Francis Ngannou's PFL debut was about a lot more than a KO, a gaudy title belt and a paycheck with a lot of zeroes on it

It was, by far, the toughest fight of his professional career, and it had nothing to do with the 6-foot-8 behemoth standing across the cage from him.

This was the second toughest day of Francis Ngannou's life. The first, obviously, was the day his son passed away.

Ngannou did what he does on Saturday: In his PFL debut, the former UFC heavyweight champion took a badly overmatched Renan Ferreira down easily, and then knocked him cold with a vicious, brutally efficient, ground-and-pound at 3:32 of the first round Saturday in their PFL Super Fights League heavyweight title bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The easy part came once the bell rang. Ngannou is a professional and one of the best to ever do it. The only doubt that ever surrounded his bout with Ferreira was whether he'd be fully engaged mentally.

He's dealing, and will deal with for the rest of his life, a tragedy of epic proportions. Six months ago, his 15-month old son, Kobe, died, changing Francis' life forever.

Losing a child is the nightmare for every parent.

There is no fixing it or making it better. It's hard to smile. It's hard to be happy. It's painful to wake up in the morning and know that he's not there.

Ngannou wanted to fight to honor his son, but he admitted the past two days were some of the darkest and most difficult of his life. 

"It’s been tough," Ngannou said of preparing to fight. "Not only the training camp was tough, but the last two days were tough, full of emotion. I couldn’t do anything without thinking about it. It’s hard. This is for Kobe.”

He had everything he wanted in his life. He's rich beyond his wildest dreams. The young African kid who grew up in Cameroon idolizing Mike Tyson and hoping to follow his footsteps into professional boxing got the opportunity to box two of the greatest heavyweights of this era, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

He signed a contract to run PFL Africa and enable him to give others on his native continent the opportunity to reach their dreams. Ngannou had to leave Cameroon and go to France to pursue a career in combat sports. But as he heads down the stretch of his own career, he has the opportunity to make a difference to others who idolize him the way he once looked up to Tyson.

And yet, despite all of the good in his life, something is missing. It will always be missing.

"I just want to say, please, remember my son; remember my son, Kobe," Ngannou said.

Ngannou left the UFC in 2023 and turned down a lucrative contract that would have enabled him to defend his heavyweight championship against Jon Jones, the fighter widely regarded as the greatest in mixed martial arts history. He wanted to box and UFC CEO/President Dana White was adamant that he wouldn't agree to a contract that included a carve-out that permitted Ngannou to box.

Ngannou stuck to his principles and signed with the PFL. But before he competed for the organization, five momentous things occurred:

• Jones defeated Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 on March 4, 2023, to win the heavyweight title Ngannou had vacated when the UFC released him from his contract that January.

• Ngannou signed with the PFL on May 16, 2023, with the agreement he could box.

 • Ngannou boxed then-WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a 10-round non-title bout in Riyadh on Oct. 28, 2023. Ngannou dropped Fury but lost a split decision.

• Ngannou got a second crack in the boxing ring on March 8, 2024, but was knocked out in the second by former unified champion Anthony Joshua.

• In late April, Ngannou announced his son had died. He later said on Joe Rogan's podcast that it was because of a brain malformation that had gone undiagnosed.

No one knew what would happen after the tragedy with Kobe. Had Ngannou decided to walk away and never be seen in a ring or a cage again, who could have blamed him?

He chose to honor his son by fighting for him.

As the fight drew closer, Kobe was less of a thought to most around the MMA world. Could Ngannou deal with a 6-8 giant with legitimate KO power? Would he be able to return effectively after having not fought in MMA for nearly three full years? Would he be able to summon the fire to push himself through camp and then deal with the pressures of a fight while thinking of Kobe for literally every waking moment?

Of course, the PFL tried to position it as an us versus them with the UFC, boasting it had the best heavyweight in the world.

One imagines Ngannou paid next-to-no attention to any of that nonsense, because what does that mean in a situation like this?

The heart and resilience he showed in not only getting into that cage and doing what he's so good at doing, but then standing in front of the world and talking about the most painful thing ever with all eyes on him had to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done other than to bury his son.

Francis Ngannou is a remarkable person. Whether or not you think he's the best heavyweight in the world or the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world matters not.

He's a fighter in the truest sense, fighting to make sense of the unfairness of life.

No amount of money or fancy home or expensive jewelry or gaudy championship belts can ever replace what he lost.

He fought Saturday for something he believed in, for someone he loved, and for someone he wanted to make sure the world remembers.

He never doubted he'd succeed in the cage, because that's old hat to him. Controlling his emotions was going to be the issue.

“I knew I didn’t miss a step,” Ngannou said. “I wasn’t worried about it. I knew everything was still there. It was just about me being able to manage my emotion. We’re here. We finally get the result."

As you think of Ngannou's finish of Ferreira in the hours, days, weeks, months and years to come, enjoy the excellence he displayed in the cage.

But honor Ngannou by not forgetting his request: Remember that beautiful little boy who is gone too soon, whom his Dad will never get to kiss or hold or hug again.

This was more than just a fight for a belt and a paycheck.

Much, much more.