'Why They Still Living Like That?': Francis Ngannou Returned to His Cameroon Village After Becoming a UFC Champion – Four Photos Had Netizens Questioning the Living Conditions

Years after leaving home with ambitions that took him across three continents, the UFC star returned to his village and shared photos that prompted questions online. The images from his homecoming can be seen at the end of this article.

Before Francis Ngannou became a UFC heavyweight champion, his ambitions stretched far beyond the small Cameroonian village where he spent much of his childhood.

His path eventually took him thousands of miles across Africa and into Europe, left him homeless in Paris, and ultimately led to an MMA career that brought him to the United States and the pinnacle of the UFC. Yet Batié, Cameroon, remained an important part of his story.

Ngannou's childhood there was shaped by instability and poverty. His parents divorced when he was six, after which he moved between relatives and different homes before he and his four siblings eventually found some stability with their grandmother.

Her home was a one-room brick structure with a red dirt floor, while a separate smokehouse served as the kitchen. The number of relatives staying there changed regularly, with Ngannou recalling that sometimes as many as 20 people shared the property.

After finally reaching Spain and spending time in an immigration detention center, Ngannou made his way to Paris in 2013 with little money.

Depending on how crowded it became, some slept inside and others outside. Money affected nearly every part of his childhood, including his education.

There were times when he could not afford basic school supplies or lunch, and at nine years old, he and his 11-year-old brother began working in a sand mine for about $1.90 a day.

The work required the boys to help move sand washed down from the surrounding slopes into piles so that older workers could load it onto trucks. By 13, Ngannou was doing the work of grown men, and by 17, he had left school and begun thinking seriously about a future outside the village.

Boxing became part of that vision. He dreamed of reaching America and becoming a heavyweight champion, although getting there proved considerably more complicated than he could have imagined.

Then, on April 3, 2012, at 25, Ngannou left his family and began a journey that took him more than 3,000 miles across the Sahara toward Morocco.

He attempted repeatedly to cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain, enduring failed crossings, detention, and periods in which Moroccan authorities left him in the desert without food or water.

After finally reaching Spain and spending time in an immigration detention center, Ngannou made his way to Paris in 2013 with little money. He initially wanted to pursue boxing and at one point slept in a parking garage before receiving help with accommodation and training.

A coach eventually steered him toward mixed martial arts, a sport Ngannou initially knew little about. What began as an alternative to boxing soon changed his life.

Ngannou made his professional MMA debut in November 2013 and joined the UFC two years later. His ascent through the heavyweight division eventually led to Stipe Miocic, whom he knocked out at UFC 260 in March 2021 to become the UFC heavyweight champion.

But rather than focusing solely on his homecoming, some commenters began questioning why the surroundings shown in the photographs appeared so modest given the fighter's success.

The victory also gave his next trip to Cameroon a different meaning. When Ngannou returned to Batié the following month, he arrived as a world champion in the sport he had discovered only after leaving home.

He later recalled how people in the village shared in the achievement and saw his success as evidence that reaching such heights was possible. Even after establishing a life in Las Vegas, his family ties remained rooted in Africa.

Ngannou explained in 2022 that his mother could not simply relocate to the United States because her friends, children, grandchildren, and established life were in Africa. Then, two years after winning UFC gold, another visit home attracted attention for a different reason.

In July 2023, Ngannou shared a series of Instagram photos from Batié with the caption, "Chillin in the village one last time before we go back to business #Batie."

The images showed the fighter spending time at a modest brick home in his village. In one photo, he sat inside a dimly lit room beside an older woman, with cooking pots, firewood, and other household items visible nearby.

Another showed him standing outside the brick home with several people, while a third captured him seated near its entrance. A fourth snap was taken from inside the structure as Ngannou stood outside.

But rather than focusing solely on his homecoming, some commenters began questioning why the surroundings shown in the photographs appeared so modest given the fighter's success.

"But why his family still living in a mud hut [sic]," one person commented. Another directly connected the conditions to Ngannou's earnings, asking, "Aren't you a millionaire dude? Why they still living like that [sic]?"

Others went further and argued that he should use his wealth to change the circumstances visible in the photographs. One person typed, "Why u didnt upgrade this house [sic]?"

"Bro help the family to build a nice house dont sure to the social media like the still seafaring, u been a UFC champion is been u fight for big cash $$$ [sic]," another shared.

One commenter broadened that expectation beyond a single home and compared Ngannou with Senegalese soccer star Sadio Mané, writing, "Be like footballer Sadio Mane. Convert your village into town. Build hospitals and schools Champ [sic]."

More than a decade after leaving, Ngannou returned as a champion, having reached the level he had dreamed about as a young man. The surroundings captured during that visit, however, prompted an entirely different conversation online. The photos that sparked those questions can be seen below.

Francis Ngannou's Village in Cameroon