Francis Ngannou joins Netflix’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card for fight against UFC veteran
Francis Ngannou is becoming a member of one of many largest occasions of the summer season. The former UFC heavyweight champion is about to make his MMA return on May 16 at Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome, combating within the five-round co-main occasion of MVP’s historic Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano event on Netflix.
Ngannou’s first MMA bout since October 2024 will come against Philipe Lins (18-5), a 40-year-old former PFL heavyweight match champion and UFC veteran who has been out of motion since exiting the latter promotion on a four-fight win streak in March 2024.
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Ngannou (18-3) part ways with the PFL This previous Friday, ending a much-ballyhooed partnership that started in early 2023 however in the end noticed “The Predator” compete for PFL simply as soon as. Ngannou, 39, had one fight remaining on his PFL deal on the time of his departure, though his contract was set to run out within the coming months and his determination to depart was a mutual one with the promotion.
Despite his inactivity lately, Ngannou remains to be extensively thought of one of many high heavyweights in MMA. He captured the UFC heavyweight title in 2021 with a highlight-reel knockout of Stipe Miocic, then efficiently defended his belt against Ciryl Gane regardless of tearing a number of ligaments in his knee simply weeks out from the fight. In whole, Ngannou put collectively a sterling 12-2 document throughout his Octagon tenure, with each win however the Gane bout ending in vicious stoppages.
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Ngannou shocked the MMA world in January 2023 by departing the UFC as its reigning heavyweight champion — an unprecedented improvement within the UFC’s fashionable period, and one which positioned Ngannou as one of the crucial coveted free brokers within the sport’s historical past. Ngannou then signed a profitable, wide-ranging take care of PFL that included fairness within the promotion, a management place because the chairman of PFL’s Africa initiative, and a job on PFL’s advisory board to characterize the athlete’s pursuits.
Yet Ngannou in the end fought solely as soon as for the PFL, incomes a first-round knockout of heavyweight match champion Renan Ferreira in late 2024. Prior to that, the Cameroon native additionally competed in skilled boxing twice, shedding to high heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua over a six-month span in 2023-24 whereas beneath PFL contract.
Ngannou famously knocked down Tyson Fury regardless of having no prior expertise in skilled boxing.
(Justin Setterfield by way of Getty Images)
Lins gained the $1 million grand prize in 2018’s PFL heavyweight match with an underdog run of wins over Alex Nicholson, Caio Alencar, Jared Rosholt and Josh Copeland. Lins then signed with the UFC and misplaced back-to-back bouts to Andrei Arlovski and Tanner Boser, earlier than dropping all the way down to mild heavyweight and rattling off 4 consecutive victories over the likes of Ovince Saint Preux and Ion Cutelaba.
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Lins was not re-signed by the UFC following the completion of his contract regardless of his win streak.
Ngannou and Lins now be part of Rousey vs. Carano card that doubles because the maiden voyage into MMA for each Netflix and Jake Paul’s promotional firm, MVP.
Rousey, 39, is likely one of the largest stars within the historical past of the game, whereas Carano, 43, is a fellow pioneer of ladies’s MMA. The two trailblazers can have been away from the cage for a mixed 25 years by the point May 16 rolls round.
