Francis Ngannou beats Renan Ferreira by first-round TKO in PFL debut to win title fight | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

The next chapter of Francis Ngannou's MMA career got off to a strong start as The Predator secured the heavyweight title with a first-round TKO victory over Renan Ferreira on the PFL pay-per-view card from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia PFL Superfight Championship secured.

After the fight, Ngannou dedicated the victory to his 15-month-old son Kobe, who died in April.

“Without Kobe we wouldn’t be here tonight,” Ngannou said. “I hope you can remember his name.”

“I feel like getting back into boxing,” Ngannou said in an interview with Mike Bohn interview for MMA Junkie (h/t AK Jones of DAZN). “Obviously I still have a few fights in both remaining ones. I just turned 38, so I'll say I'll retire when I'm about 41 or 42. There could be 40.”, but that is just an exceptional case. I think I just have to really enjoy my time in the octagon and the ring, then do my last dance and go home.

Ngannou's loss to Anthony Joshua was clear evidence that Ngannou is far from competing with boxing's elite. Fury's performance was impressive, but he isn't exactly known for his consistency.

This win showed that Ngannou is still capable of performing at the top of his game against top heavyweights. Ferreira hasn't won in the UFC, but he did win the PFL heavyweight tournament and knocked out Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.

The question will quickly shift to whether PFL can find another challenge for Ngannou that draws attention to promotion.