Has the PFL’s ‘special fight’ for Francis Ngannou finally come together?
Ngannou signed a deal to fight for the PFL back in 2023 but has only fought under their banner once — a first round knockout win
over Renan Ferreira back in October 2024. The PFL has been itching to get “The Predator” back in the cage, but a lack of worthy contenders seemed to be an issue.
Now the promotion has someone lined up: former Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov, who just won the inaugural PFL heavyweight title at PFL Champions Series 4 in Lyon. Nemkov hasn’t lost a fight since 2016 and his first round submission win over Renan Ferreira in France (watch it here) is his 14th win in a row. It’s clear PFL has been hoping he’d become a big name at heavyweight when they signed him in 2024, and he’s done his part by winning all three fights at that weight class.
“I’ll fight anyone that the company wants me to, but I really want to fight Francis Ngannou,” Nemkov said through a translator following his win.
But would Francis Ngannou want to fight Nemkov? Ngannou has been getting a lot of hate for fumbling the Jake Paul bag, refusing to fight the YouTuber-turned-boxer for tens of millions of dollars. Would he follow that move up by fighting Vadim Nemkov, who has the resume but no name recognition outside of hardcore MMA circles?
“I been ready for a long time,” Ngannou replied to Nemkov’s callout. “See you in soon…”
Despite Ngannou’s reputation as being hard to work with, the Cameroonian fighter sounds eager to get back in the PFL cage and finish off his contract with the promotion. That deal ain’t cheap — Ngannou is reportedly making $8 million per fight with the PFL. That contract is close to expiring, too. So it’s now or never for the promotion, and Nemkov is the guy they’ve got at the top for Ngannou to fight.
