Pouya Rahmani has six pro MMA fights and zero losses, and he’s already explaining how he’d ragdoll Francis Ngannou.
The undefeated PFL heavyweight told Home of Fight that he would beat the former UFC champion one-sided if they ever shared a cage, and he leaned hard on his grappling pedigree to make the case.
“Brother we talk about grappling, there is levels in this game,” Rahmani said. “I was a national team player (in freestyle wrestling), I was world champion, I am world champion black belt jiu-jitsu. There’s levels to this game.”
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Then he got colorful. “When I put him down, brother, all of his country will have to come to help him get up from under my hand,” he said. “When I am on top of you, you are over, bye, bye, you know?”
Bloody Elbow first picked up the comments. Give Rahmani credit for one thing. He answers a question straight.
The résumé behind the trash talk
Rahmani is 34, an Iranian national wrestling champion who moved over to MMA and has finished everybody so far. Four of his six wins came by submission, two by knockout. He’s also kept busy outside the cage, picking up wins in Real American Freestyle and ACBJJ.
The Ngannou angle has some logic to it. Stipe Miocic wrestled Ngannou for five rounds at UFC 220 in 2018 and handed him his first UFC loss. That was early Ngannou, though. By 2022 he was the one doing the wrestling, using it to beat Ciryl Gane. Rahmani’s plan is built on a version of The Predator that’s eight years old.
Ngannou’s last outing was a finish of Philipe Lins on Netflix this past May. His next fight hasn’t been confirmed, so this is a callout with no address on it.
First, Popov
The more pressing problem for Rahmani is Oleg Popov, the 2025 PFL Heavyweight Tournament Champion. The two meet Saturday, November 14, at PFL Dubai in the Coca Cola Arena, Rahmani’s seventh pro MMA appearance.
The PFL says things have heated up between them before fight week. The promotion announced it on X with a popcorn emoji and a pair of eyeballs, which is roughly as much detail as anyone got. What exactly went down between the two heavyweights, the post didn’t say.
What’s clear from the matchup is the jump in competition. Rahmani has been feasting on the early part of a pro career. Popov won a full PFL heavyweight tournament. That’s a different kind of opponent for a guy who’s six fights in, and good on the PFL matchmakers for booking it instead of padding the record.
My take: I like Rahmani. Heavyweights who talk like this and can actually wrestle are a rare and wonderful thing. But world titles on the mat and MMA top control are two separate jobs, and Ngannou’s name is a lot easier to say than Popov’s is to beat. If Rahmani holds Popov down in Dubai on November 14, the Ngannou talk earns a second listen. If he doesn’t, nobody’s country needs to show up for anything.
