Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou praised Philipe Lins after the two fought at MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano.
Ngannou knocked Lins out in the first round of their fight, and he received a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his highlight-reel KO. But he chose to gift Lins the money instead as a gesture of goodwill, after he received $1.5 million in disclosed pay for the event.
Francis Ngannou Praises Philipe Lins
Taking to his social media in the days following their fight, Ngannou praised Lins for his professionalism leading up to the bout, and the toughness that he showed before he got knocked out.
“I really want to take a moment to thank my opponent @phillipelins for taking the fight and bringing the fight this past weekend. He was definitely tougher than I expected. Nothing but respect to him and his team for the professionalism and sportsmanship they showed all week. As I said, I saw a lot of people all week counting him out, but this guy is tough and I will continue to advocate for him #NgannouLins,” Ngannou on his Instagram.
Ngannou was a massive betting favorite to win the fight, so it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when he got his hand raised. Still, Lins landed some good punches of his own during the match and stood in the pocket with a much more powerful striker, so you have to give him credit for not backing down from the fight. In the end, though, Ngannou won the fight by first-round knockout.
What’s Next for Francis Ngannou & Philipe Lins?
Following the bout, Ngannou said he was interested in a superfight against former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. But Jones is still locked under a highly restrictive UFC contract, and it will be very difficult for him to get out of it to fight Ngannou in MVP MMA.
Instead of Jones, the fight that makes the most sense for Ngannou is a heavyweight bout against Robelis Despaigne, who knocked out Junior dos Santos in the opening main card bout at MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano. Both Ngannou and Despaigne are heavy-handed knockout artists, and so a matchup between the two of them makes a lot of sense, especially since they are already familiar with the MVP MMA promotion.
As for Lins, should MVP MMA run another event — and every indication is that they will do so — then they could certainly bring him back for another fight. If that happens, then one would hope the matchmakers would do Lins a solid and give him a more winnable fight than taking on a behemoth like Ngannou.
Since Lins trains with dos Santos at American Top Team, they wouldn’t be able to match those two up in MVP MMA. But perhaps the organization could sign another heavyweight fighter who is a free agent to fight Lins, or maybe Lins could drop back down to the light heavyweight division, where he had won four straight fights in the UFC before the promotion surprisingly released him in 2024.
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