Le Prédateur

Predator. From the Movies (not Francis Ngannou)

Take Francis "The Predator" Ngannou. Now this guy is a modern-day Schwarzenegger on the rise. The man was a literal hobo a few years back, coming from a background in near-slaving sand mind work in Cameroon, Africa, which if there was but one saving grace to it, helped build him some pretty gnarly muscles.

This guy Francis one day had an extreme “fuck it” moment and just got up and left home without telling his family that he was venturing across the continent, across deserts, forests, and politically-forbidden lands to catch a boat to Europe where he could train in the Sport of Boxing.

He got there eventually. Got caught and sent back to the beginning of the level a few times in a Solid Snake/Sisyphus hybrid style, but eventually reached the Boat.

Got dumped on the dock of Europe, where his life as a hobo began. (Okay, yes, quite a disrespectful word, this “hobo,” but to lower him now would be to raise him later in this post.)

Okay, there are a lot of details from this point, far too many to cram into a movie, as many have often suggested be made of his tale, but he basically wanted to be a boxer, then turned to MMA for the easier payday and rise to the top, became the heavyweight champion of the world, then did something boss. That boss thing was negotiating his contract in the way that he did.

Now, I’ve been trying to deduce in the many years of my life what it is that makes the great great. What are those key elements that, or one key element that, makes ‘em rise up? But not only rise up, but also stay there? And how is this guy, Francis, able to defy the odds so often? What’s he doing? From what I can see, he’s sticking hardcore to his vision, his truth, and in a fair way. He’s ain’t being greedy about it. He just wants his fair shot. This is proof’d by how he was negotiating with the UFC after he’d become champion. The guy just wanted freedom and opportunity and more money for not only himself but also his opponents. He was adhering to and respecting the law of give and take. Greed decays. Floyd Mayweather was once recorded giving five G’s to a homeless man in the spirit of giving back.

Gotta give back. To hoard is to decay.

I believe there’s something in this that’s led to him coming to the place he did on Saturday.

Oh wait, there’s more.

He fought his final UFC fight, against a pupil of his former, on-bad-terms coach, with at least one fucked up leg ligament. This was the final fight on his contract; to lose it would mean a lot less negotiating power in all his future endeavors, be they in the UFC or in the realm of boxing. He’d also been receiving some anonymous racist texts around that time.

There’s just too much detail to remember off the top of my head, and to movie it would skim over some details that need some atmosphere and therefore time to milk.

Holy shit, when do I end this post? Kinda incoherent in a way. Hmm. Well, what’s the point of all this?

Oh yes, it’s me trying to figure out what is it that makes this man so special. Is it just one thing? Is it many? Is determination alone enough? Does it simplify the situation in a satisfactory way? Does determination cover all points below it? Hmm. Dunno. I mean, you could stretch it to do so, but does it? Giving back, is this an outgrowth of determination? I mean, you could say that determination led to him figuring out that one must give back.

No, wait, it’s freedom. He aims for freedom for all. He’s a freedom fighter.

A freedom fighter from the heart of poverty Africa.

Perfect. It’s perfect.

This guy has got one of the greatest stories ever, fuck me.

Because he very arguably beat Tyson Fury on Saturday. He Rocky 1’d him. The guy who was once a poor nobody got an underdog shot at the champion of the world, knocked him down, and put on a spectacular performance against most peoples’ expectations…

Shit, I just zoned out imagining myself telling this to Michael Bisping, UFC pundit, analyst and hall of famer. Egotistical sidenote, that.

Francis lost on the scorecards by 1 point, but clearly won the moral victory, and, in my opinion and in many others’, the fight itself.

That’s more than just balls and determination, that’s touched-by-God-if-he-exists shit.

All in the name of freedom, a word he’s mentioned in interviews before, and one I’m trying to spin in some poetic way for the end of this post. The will for the freedom to pursue the life he's always wanted, in the Sport of Boxing.