Francis Ngannou and Mike Tyson are forever linked in combat sports history, not only as men who reached the pinnacle of their chosen sports but in ways both poignant and tragic.
Ngannou and Tyson will each return to fight within a month of each other. On Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ngannou will return to MMA for the first time since 2022 when he faces 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira in the main event of a PFL Super Fight League pay-per-view card.
On Nov. 15, Tyson will at 58 years old box once again in a bout against former social media star and upstart boxer Jake Paul on Netflix at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Their careers have been intertwined for years. Ngannou grew up in Cameroon as a fan of Tyson's and was intent on becoming a boxer as a way to follow in his idol's footsteps.
On Nov. 22, 1986 in Las Vegas, only two months after Ngannou was born amid abject poverty in Africa, Tyson knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round to become, at 20, the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Ngannou became infatuated Tyson and was determined to walk the same path. He took a slight detour when he moved to Paris and met Fernand Lopez, an MMA coach who convinced him to give that sport a shot.
It's hard to argue with Lopez's assessment that Ngannou was well-suited for MMA. He won the UFC heavyweight title and defended it once and is arguably the hardest puncher in MMA history.
Ngannou split with the UFC after that title defense on Jan. 22, 2022, when he defeated Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. He wanted to box and the UFC wasn't interested.
And so when Ngannou signed with the PFL, he did so with the understanding that he could box. He wound up boxing twice. He lost a split decision to then-WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in Riyadh, a bout in which he knocked Fury down. Tyson had worked with him during training camp.
Ngannou's success in boxing was so surprising that he earned a second bout, and met Anthony Joshua in Riyadh on March 8. Joshua knocked him out in the second round.
Michelle Farsi/Most Valuable Promotions
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is close with ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Both men have had the ignominy of trying to overcome a knockout to regain their titles. Tyson did it after getting beaten by Buster Douglas, when he stopped Frank Bruno on March 16, 1996, to win the WBC heavyweight title.
Ngannou will get his shot to match that feat on Saturday when he meets Ferriera for the PFL Super Fight League belt.
There is one final, tragic tie that binds Tyson and Ngannou, one so unspeakable it nearly brings both of those strong, heroic men to their knees.
Tyson lost his four-year-old daughter, Exodus, to a tragic accident on a treadmill on May 26, 2009. But on April 29, less than two months after his loss to Joshua, Ngannou's 15-month-old son, Kobe, tragically died.
Ngannou mourned his lost son on Instagram, writing, "Too soon to leave but yet he's gone. My little boy, my mate, my partner Kobe was full of life and joy. Now, he's laying without life. I shouted his name over and over but he's not responding. I was my best self next to him and now I have no clue of who I am. Life is so unfair to hit us where it hurts the most. How do you deal with such a thing? How can you live with it? Please help me if you have an idea because I really don't know what to do and how to deal with this."
It's a horrible tragedy one wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. No parent should ever bury a child. Even now, 15 years later, the pain still tugs at Tyson's heart.
In a podcast with Rick Ross earlier this year, he discussed Exodus' loss, and his words sounded eerily like Ngannou's.
"You never recover, but you live with it," Tyson told Ross. "Isn’t that weird?”
During an August news conference in Washington, D.C., to promote the bout, Ngannou said Kobe's death motivated him to fight again. There were moments where even thinking of fighting be like taking a shot to the pit of his stomach.
But he knows his son will be looking down upon him as he faces Ferreira.
"I didn't have the chance to fight for my son, man," he said, his voice quivering. "So this is it."
Tragedy is the tie that binds the careers and the lives of these powerful behemoths. It's something they'll never forget or that will ever go away.
There will always been an empty seat. Little things will be reminders of their lost loves.
Ngannou is a strong, tough man, but this is almost asking a super human effort.
If anyone is capable of honoring Kobe in the best way possible, it's Francis Zavier Ngannou. It's going to take a giant man with a giant heart. Nod your head affirmatively if that sounds like Ngannou to you.