belal Muhammad. Before that championship rematch gets underway, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will run it back against wrestling powerhouse Curtis Blaydes in the UFC 304 co-main event.

Here’s the full list of UFC 304 media day participants:

Leon Edwards – UFC welterweight champion
Belal Muhammad – No.2 UFC welterweight
Tom Aspinall – UFC interim heavyweight champion
Curtis Blaydes – No.4 UFC heavyweight
Bobby Green – No.15 UFC lightweight
Paddy Pimblett – UFC lightweight
Muhammad Mokaev – No.6 UFC flyweight
Manel Kape – No.8 UFC flyweight
Arnold Allen – No.6 UFC featherweight
Giga Chikadze – No.10 UFC featherweight
Nathaniel Wood – UFC featherweight
Molly McCann – UFC women’s strawweight
Caolan Loughran – UFC bantamweight
Mick Parkin – UFC heavyweight

Note: Times and fighter availability subject to change.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 304 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 304: “Edwards vs. Muhammad 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC 304 media day will feature the top UFC fighters at Saturday’s UFC event in Manchester, England.

The tentative schedule for UFC 304 media day is as follows:

10 a.m. ET: Caolan Loughran

10:30 a.m.: Mick Parkin

10:45 a.m.: Molly McCann

11:15 a.m.: Belal Muhammad

11:30 a.m.: Giga Chikadze

11:45 a.m.: Manel Kape

12 p.m.: King Green

12:30 p.m.: Curtis Blaydes

12:45 p.m.: Paddy Pimblett

1 p.m.: Nathaniel Wood

1:30 p.m.: Tom Aspinall

1:45 p.m.: Leon Edwards

2 p.m.: Muhammad Mokaev

2:15 p.m.: Arnold Allen

MMA Fighting – All Posts

With business to attend to this weekend in the form of an interim heavyweight title fight, Curtis Blaydes has still claimed it’s likely a “smart decision” for champion, Jon Jones to avoid a bout with him ahead of his UFC 304 return. 

Blaydes, a perennial heavyweight contender, features in a title fight – albeit interim, for the first time in his lengthy promotional tenure this weekend, co-headlining UFC 304.

Taking on former-foe, Tom Aspinall in a trip to enemy territory in Manchester, Blaydes looks to snatch the interim crown in another upset win – after a debilitating knee injury forced a TKO win in favor of the latter back in July 2022 in their London main event fight.

And last time out, Blaydes turned back the surge of Brazilian contender, Jailton Almeida with a stunning series of elbows at the Octagon fence whilst fending off a takedown, handing the Dana White’s Contender Series product his first UFC defeat. 

Curtis Blaydes quips Jon Jones is clever to avoid fight with him

Hoping to position himself to a future fight with fellow veteran, Jones with a huge upset win over Atherton favorite, Aspinall this weekend, Curtis Blaydes has claimed that while the Rochester native has a UFC 309 return of his own lined up for Madison Square Garden in November against Stipe Miocic, it’s likely clever for him to avoid a showdown.

“I wasn’t surprised (that Gane vs. Jones was booked for UFC 285),” Curtis Blaydes told ESPN MMA. “I’ve been with the UFC for eight years now. Like, I get it,” Blaydes said. “Marketing. He’s French, which means he brings in all the fans over there. He has an aesthetically pleasing style. A lot of people don’t like wrestling, so I get that. He does all the fancy karate stance and all that. It’s easy to market his highlights versus the highlights that I have.

“Also, I think they asked Jon and were probably like, ‘Jon, do you wanna go against this guy who doesn’t know how to wrestle? Or this guy, who knows how to wrestle?’ I think he did the business, smart decision,” Blaydes continued. “I am a harder fight for him than Gane; I think a lot of guys are a harder fight for him than Gane.”

Over the course of his Octagon tenure, Illinois native has turned in eye-catching wins over the likes of Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, as well as the above-mentioned Aspinall and Almeida.

Who would you pick to win in a future matchup: Curtis Blaydes or Jon Jones?

LowKickMMA.com

UFC lightweight Paddy Pimblett is confident of Molly McCann starting the night off in strong fashion for their team this weekend.

Both Pimblett and McCann will be in action at UFC 304, set for the Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on July 27. The pair will look to recreate their double does of success at two London-held UFC Fight Nights back in 2022.

First to the cage will be “Meatball,” who is slated to throw down with Bruna Brasil on the preliminary portion of the event. The bout marks her sophomore strawweight outing, having moved down following consecutive defeats at 125 pounds.

In her divisional debut, McCann impressed by showing new wrinkles to her game in a gruesome armbar submission victory over Diana Belbiţă this past February.

And having seen her preparation pre-UFC 304, Pimblett is expecting a similarly emphatic performance in a few days’ time…

Pimblett: McCann In ‘Best Shape Of Her Life’ Ahead Of UFC 304

During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Pimblett broke down and predicted the matchups set to play out in Manchester this weekend.

When it came to his teammate and friend’s second fight since dropping to strawweight, the Liverpudlian unsurprisingly backed McCann to get the job done in convincing fashion.

More than just a Next Generation MMA bias, “The Baddy” touted McCann’s work behind closed doors as justification for his one-sided pick.

“Next fight, my big sister, Molly the ‘Meatball’ McCann. … Yous know I don’t need to give a prediction for this,” Pimblett said. “Molly is in the best shape of her life. I’ve never seen her look so good in sparring and in strength and conditioning and everything.

“She’s coming to take Bruna’s soul. I’m predicting a TKO for Molly in this fight,” Pimblett continued. “You never know though. Just like last time, she could get a submission. People are sleeping on her jiu-jitsu game.”

McCann will look to prove Pimblett’s prediction correct when she makes the walk on Saturday’s preliminary card and in doing so set the stage for “The Baddy” to record a crucial victory of his own over Bobby “King” Green on PPV.

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• Read More: UFC 304’s Paddy Pimblett Bemoans Jared Gordon ‘Robbery’ Still Being Brought Up: ‘People Need To Watch Khabib vs. Gleison Tibau!’ 

Continue Reading Paddy Pimblett Praises ‘Big Sister’ Molly McCann’s Training Ahead Of UFC 304: ‘She’s Coming To Take Bruna’s Soul!’ at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts