The MMA star didn’t appreciate his opponent arriving late and making him struggle before the fight

READ MORE ;Anthony Joshua ‘back’ and tipped to beat Tyson Fury after overcoming ‘mental block’ in Francis Ngannou fight

That brutal knock out Francis Ngannou suffered against Anthony Joshua was seen by the entire world that enjoys boxing. It is an image that will be hard to erase from his memory and he is even starting to look for excuses. More than the KO itself, Ngannou’s ego was hurt bad after his impressive debut against Tyson Fury. In a recent statement from him, Francis accused Anthony Joshua’s team of wasting precious time when he arrived at the arena right on time. This proves how novice Ngannou is at this fighting game and that getting played like this will likely happen again. He had already spoken about this on an Instagram live but he doubled down during his recent interview with Ariel Helwani at ‘The MMA Hour’.

He said: “Listen, I think we both fight at 3am. It’s not like I fought at 3 a.m. and he fought at like midnight or something. We both fought at 3am. What I think, something that’s happened is that they get me to the arena very early. Like my pickup time was 10.30pm to go to the arena. And then when we get to the arena, they tell us that we are scheduled around 1.45am. right? They come to the locker around 1 and Joshua [was just arriving around 1]. I’m like, ‘OK, we are fighting at the same time, how come I have a pickup time?’ We received a schedule, an email, and then for some reason I was there at least one hour before. But for the fight, at least two hours beforehand. They do this kind of trick to get you tired. I was like cool, I was like, ‘Bro, it’s OK.’ I didn’t know how it was, how important that was, until the fight day that I have to get there two hours before.”

Anthony Joshua did not respond to these accusations, nor do we think he ever will respond because that is how the game is played. Fighters who know this sport will all tell you that they need to be prepared for anything. Ngannou wasn’t prepared for getting his time wasted and that played a significant role in his defeat. For promoter Eddie Hearn, he only responded with a poignant quip: “I’m not sure he has come around yet.”

Francis Ngannou’s new WBC ranking has been confirmed after his loss to Anthony Joshua.

Francis Ngannou’s new WBC ranking has been revealed after he was knocked out by Anthony Joshua – and it’s bad news for the former UFC star.

Ngannou was taking part in his second competitive professional boxing bout against Joshua on March 8, after a narrow split decision defeat to Tyson Fury in October.

READ MORE ;Eddie Hearn responds to Francis Ngannou claiming he was tricked ahead of Anthony Joshua fight

As a result of that Fury bout, some pundits gave the French-Cameroonian fighter a chance of upsetting the odds against Joshua in Riyadh.

But the Brit showed his class with a dominant display, and knocked Ngannou down with a fearsome right hand in round one.

Joshua then floored Ngannou twice in the second round to win via knockout in incredible fashion, with his opponent briefly requiring oxygen after the fight before thankfully getting back to his feet.

Speaking on his Instagram account last week, Ngannou revealed he was ‘falling asleep and sweating’ in the locker room before the fight.

He also confirmed that he will return to boxing when the time is right.

But he will have to do so from a much lower starting point in terms of the rankings, with his new ranking now revealed after the Joshua defeat.

JUST IN ;Anthony Joshua ‘back’ and tipped to beat Tyson Fury after overcoming ‘mental block’ in Francis Ngannou fight

Ngannou is now ranked 24th in the WBC heavyweight rankings, dropping behind the likes of Joe Joyce, Dereck Chisora and Otto Wallin.

He was previously ranked as world number 10.

Despite his convincing victory in Saudi Arabia, Joshua had some classy words for Ngannou and his coach immediately after the knockout.

In a short conversation that was picked up by DAZN cameras, Joshua said: “You’re an inspiration. You’d beat a lot of people. Don’t leave boxing – don’t leave.

“Dewey [Cooper, Ngannou’s head coach] – don’t leave boxing, you know. This guy is the truth.

“If you [Ngannou] need anything, let me know. We’ll speak another time. I’d love to support your foundation – we’ll speak another time.”

Anthony Joshua has defeated Francis Ngannou via knockout after a stunning performance in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua knocked his opponent down with a fearsome right hand inside the first round as he looked to assert early dominance on proceedings.

The Watford-born fighter then landed another right hand in round two which clearly appeared to daze Ngannou.

The former UFC champion got back up, but was immediately sent straight back down to the canvas – for the final time in the fight.

Ngannou required oxygen after the knockout, but was able to sit up in his corner as he was attended to by medical staff, and eventually got up to his feet.

Joshua went into the bout, which took place in Riyadh, as the heavy favourite – although not many expected such a dominant display.

Ngannou suffered a split decision loss to Tyson Fury in his first professional fight in October, and was seen as a strong challenger to the former two-time heavyweight champion.

UPDATE ;Anthony Joshua Rises In Ring Magazine Heavyweight Rankings

And despite a fast start in the opening 30 seconds of the contest, the first of three knockdowns rocked Ngannou. While he made it to the end of the round, Joshua sensed his opportunity.

Francis Ngannou claims he was tricked into getting to the arena much earlier than Anthony Joshua for their heavyweight clash in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. The former UFC champion believes his arrival time was two hours before his opponent. He says it lead to him “falling asleep” in the changing rooms, before being on the wrong end of a second round knockout.

The former UFC heavyweight champion lost through a second round knockout earlier this month.

It was only his second professional boxing contest, having narrowly been beaten by Tyson Fury in 2023.

But he says he was put off by being made to get to the arena much earlier than his opponent.

“I remember being in the locker [room] trying to warm up, and it wasn’t going well,”

“I was falling asleep! I’m sweating, but I was falling asleep.

“But I’m sure that’s how some people that I have fought and have beaten have been before. No blame on anybody, the blame here is all on me.

“It’s not like I fought at 3am and he fought at like midnight or something. We both fought at 3am.

“Something that’s happened is that they get me to the arena very early. My pickup time was 10.30pm to go to the arena. And then when we get to the arena, they tell us that we are scheduled around 1.45am.

“They come to the locker room around 1 and Joshua [was just arriving]. I’m like, ‘OK, we are fighting at the same time, how come I have a pickup time?’

“We received a schedule, an email, and then for some reason I was there at least one hour before.

“They do this kind of trick to get you tired. I was like cool. I didn’t know how it was, how important that was, until the fight day that I have to get there two hours before.”

Ngannou had already announced ahead of the contest that he now plans to return to MMA to fight Renan Ferreira.

A date for the bout has yet to be confirmed, but the 37-year-old had stated he would take on the winner of Ferreira’s contest with Ryan Bader last month, which the Brazilian won by TKO in the first round.

As he prepares to return to the octagon though, Ngannou – who has stated he is not finished with boxing just yet – insists he has no regrets about how the fight with Joshua ended.

“It is the game unfortunately,” he added. “We all knew it [the knockout] could happen.

“I wasn’t seeing it happen like that, but I always knew it could happen. At least, I was always prepared for that.”

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Francis Ngannou doesn’t remember much about his devastating knockout loss to Anthony Joshua.

The Cameroonian MMA star’s night got off to a disastrous start when he was decked by AJ in the opening stanza.

Ngannou did well to see out the round and make his way back to his corner after such a heavy knockdown.

However, he admits he has no recollection of getting up from his stool between rounds.

READ MORE ; Anthony Joshua gets ‘very cosy’ with Brit hairdresser in Dubai desert after she congratulated him after brutal knockout

“My memory and my vision kept going,” Ngannou told the MMA Hour as he revealed the true extent of Joshua’s power.

“I don’t remember when I came back from the stool to go to the second round.

“From the stool, in between rounds, I wasn’t there anymore.”

In the second round, Ngannou was downed again by a perfectly timed pull counter before he was knocked unconscious by a clubbing right hand.

The former UFC heavyweight champion lay motionless on his back for an extended period before, thankfully, coming around when he received oxygen from the on-site medical team.

Shortly after suffering the first stoppage loss of his combat sports career, Ngannou shared some footage to his YouTube channel of him recovering backstage.

RELATED ;Tyson Fury responds to Ring Magazine heavyweight rankings after Anthony Joshua boost

It shows him walking unaided to his dressing room where he is met by multiple family members.

“This is what we sign up for when you come to a sport like this.

“You always know that something like that can happen.

“This is a weird loss. Something that I wouldn’t like to experience, but I think it will stay as a defeat only if I don’t learn from it and come back from it.”

Ngannou has been widely commended for his humility in the face of defeat.

UPDATE ;I got stopped by Anthony Joshua during 41-fight career, but Joe Joyce’s comeback opponent is the only man who truly knocked me out

Where he goes next is presently unclear although it seems more than likely that his next fight will be in MMA.

A bout with Renan Ferreira awaits in PFL after the Brazilian MMA fighter knocked out former two-weight Bellator champion Ryan Bader last month to earn himself a shot at Ngannou.

The WBC have defended their decision to rank former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in their top 10 following his defeat to Anthony Joshua; president Mauricio Sulaiman says they are in the process of working on the current heavyweight rankings

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says he stands by the decision to rank Francis Ngannou in the top 10 despite the former UFC heavyweight champion’s crushing knockout defeat to Anthony Joshua.

READ MORE ;Francis Ngannou felt like he was ‘falling asleep’ warming up for Anthony Joshua: ‘I was the only one that didn’t show up’

Ngannou was placed at No 10 in the rankings by the WBC on the back of his impressive boxing debut against Tyson Fury, which saw him record a stunning third-round knockdown of the undefeated world champion in a split decision defeat back in October.

Such was the lasting impression of his performance that Ngannou had been backed by some to trouble Joshua, only for the former unified world champion to assert his dominance with three brutal knockdowns on the way to victory in Saudi Arabia.

“100 per cent [we stand by the decision to rank him in the top 10], just by facts. Everybody criticised the WBC, myself, the ratings committee,” said Sulaiman, speaking to Sky Sports.

“They jumped the gun and a month later the fight is announced against Joshua and nobody said anything. It is about tendency, we don’t go or rule or make decisions by popularity. It is not a popularity con

“We go by facts, by rules and the ranking of Ngannou was perfectly supported by the WBC rules which is clear in the criteria from rankings that we consider the activity of the fighter in other contact sports.

RELATED ;Francis Ngannou discovers brutal consequences of Anthony Joshua defeat