[imagesource: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images]

To become a UFC world champion, you need to be fearless.

After all, you know your rival has one goal in mind – to physically harm you – and only one of you is leaving the Octagon victorious.

In the case of 34-year-old Cameroonian Francis Ngannou, and what he has overcome in his life thus far en route to being crowned UFC’s ‘baddest man on the planet’, you’d reckon fear is far less of a stumbling block than it may be for others.

The title of ‘baddest man on the planet’ is given to the UFC heavyweight champion, a title Ngannou won this past weekend by taking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 260.

Here are the fight highlights, with the knockout sequence starting from around the 1:35 mark:

After the victory, Ngannou was full of praise for his opponent:

In victory or defeat, @stipemiocic and @francis_ngannou have always shown class, and this exchange after #UFC260 is no different 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Vcl5j2ajY2

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 28, 2021

In his hometown of Batié, residents celebrated Ngannou’s victory wildly, despite it being the early hours of the morning:

You need to see this!

⏰ 5.15am
📍 Batié, Cameroon

Incredible scenes from the hometown of @Francis_Ngannou as they celebrate the crowning of a new UFC Heavyweight Champion! 🇨🇲

(📽 Mathieu Pennella) pic.twitter.com/NSA57bUsmA

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) March 28, 2021

It’s no wonder residents hold their world champion in such high esteem, because his life story is one of overcoming almost insurmountable odds en route to the top.

In a recent Mail & Guardian article, Luke Feltham outlined some of those challenges:

…the young Ngannou had little reason to entertain any notion of global stardom. In poverty’s thrall, he says, he laboured in a quarry as a ten-year-old: shovelling heaps of sand into a truck that would be taken to city construction sites.

After working a series of odd jobs, Ngannou decided he wanted to head to Europe in search of a better life, and set off on a remarkable journey:

After traversing the Sahara, he spent a year in Morocco trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, a year during which he lived like an “animal”, as he tells it. Cross he did, however, to Spain – only to be scooped up and imprisoned thanks to his illegal landing.

But events conspired to return to Ngannou his liberty and, after two months he was free to move on to his destination: Paris, France. Where he knew no one and had nothing except that which he’d brought with him: an iron will, a body of steel, and fists made of pure vibranium.

You can read the rest of that report here.

GiveMeSport also detailed his journey to world champion, based in part on an interview that Ngannou gave to Joe Rogan.

In it, the fighter described the hardships he endured in Batié:

…Ngannou’s days consisted of going through bins just for something to eat, with his only fights back then against the local rats who tried to get there first.

“You would have to go to the market at night time to go find food in the trash,” Ngannou told the Joe Rogan Experience.

“Sometimes you’d argue with a rat in the trash – ‘Get away from this tomato, it’s mine, this rotten tomato is mine, not yours.'”

Finally, after spending those two months locked up, and making it to Paris, he was picked up by Didier Carmont, who supported him with food and accommodation as he took up MMA fighting.

Ngannou paid tribute to Carmont back in 2018 in this Instagram post:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Francis Ngannou (@francisngannou)

Ngannou landed himself a UFC contract in 2015, and now holds the most sought after title in the business.

He has never forgotten his roots, and has set up The Francis Ngannou Foundation, “created to enable the youth of Cameroon to take action in ways that make a significant, positive difference in their lives”.

All in all, it’s a pretty inspiring story.

[sources:mg&givemesport]