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!"

Francis Ngannou (0:00)

Just getting tired, being tough was the purpose of fighting, if I will end up not being able to fight for the only person that I can fight for. I was 13 years old, and I decided that I was going to be a professional fighter, but I have no money. We don't have shoes. We don't have food. There's not a gym. I have to do something for that dream, so I left Cameroon.

Steven Bartlett (0:40)

You need to get to Spain. I was reading that people died.

Francis Ngannou (0:43)

Oh, a lot.

Steven Bartlett (0:44)

And you were drinking water that had dead animals.

Francis Ngannou (0:46)

We had no choice. I turned in the ocean. I fell six times. I tried to climb the fence, but that was the toughest part.

Steven Bartlett (0:53)

Why didn't you give up?

Francis Ngannou (0:54)

When your dream is so big, it's hard to give up. And the day that we arrived in Paris, I could start that dream to become a world champion. The Predator's heavyweight in the world!

Steven Bartlett (1:06)

You left the UFC because of a disagreement with Dana White. What's the truth?

Francis Ngannou (1:10)

Easy. He didn't want to ****.

Steven Bartlett (1:12)

And then you fought against Joshua?

Francis Ngannou (1:14)

Honestly, on that fight, there was a lot of unfairness.

Steven Bartlett (1:17)

What do you mean?

Francis Ngannou (1:17)

They have a lot of tricks.

Steven Bartlett (1:19)

Do you think they were doing that intentionally?

Francis Ngannou (1:20)

Yeah. It was so messy.

Steven Bartlett (1:22)

And then life shows how cruel it's capable of being.

Francis Ngannou (1:28)

When my boy passed away, that was the moment that I really felt like he failed you.

Steven Bartlett (1:33)

Have you been able to grieve? Francis, we met in a hotel room in Paris. It was me, you, Thierry Omri, and Tshemi and several other people. And I knew you from TV. I'd watched you fight, but I had no idea about your story. And it's funny because we all went around one at a time, Thierry, me, and then you, and shared our early story. And when we came to your story, I just couldn't believe it was true. I couldn't believe it was true.

Francis Ngannou (2:16)

Really?

Steven Bartlett (2:16)

Of course, I'd never heard, and I sit here and interview people for a living, I've never in my life heard a story like that, from where you started to where you ultimately ended up. And I know you've told it before to some people, but I have to start there because I think it creates the context of everything that you are today and the man that sits in front of me. So if you take me back to West Cameroon in 1986, what would I see? What was your childhood like?

Francis Ngannou (2:49)

I think you will see two parents that are just struggling, making it. A dad who was a carpenter and then a mom that really didn't have a job. And then at some point she was doing whatever she find, whether it's like selling, cook some stuff and sell in the trade. So that was it. Back then, back in 1986

Steven Bartlett (3:20)

The average person lives on $1,500 a year in West Cameroon. That's what I read.

Francis Ngannou (3:27)

Oh, that's a lot.

Steven Bartlett (3:29)

Oh, really?

Francis Ngannou (3:29)

$1,500 a year. That's a lot of money.

Steven Bartlett (3:34)

How much money were your family living on a year?

Francis Ngannou (3:38)

A year? Oh, definitely less than that. Less than thousand for sure.

Steven Bartlett (3:48)

And you're in a village of about 11,000 people?

Francis Ngannou (3:51)

Yeah. I mean, yeah, maybe back then. I think now we are over, 20 or 20,000 people or 30,000 people now.

Steven Bartlett (4:01)

I found some pictures. Take a look at these pictures. What are these different pictures? Can you describe them to me? What they are?

Francis Ngannou (4:10)

Oh, yeah.

This is me and my mom in our kitchen. Yeah. This was when I won the UFC title. And then I studied there on purpose. Like, you know, I've been sitting in this kitchen since when I was a kid. So dreaming about boxing and everything. So I got to go out there from this kitchen, go out there, get that belt of a world champion and bring it back and set it in that same kitchen and sit in the same spot that I used to sit. Then I'm like, at the end of the day, not only everything is possible, it's not such a big deal, you know.