Francis Ngannou’s home country Cameroon stunned Algeria to advance to Qatar World cup by virtue of away goals
Cameroon pulled off a nail-biting 2-1 victory over Algeria after extra time to end 2-2 on aggregate and advance on the away goals rule. Cameroon born UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was elated by the achievement and poured his heart out while congratulating them.
Cameroon was trailing 1-0 from the home leg but an early goal brought them back into the tie. But Cameroon’s hopes of qualifying was shattered Ahmed Touba’s scored a header from a corner with two minutes to go in extra time.
The resilient Cameroonians wouldn’t go down without a fight and crafted a miraculous comeback when Karl Toko Ekambi connected with a low volley to see Cameroon take the World Cup place. Francis Ngannou was enthralled by the performance and qualification and immediately congratulated his native land brothers for their achievement.
He posted a picture of himself with the manager of the Cameroon football team, Rigobert Song. A former captain of the team and a legend of the sport himself, Song helped orchestrate this momentous achievement.
He captioned the post, ‘Thank you brother @Song_Officiel_4 for leading our national team to the world cup #Qatar2022 You’re 4ever our captain!!!’
Chatri Sityodtong believes that Francis Ngannou ‘would get smoked by our heavyweights’
In the backwash of the successful conclusion ONE Championship’s greatest ever event, CEO Chatri Sityodtong was in a great mood as he dished out the promotion’s plans for the future.
He also elaborated on his new USA prime time television deal, and stated that the promotion is looking forward to hosting events outside Singapore.
Chatri has emerged as one of the most prominent figures in fight promotion in recent times. One FC has seen a significant rise in viewership, fresh talent in the roaster and exciting fights. It is written all over their promotional plan that they envision themselves as a direct challenger to the biggest player in the game, UFC.
He even managed to take some digs at the UFC by claiming that their heavyweight champion is not a complete fighter. “I like Francis Ngannou but I think our heavyweights would smoke him,” Chatri told a media scrum backstage at Singapore Indoor Stadium, when asked if he would sign the Cameroonian.
“He’s just not a complete fighter. For sure, if you ask any expert martial artist, you look at Anatoly Malykhin – Russian national pedigree wrestler, dynamite in his hands. Much faster than Francis, much better ground game, black-belt level.
“He was also a submission champion in Europe. You look at Arjan Bhullar [ who trains at AKA with DC] , wrestling, boxing. Francis is not very impressive on the ground. He’s got big, looping punches, he’s not as technical of a boxer as Anatoly or even Arjan.”
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