What happens when a nightmare follows you even after you open your eyes? Francis Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight champion, has faced crowd-filled stadiums and giants of combat sports. Yet nothing could prepare him for the weight of tragedy off the canvas that unfolded earlier this year in his home country of Cameroon.
Now, in a recent appearance on ‘The Ariel Helwani Show’, ‘The Predator spoke publicly for the first time about the motorcycle collision that changed his life. “What happened back in April was just a nightmare,” Ngannou began, his voice steady but heavy.
He explained how he left his driver for the evening and decided to ride his motorcycle alone. While passing near his mother’s house, he noticed a girl crossing the street. At first, he thought he’d slip behind her. But she suddenly turned, froze in his path, and in a flash, the collision happened.
Ngannou shared, “And I was like 2-300 yards away from a police station then, and I didn’t even fall off the motorcycle. But she fell, so I’m like, should I report this? But she’s laying on the floor. So, I park my motorcycle, go there, carry her, put her in a taxi, and then follow her to the hospital. We get in the hospital, I took her outside. She has a knee, a tibia fracture. I took her out of the car, she was aware now and in pain, so which was a good sign.”
“They reassure me everything is good. But I still stay there for like 2 hours and then, until like people come…. I left. I was sure that everything was good. Not good because she’s hurt, but, you know, it could have been worse,” he further stated in the interview. For two days, updates brought hope. Surgery was scheduled. Then everything went wrong.
May 15, 2023, Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles, CA, United States: Los Angeles, CA – May 16: Francis Ngannou behind the scenes of his promotional video workout at Professional Fighters League – Francis Ngannou workout at Unbreakable Performance Center on May 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles, CA United States – ZUMAp175 20230515_zsa_p175_017 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
Francis Ngannou then confessed that he still struggles to process the outcome. “She went for the surgery, and never wake up. And just like that, I’m like, how come?” he asked. He had specifically begged doctors to run brain scans. His request wasn’t random; it came from personal loss. His 15-month-old son, Kobe, had died the year before, reportedly from an undetected brain issue.
As such, when he brought the 17-year-old girl to the hospital, he pleaded again, “So on this girl, then I’m like please do the brain MRI… Then, I think this was the third day already, third day after surgery that was like it’s over. I’m like how come it’s over? What’s over? What do you mean like it’s over? That was it. Like from the fracture, that was it.”
For Francis Ngannou, it turned into a vicious cycle as he further confessed, “So, now over sleepless nights, dealing with all this, thinking of what you could have done, or should have done, how could you, what would you have done to avoid that, it’s a really bad feeling.”
In the aftermath of the tragedy, he released a statement to TMZ saying his “heart was shattered” and that he has stood with the girl’s family since the accident. He covered medical costs, visited them privately, and pledged continued support, and now he’s revealed what the family said to him.
Francis Ngannou finally opens up on his motorcycle crash and what happened with the girl’s family
During the same conversation with Ariel Helwani, Ngannou shared details of his conversation with the girl’s family. According to him, those exchanges were marked by both grief and a surprising measure of understanding.
“They even say, okay, we know that he was in the accident, but we saw how you fight for our daughter,” Ngannou recalled. He explained that the family recognized his decision not to flee the scene but instead to carry her into a taxi, follow her to the hospital, and remain by her side for hours.
The former UFC champion then shared, “I met them, we talked and then I also explained to them, what really happened. I say, ‘Okay, I don’t know if you want to hear because I know you are in the grief at this moment, but if you want to hear what’s happened, I can talk about it. But I’m not here to give an explanation. I just want you to know the story, you know, because like one thing that you have to understand is that when somebody is laying down with no life, never be right.”
Despite the circumstances, Francis Ngannou described the family as “very comprehensive.” He said their dialogue continued beyond the hospital visit and that support has flowed both ways. “We talk and we assist them on everything and by the way, we still in touch. They’re still in touch, not personally, but with my family.”
For a fighter known for his resilience inside the cage, this tragedy represents a different kind of burden. The family’s compassion has given him some measure of relief, but not release. As he himself put it, “But I’m not here to give an explanation. I just want you to know the story”.
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