Eric Nicksick gives his views on potential Francis Ngannou vs. Rico Verhoeven fight
Eric Nicksick has weighed in on a possible matchup between his longtime student, Francis Ngannou, and the latter's former training partner Rico Verhoeven.
MMA great Francis Ngannou's head coach, Eric Nicksick, has discussed a potential showdown between him and Rico Verhoeven.
Ngannou is fresh off a thunderous first-round knockout victory over fellow UFC and PFL alum, Philipe Lins, in his most recent professional combat sports contest.
The heavyweight MMA bout served as the co-headlining match of the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano fight card on May 16, 2026.
Francis Ngannou's former training partner, Rico Verhoeven, competed a week after MVP MMA 1
Incidentally, boxing legend Oleksandr Usyk and kickboxing great Rico Verhoeven clashed against each other the following week, on May 23, 2026. Verhoeven happens to be a former training partner of ex-UFC heavyweight champion and the inaugural PFL super fights heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.
Their combat sports contest was a professional boxing bout that saw Usyk defend his unified and lineal heavyweight throne by beating Verhoeven via 11th-round TKO.
Nevertheless, Verhoeven earned widespread laudation for his performance. Despite having fought in just one pro boxing match before that, the former Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion almost beat Usyk.
Verhoeven was leading 96-94 on one judge's scorecard, while the two other judges had the match scored 95-95 each going into round 11. Also, the referee's decision to wave the fight off -- after Usyk knocked Verhoeven down and then followed up with more punches -- was deemed an early stoppage by many fans and experts alike. Ngannou himself echoed similar sentiments.
Eric Nicksick on potential Francis Ngannou vs. Rico Verhoeven fight
During a recent conversation with Home of Fight, Francis Ngannou's longtime head coach, Eric Nicksick, was asked about his star pupil possibly fighting Rico Verhoeven.
Nicksick responded by harking back to Ngannou's unanimous decision victory over training partner-turned-rival Ciryl Gane in their UFC heavyweight title unification match at UFC 270 in January 2022. The veteran coach indicated that Verhoeven was brought into Ngannou's training camp to prepare for that fight, what with Gane being a skilled kickboxer.
On that note, Nicksick expressed his respect for Verhoeven, whilst also implying that he's held pads for the legendary kickboxer. Regarding the Dutch fighter's possible matchup against Ngannou, he stated:
"He's the best heavyweight striker on the planet. And he's amazing. I've got to hold pads for him numerous times. He (Verhoeven) has had to come in and help Francis with camp when we were fighting Ciryl Gane. Nothing but love and respect for him (Verhoeven)."
Nicksick added, "If this is a potential fight these guys wanna make, I'm all for it, man. Because you're talking about two of the best heavyweights in the world at what they do in their craft. So, if it means that these guys get to make money and go and compete against each other, I'm all for it."
Ngannou has primarily competed in MMA, has one kickboxing bout to his name, and has also fought in a couple of boxing matches. Meanwhile, Verhoeven has mainly fought in kickboxing, whilst having one MMA bout and a couple of boxing matches to his name. If the two combat sports stars were to fight each other, it remains to be seen which sport they choose to clash in.
Watch Nicksick discuss the possibility of Francis Ngannou fighting Rico Verhoeven below (*comments at the 8:10-minute mark of the video):
