Francis Ngannou could be the GOAT if he returns to MMA, claims coach

Francis Ngannou has an undeniable legacy in MMA.

Aside from an early-career defeat, Ngannou has lost only twice: once to Stipe Miocic and once to Derrick Lewis. A poor performance against Lewis led to one of the sport’s most boring decision defeats, but he avenged his loss to Miocic back with a crushing knockout three years later. He has wins over some of the greats, and his decision victory over Ciryl Gane continues to age well. But his MMA success has led him to leave the cage behind for the boxing ring. So, where does his heart lie?

According to his MMA head coach Eric Nicksick, no talks have happened about whether Francis Ngannou will return to MMA or boxing next. Talks will happen soon, and fans will likely know Ngannou’s next move before too long.

“I’ll actually see him in a couple days; he’s flying into town,” Nicksick said. “Planning on getting caught up with [what’s next]. He hasn’t really said much about anything. He celebrated his 40th birthday at the beginning of the month, and you know, he had a pretty big blowout. We’ll see. I’ll get caught up with him and see what’s on his mind and what he wants to do from a boxing standpoint or MMA standpoint.”

If it were up to Eric Nicksick, Francis Ngannou would return to MMA. Not only because that’s where Nicksick can help his fighter the most, but also because he believes Ngannou has what it takes to become the greatest fighter of all time, saying:

“Hopefully MMA, because obviously I think we’re making some really good strides there. But we’ll see what MVP has to offer for him.”

Nicksick continued.

“For me personally, it’s just like the boxing side of things is very much a learning experience for me. I use that time to really sit back and watch what Dewey [Cooper] does, and the other coaches, and learn how to kind of formulate a game plan when it comes to something I’m not very familiar with.”

“On the MMA side of things, we’ve talked about this for years, man. Just the development of Francis from that Jairzinho fight all the way to Ciryl Gane to now. It’s like, man, there’s so many things that we’re advancing on; I just wish we had more time in the MMA space, because I feel like we could break a lot of records, and he could be left as the greatest to ever do it. And that’s just having more time in the cage.”

“That’s where I think my- selfishly, I would love to see him fight more MMA.”