Florian: Top PFL heavyweights can hang with UFC’s best — even Francis Ngannou

Former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou may no longer be ruling the 265-pound roost after fighting out his UFC contract, but “The Predator” is still considered by many to be the finest heavyweight fighter in the world.

Some of the top dogs in PFL could change that status.

That’s according to former UFC fighter and current PFL analyst Kenny Florian, who believes “The Predator” would be a perfect fit for the promotion’s pay-per-view (PPV) “Super fight” division, recently created to accommodate top talent.

Like this box office big shot.

“I think signing Francis Ngannou would be massive — not only for the PFL, but for the sport,” Florian told MMA Junkie. “It’s going to get fighters to scratch their heads and go, ‘Hmm, maybe I could go over there.’ I think it would allow the PFL to get a ton of respect and eventually get even more great fighters. I think, especially with him coming off knee surgery and potentially doing this big boxing fight with Tyson Fury that they’ve been talking about, I think putting him in the Super Fight division would make the most amount of sense.”

Ngannou had knee surgery to correct damage sustained in his Ciryl Gane win at UFC 270 roughly one year back and has yet to set a timeline for his combat sports return. That said, the 36 year-old “Predator” is likely to prioritize a Tyson Fury boxing match over anything offered in MMA.

After that? PFL has options.

“Him fighting whoever ends up being the champion for the PFL I think would be really intriguing,” Florian continued. “As far as the heavyweight division, we may not have the same depth as the UFC in the heavyweight division, but I think the top three or four guys in the PFL, I think they can hang with a lot of the top three or four guys in the UFC, no question about it. I think a lot of our heavyweights, whether we’re talking about Ante Delija, Bruno Cappelozza — we have a ton of talent in the PFL in the heavyweight division, and I think there’s a lot of intriguing matchups and potential for them against Francis Ngannou.”

In UFC, meanwhile, the assembly line keeps rolling along...