Kamaru Usman was in Francis Ngannou's corner cheering him on during his win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. The Nigerian is good friends with the heavyweight champion and has been supporting him as much as possible.
The two champions have bonded over their African roots, the UFC is still building up the Africans on their roster. Now, Francis Ngannou becomes the third African champion to successfully defend his belt.
“Feels amazing to be able to witness yet another victory for Francis,” Usman said backstage at UFC 270 via MMAFighting. “This one was hard-fought. This one was a hard one because he had to deal with a lot of different situations, a lot of different things that could have prevented, could have hindered this fight even taking place. So for him to persevere through that, get into a tough fight like this, that dude is no joke. Gane is the real deal and Francis proved why he is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. So I’m beyond proud. That belt stays in Africa!”
Kamaru Usman enjoyed seeing Francis Ngannou employe his wrestling at UFC 270 and was surprised like everyone else. The two appear to have been trading skills with Usman becoming a knockout artist.
“Francis, that’s the thing about him, he’s one of those special athletes that he takes everything as it comes,” Usman told BT Sport. “He was gonna be able to deal with whatever was coming at him. He didn’t initially engage in the clinch or the wrestling in the first round, that came from Gane, which I though was an excellent game plan. But we’re just seeing the evolution of heavyweights. Did you see that sweep in the fifth? Damn! Even I don’t do that one! So you’re seeing the evolution of the game and Francis is a scary man.”
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