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Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou suffered one of the most tragic things any parent can go through when his 15 month old son, Kobe Ngannou, earlier this year.
Ngannou, during an appearance on The Joe Rogan MMA podcast, thought that his son would be doing well after some early medical issues.
“He has some malformation on his brain, which is something that we didn’t know,” Ngannou said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “He passed out twice. The first time was in Cameroon, we took him to the hospital. They didn’t find anything. The second time was in [Saudi Arabia], we took him to the hospital. They ran a lot of exams, they didn’t do anything. They did the EEG, they didn’t do the [CAT] scan or MRI, because according to them, their conclusion was that he had a swollen lung. That is what was pressing his chest and stopping him from breathing and it created that thing. After all those exams, they gave him some medicine, that he’s going to be OK. Nothing to worry about. Because at first, they even thought about asthma. They gave, like, a ventilator and then afterward, after some research they took it out. It [made me] confident.”
Kobe Ngannou was named after the late Kobe Bryant, who died in a plane crash in January of 2020.
The former heavyweight champion then revealed that he learned about the death of his son after speaking with his brother and mother.
“I remember just getting into Dubai and mental-wise, I’m not doing bad,” Ngannou said. “Life is good. I went to the gym, maybe I should go to the club tonight. I don’t go to clubs, I don’t go out. I went to the gym to workout. I’m in the back cycling, and then I tried to call, I wanted to talk to him and I was on the bike. I called his mom and his mom didn’t pick up the phone. I’m like after I’m done, I’m going to go take my shower, lay in bed and call him. Thirty minutes after, I was on the leg machine, my phone rang and it was my little brother. He said, ‘Bro, things are not going well here.’ I’m like, ‘What is it?’ [He said], ‘Kobe, he passed out, he’s not breathing, we are at the hospital, they kicked me out from the room.’ I’m like, ‘What’s happening?’ As we are talking, he’s also trying to get information so I lost him for like three or four minutes.
“[She said], ‘Well, he’s gone.’ Just like that. He’s gone. What do you mean he’s gone? How come he’s gone? This kid was 15 months, he was bigger than 15 months. He was growing. He was the most joyful happy kid around. What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where? That was it. I thought I was dreaming. I thought they were going to say that’s not true. I kept calling again and everybody confirmed it. I called my mom, my mom is in tears. What the f*ck is this? That was it.”
