Francis Ngannou says he didn't feel right in the moments before his heavyweight bout with Anthony Joshua and was even "falling asleep' in the locker room.
The former UFC heavyweight champion, who was unlucky not to have his hand raised when he came up against Tyson Fury in October, suffered a devastating knockout defeat to Joshua on Friday.
After flooring Ngannou with his trademark right inside the first round, AJ continued to apply pressure before landing another power punch, knocking his opponent unconscious.
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Ringside officials moved quickly to administer oxygen to Ngannou, who has since opened up about his knockout while speaking to fans in an Instagram live stream.
"I was conscious right after [the knockout], and since then everything’s been good," he said. "I'm still going to run some medical work, just in case."
Ngannou also opened up on how he was feeling, just hours before suffering the second loss of his professional boxing career.
"I remember being in the locker [room] trying to warm up, and bro, it wasn’t going well," he recalled. "I was falling asleep. I’m sweating, but I was falling asleep.
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"But I'm sure that's how some people that I have fought and have beaten have been before."
He added: "No blame on anybody, the blame here is all on me. It is the game unfortunately. We all knew it could happen[the KO].
"I wasn't seeing it happen like that, but I always knew it could happen. At least, I was always prepared for that."
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The Cameroon-born MMA fighter, who is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League, is keen on making a return to boxing when the time is right.
"Right now, I don"t know exactly what fight I"ll be looking for next," he said.
"I know that I"m going to take some time to rest up, focus on myself, and then when I"m ready, I will get back to training.
"It’s not over yet – not at all, We’re just getting started. The only thing that we will miss this year is time, and I think we have some good amount of time ahead of us.
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"I'm going to take some time for myself, chill, spend time with my family, my friends and then come back ready."
Topics: Boxing, Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngannou, Tyson Fury
Jack Kenmare