Francis Ngannou was dealing with plenty of adversity heading into UFC 270, but he still managed to pull through. Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) unified his heavyweight title with interim champ Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Saturday’s main event, making pivotal tactical adjustments that helped him turn the fight around and earn the unanimous decision win . Not only did Ngannou deal with contract issues with the UFC and drama with his former coach, Fernand Lopez, but the champion revealed post-fight that he came into the bout with a grade 3 MCL tear, as well as damage on his ACL and MPFL. His head coach, Erick Nicksick , found himself in a tough spot before the fight: Should he encourage Ngannou to withdraw, or should he risk having him go into the biggest fight of his career compromised? “I was a nervous wreck,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio. “I think a lot of the things that my head was telling me was to pull out of the fight, and I just didn’t like the way that the knee injury was and the situation that the opponent that we had with the particular injury that we had
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Eric Nicksick says doctor was adamant Francis Ngannou should have pulled out of UFC 270 – MMA Junkie