Former World's Strongest Man Wants Francis Ngannou MMA Fight

There are very few heavyweight fighters in Mixed Martial Arts who have quite as much pulling (and punching) power as Francis Ngannou. Not only is he a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, but he is also the Lineal MMA Heavyweight Champion and is still one of the most sought after opponents in the sport, even to those without much MMA experience.

One man who wants to face "The Predator" is the former winner of the Worlds Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, who admitted on a recent edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" that before he turns 40, he wants to dive deeper into the world of MMA, and Ngannou is someone he most certainly has his eye on. "There's obviously people like Francis Ngannou who are just like the biggest, scariest bastards on the planet. Just a big, big fight like that. That's what I'm looking for...I think I'd just wanna go up against the biggest, baddest person I can get up against."

Hall also named current KSW Heavyweight Champion Phil De Fres as another potential opponent as the former Worlds Strongest Man aims to have at least one European or World Championship fight before he calls time on his competitive career. Hall has one MMA under his belt already, that being against Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 105 in April 2025. However, he did win a two-on-one fight in June 2024 against social media influencers the Neffati brothers.

There is good news for Hall as Ngannou is back fighting again after his contract with the PFL expired in March 2026. He will face Philipe Lens on May 16 in Inglewood, California on the same card as Ronda Rousey's fight with Gina Carano, and Nate Diaz's fight against Mike Perry.