Thread by @george__mack

Francis Ngannou is fighting for the UFC heavyweight belt this weekend.

His life story >>> Any movie that exists

It's criminally overlooked.

THREAD...

• Francis is often described as the most physically gifted athlete the UFC has ever seen.

• However, I would argue as impressive as athleticism is... His brain is better.

• Francis' story has been criminally underlooked by the media. It deserves to be a Hollywood film.

• His story isn't the cliche "work hard, hustle and believe bro".

• Francis' story is possibly the most superhuman high agency, grit and out the box thinking - ever.

• I've been down internet rabbit holes of his story since hearing it on @joerogan

FRANCIS' CHILDHOOD

• Francis grew up in Batie, Cameroon in 1986.

• He was raised most of his life by his single mother, due to his violent father.

• His earliest memories were the shame he felt hearing stories about his Dad being violent to his mother (Right).

• At the time, there was no free education in Cameroon.

• He had to walk 2 hours per day to school and couldn't afford the books.

• Francis worked *digging sand mines* from age 10-17 to contribute to his family.

(Below is him back where he used to dig)

• After seeing his Dad die and unable to contribute to the medical bills, he decided to start pursuing his life's goal:

1. Make it to America
2. Become a world champion fighter

• He was literally willing to do whatever it takes.

• "I couldn't go to the airport and take a plane to France - I had to use all the back doors to get there." - @francis_ngannou

• The back door journey from Cameroon to Paris took him 14 months... and 6 failures.

• If this was a fictional story, it would be too crazy.

BACK DOOR 1 - CAMEROON > NIGERIA

• This was the easiest back door of the trip because of the open border between Cameroon and Nigeria.

• Francis headed North and crossed the border into Yola.

• If only the rest of the trip was this easy...

BACK DOOR 2 - NIGERIA > NIGER

• Francis doesn't specify what exact border he crossed here.

• However, upon crossing more borders - things began to get difficult.

• Nice officers would ask for a bribe.

• Other officers would strip you down and take everything you've got.

• Immigrants had to be innovative with how they hid their money.

• As the immigrants got more innovative, the officers also clocked on.

• This is a mental model called "The Red Queen" effect.

• "It was a game. You needed to know how to hide money." - Francis

How did Francis get around the Red Queen effect?

• He covered the money in plastic and he swallowed it.

Even if the officers strip-searched him, they wouldn't be able to find his money.

Genius.

BACK DOOR 3 - NIGER TO ALGERIA

• Francis paid some professional smugglers to take him through the back door to Algeria...

• This back door was another level... The Sahara Desert

• It reached 150 Fahrenheit during the day time

• And 20 Fahrenheit during the night time.

• It was him and TWENTY FIVE others in the back of a Toyota truck... through the SAHARA DESERT.

• Due to the lack of space, they had barely any water.

• Below is the nearest image I could find to his experience (This is at the same border + same trucks)

• "If you let go... you're letting go of your life." - Francis

• There was a mother with a newborn baby with them.

• She mentally cracked and wanted to throw her baby off the truck.

• The 25 others selflessly took it in turns to hold the baby - whilst holding on.

• When they finally crossed the desert, the dehydrated Francis found a water well.

• "It was so dirty... it had dead animals in it" - Francis

• "I may drink this water and die - but if if I don't drink this water, I will die anyway. So I drank it" - Francis

BACK DOOR 4 - ALGERIA TO MOROCCO

• If officers knew Francis was from Cameroon, he would be deported.

• However, Francis hacked his way around this... He bought a Malian passport

• Algeria had great relationships with Mali due to the war.

• He would get stopped by Algerian officers.

• "They played you psychologically. They have no way of really knowing (if you're Malian). They will decide whether to check (your identity) based on your reaction." - Francis

• "I was afraid as shit." - Francis

BACK DOOR 5 - MOROCCO > SPAIN

• Francis had 2 ways of crossing to small Spanish islands on the border of Morocco:

1. Ceuta

2. Melilla

• If he could get there, he could call the red cross and get asylum.

• However, these are some of the most violent borders in the world.

• "Morocco is a nightmare for immigration. It's the hell country for immigration" - Francis

• When you failed, the police would catch you and drop you back in the desert in Algeria. (Footage of police doing this below)

• Francis sometimes had to crawl back through the desert

• Before each border run, Francis lived in the Morrocan forests.

• He stayed during the winters and would find food from trash cans.

• "This rotten tomato is mine." - Francis chuckling telling a story of his argument with rats

Vox footage of the forest below

• The first time he tried crossing the border his whole body was cut open by the barbed wire.

• He couldn't get up - but he knew if he laid there the Morrocan border police would probably kill him.

Visualization of this insane border below. (Vox)

• He was then presented with 2 options:

1. Hide in the forest and die losing his blood

2. Go to the hospital - and then get dropped off in the desert by the police

He chose the latter - survival.

He got dropped off in the desert SIX MORE TIMES.

• What makes Francis story so special is:

1. Resilience - He refused to quit.

2. Iteration - Each time he would tweak his strategy.

10,000 iterations > 10,000 hours - @naval

He made sure he learned each time he failed the border run and updated his strategy.

• He began to cross the border via the water - but kept failing

• One of the guards told him they catch them because they have RADARS. They're alerted the minute they hit the water

• He started wrapping the boat in silver foil so radars couldn't detect it

Genius iteration ^

• With his boat covered in foil, he finally gets to Spanish waters and calls the Red Cross who picks him up.

• However, he has to spend 2 months in isolation in a Spanish prison cell.

• He eventually gets refugee status because they couldn't deport him.

BACK DOOR 6: SPAIN > FRANCE

• In typical Francis fashion, he jumps on a train to France without any money.

• He arrives in France and starts living in a parking lot.

• I'm unsure if this is the exact parking lot - but this is the nearest one to the location I could find.

BACK DOOR 7: HOMELESS > UFC SUPERSTAR

• Francis finally gets to train under quality coaches.

• They get him to pivot from Boxing to MMA... and he gradually smashes his way through everyone to get to the UFC.

• He climbs his way up the UFC ranks in devastating fashion.

• Francis now lives in his dream house in Vegas. (Achieving his goal of living in the USA)

• This weekend - he fights for the 2nd time against Miocic to try to become HW champ of the world

The king of the back door @francis_ngannou

• The "Francis Ngannou Foundation" was started by him to put gyms in Cameroon.

• He doesn't want any kid to have to make the journey he did.

• "Most of the time kids give up is because nobody cares about them." - Francis

Donate

👇

francisngannoufoundation.org

• Regardless of the result, this story has to be a movie.

@netflix - make it happen.

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