Emotional Ngannou stops Ferreira in first round on MMA return

An emotional Francis Ngannou marked his return to mixed martial arts with a first-round stoppage of Renan Ferreira at the PFL Super Fights event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Cameroon's Ngannou knocked out Ferreira with some brutal ground strikes in his first MMA contest in nearly three years.

The 38-year-old shed tears as he dedicated the victory to his late 15-month-old son Kobe, who passed away earlier this year.

"I can't think about anything [other] than my son Kobe. I only took this fight because of him," said Ngannou.

"I went to fight for him. I hope they can remember his name because without Kobe, we wouldn't be here tonight. I wouldn't have fought."

Since leaving the UFC as its heavyweight champion 22 months ago, Ngannou has become one of the world's biggest combat sports stars following blockbuster boxing bouts against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

But he has been adamant in the build-up to this encounter that he "never left MMA", and always planned to fight again in the cage.

Ngannou considered retirement earlier this year, but said he had chosen to fight on as a way of "honouring him".