Francis Ngannou addresses cardio issues ahead of UFC 249

Francis Ngannou has always been known as a scary puncher. The one knock people have had on him has been his cardio issues. Now as UFC 249 approaches, it appears Ngannou has been working on that problem.

Eric Nicksick, who is the gym manager at Xtreme Couture MMA in Las Vegas, recently did an interview on the Luke Thomas Show discussing Ngannou’s approach on cardio during this fight camp for Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The MMA on SirusXM twitter account shared a piece of the interview regarding Ngannou’s cardio training.

🔊@Eric_XCMMA explains why cardio has been a point of focus for Francis Ngannou heading into his #UFC249 matchup with Jairzhino Rozenstruik #TLTS👊@lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/DweakJlCVk
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) May 5, 2020

“We looked at the Stipe fight, we looked at the Derrick Lewis fight because I think it’s important to check under the bed and see who that boogeyman is,” said Nicksick.

The boogeyman, being cardio, was addressed by Nicksick having Ngannou do what he calls MMA cardio rounds. Nicksick eased Ngannou into the cardio workouts by doing them every Saturday and it turns out that Ngannou found a liking to it.

“That’s what I saw the most out of him over the 14 week camp,” Nicksick said. “He really enjoyed these cardio rounds. He really enjoyed putting that extra work in, because I told him when you sign your name on the contract, it’s for a 15 minute fight.

“Yes we like getting out of there soon, but you want to get every minute out of that fight that you can, because it’s cage experience. He’s bought into the whole thing and it’s been nice.”

Nicksick also added that Ngannou is entering fight week at 256 pound.

Ngannou (14-3) and Rozenstruik (10-0) will fight on the main card of UFC 249. The event will held this Saturday at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville Fla. The main card will be streamed on pay-per-view, while the prelims will air on ESPN and can be streamed on ESPN+.