{"id":451504,"date":"2022-06-27T00:47:53","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T07:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=451504"},"modified":"2022-06-27T00:47:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T07:47:53","slug":"francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Back in January, Francis Ngannou surprised a lot of fans by using his newly-found wrestling skills to defeat Ciryl Gane and unify the UFC heavyweight championship. However, it didn&#8217;t take long for Ngannou to reveal that he&#8217;d been dealing with a knee injury that was likely going to lead to surgery.<\/p>\n<p>He got that surgery a few months later and ever since then, &#8216;The Predator&#8217; has been providing fans with regular updates regarding his recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in an interview with TMZ, he&#8217;s given a timeline that should get us all excited about the division in Q4 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Francis Ngannou Could Return To Octagon In December Following Knee Surgery | TMZ Sports\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gf3qrGeU1ZI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;It&#8217;s getting better,&#8221; Ngannou said. &#8220;It&#8217;s been only 3 months, so yeah, I&#8217;m still doing physical therapy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;If everything goes well I&#8217;ll be ready by the end of the year because it&#8217;s gonna be 9 months. So, let&#8217;s say late December or early next year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;You know, as for now let&#8217;s fight for the situation and get everything squared up, and then when I will be close to the return, we will see where the landscape is at &#8217;cause a lot of things can happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Quotes via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2022\/06\/26\/francis-ngannou-octagon-return-ufc-december-acl-mcl-surgery\/?adid=social-tw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TMZ<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Although he may be 35, it feels as if Ngannou is only just <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-claims-he-is-just-getting-started-in-the-fight-game-i-have-at-least-5-more-years-to-conquer-everything\/\">starting to come into his prime<\/a> in mixed martial arts. The heavyweight division is where many fighters are able to stick it out and perform at a high level for longer than most others, and you can bet he&#8217;ll be hungry to prove that he&#8217;s still the best in the world upon making his comeback.<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you think there&#8217;s a chance we could see Francis Ngannou return by the end of the year? If so, who do you think he&#8217;ll defend the title against?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year. Back in January, Francis Ngannou surprised a lot of fans by using his newly-found wrestling skills to defeat Ciryl Gane and unify the UFC heavyweight championship. However, it didn&#8217;t take long for Ngannou to reveal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54478,"featured_media":404220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10646,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Francis-Ngannou-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Kettle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\"},\"headline\":\"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\"},\"wordCount\":323,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Francis Ngannou\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\",\"name\":\"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460\",\"name\":\"Harry Kettle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Francis-Ngannou-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Harry Kettle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Kettle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Kettle","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460"},"headline":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December","datePublished":"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/"},"wordCount":323,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Francis Ngannou","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/","name":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-27T07:47:53+00:00","description":"UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has revealed that he could return to the Octagon by the end of the year.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-provides-injury-update-says-he-could-make-his-ufc-return-in-december\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Francis Ngannou provides injury update, says he could make his UFC return in December"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/2b63d73ee27460b473ff175d1d273460","name":"Harry Kettle","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/harry-kettle\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54478"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}