JRE MMA Show #99 with Francis Ngannou

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Francis Ngannou (0:14)

Welcome, Francis. Thank you, Joe.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

I'm glad we finally did this.

Francis Ngannou (0:17)

Oh, finally.

Joe Rogan (0:18)

Well, your English, your English has improved drastically.

Francis Ngannou (0:22)

Thank you. I think that's why I wanted to wait a little bit before coming. I'm like, well, I'm not sure if I will handle that. Sometime I listen to the podcast, and I'm like, basically, when you're talking about different podcasts, different topic, I'm kind of like lost some time, like, okay, what it is mean? What does that mean?

But now I feel a little bit comfortable.

Joe Rogan (0:49)

Yeah, you're much, well, it's easy to talk to you now. I remember when you first went to the UFC, I interviewed you, and you didn't know what the fuck I was saying.

Francis Ngannou (1:01)

Growing up, I went to school, like elementary school and middle school, and we were learning English. I know some few words, like water and stuff, but just my accent was just so different than when I came here, my first UFC event was in Orlando.

And I couldn't even hear people, like water, like the accent was just so different. I'm like, what the hell is going on? I can't catch any word, you know? It was just crazy.

Joe Rogan (1:34)

How long have you been in America now?

Francis Ngannou (1:37)

Three years and a half.

Joe Rogan (1:39)

That's pretty impressive that you picked up.

Francis Ngannou (1:41)

No, permanently, because I travel a lot, but total is like two years and a half.

Joe Rogan (1:48)

And you were in France for how long before that?

Francis Ngannou (1:50)

Four years.

Joe Rogan (1:50)

Four years. When you were in Cameroon, what language do they speak in Cameroon?

Francis Ngannou (1:54)

We speak, mainly we speak French in general, and just in our village, that we speak our dialect.

Joe Rogan (2:01)

Oh, okay. So you know the dialect from the village and then French and then English.

Francis Ngannou (2:06)

Well, I'm learning English.

Joe Rogan (2:07)

We're talking. We're talking in English. So you can speak English a lot better than I can speak French.

Francis Ngannou (2:12)

Well, I still have some lacun in English, but getting there.

Joe Rogan (2:18)

So this has been a wild ride for you, huh?

Francis Ngannou (2:20)

Yeah. It's been a long road. You know, nobody could have imagined, basically, from looking back from my life that we're going to get here. You know, today I have to talk with great people around the world, you know, such as you, and be in the biggest podcast ever.

You know.

Joe Rogan (2:43)

And to be about to fight for the UFC Heavyweight Championship of the world, too.

Francis Ngannou (2:47)

For the second time.

Joe Rogan (2:48)

For the second time. Yeah.

Francis Ngannou (2:50)

The redemption.

Joe Rogan (2:50)

The redemption. Well, what was the first time like for you? What was the feeling of the first fight like for you?

Francis Ngannou (3:00)

I had two different feelings from that fight. First, obviously, I was very upset and disappointed that I didn't win the fight. And you know, as everyone who is fighting for the title, you want to get out there as a victorius.

But to be honest, I always look in that fight. And since the fight day, just after the fight, I look at it and I'm like, this is good. Like I learned just too much in that fight.

Because even though I was in the level of fighting for the world title, you know, I still have some missing part in my game and in my experience. I remember I was asking my question to myself like, okay, how did it look like to go into three rounds? Basically, I'm going to a potential five rounds that I never been in three rounds. How did it look like? How is it to prepare for this kind of fight? And I had this fight like six weeks earlier. So I was having a lot of questions. Then after that fight that night, I'm like, okay, I get it.

Joe Rogan (4:22)

Yeah.

Francis Ngannou (4:22)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (4:22)

Yeah. It's a very big learning experience, right?

Francis Ngannou (4:25)

Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan (4:26)

Cause you were smashing everybody. Everybody, you were knocking everybody out. So you had these very quick fights.

Francis Ngannou (4:31)

Yes. Very quick, very quick rise and didn't spend enough time in the octagon to like have those experience. Even though I was almost like, he was almost four years, three years and a half things.