Renan Ferreira clears air on Francis Ngannou comments: ‘I would never go that low to promote a fight’

Renan Ferreira reached out to PFL opponent Francis Ngannou to clear the air after a comment made during Thursday’s press conference in Washington D.C. was interpreted as Ferreira saying their fight would be tougher than Ngannou losing his 15-month-old son.

In one of his first answers at the press conference, Ferreira said the former UFC champion was having a rough year — referring to his boxing losses to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, plus the time away from MMA — however the PFL translator sitting next to him translated his quotes as, “Francis has been going through a tough year in his life.” The “in his life” part was never said in Portuguese, and it led to criticism on social media.

“There was a bad misinterpretation of everything I said,” Ferreira told MMA Fighting. “I was referring to a bad year in fighting, him coming off two losses in boxing and a long time without fighting in MMA, so I said I was going to be a big problem in fighting, but it was interpreted as me getting personal. I would never do that. I’m a father as well, I have two kids, and I felt his loss. I had already sent him my condolences.”

Ferreira said his team reached out to Ngannou after the controversy kicked up online to explain what he really meant with his comment, and said “at no point Francis interpreted that [otherwise].” The two heavyweights are scheduled to face off in the main event of the PFL Super Fights pay-per-view show on Oct. 19 in Saudi Arabia.

“He knows the respect I have for him, just like he respects me a lot,” Ferreira said. “He knows I would never touch such a delicate topic like this, and it’s all good now. I would never go that low to promote a fight, say a fight would be bigger than the feeling of losing a son or loved ones, or anyone for that matter. What I said was about his career as an athlete and the two losses he’s had and everything he’s going through as an athlete. I would never go personal like that.”