Francis N’Gannou will be preparing for the biggest test of his brief UFC career at UFC On Fox 23 when he battles former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. N’Gannou, who had a rough up bringing in the town of Batie in Cameroon, West Africa and would migrate over to France when he was a child, but feels that his harsh life experiences will help him defeat the former champion.
“My advantage is in my mind,” claimed N’Gannou to Bloody Elbow. “I know that a lot of people have experience because they are fighters that have fought in the UFC or for other organizations for many years. I don’t have that experience, but I have life experience and I think that’s what will make me triumph. That makes me tough. That makes me something different than Arlovski. The challenges in my life started since I was born. It has never been easy. Nothing in my life has been easy.” Thought he doesn’t think getting a win over ‘The Pit Bull’ will be easy either, N’Gannou is very confident he will see his hand raised in Denver. “I’m going to show people, I’m going to show fans, that I’m better than him.”
Despite the fact that N’Gannou no longer lives in West Africa, he feels the support from those who still occupy his native country.
“They’re watching my fights,” proudly claimed N’Gannou, “In Cameroon the people see me like a hero. Their own guy, representing in the world. And they like talking to me on Facebook. I get a lot of messages. I can’t even answer all the messages, there are so many.”
UFC On Fox 23 takes place on Saturday, January 28 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado with Juliana Pene and Valentina Shevchenko headlining.
