Coach Ngannou: "Hopefully Francis and Aspinall will practice together"

Eric Nixick, the head coach of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, said he hopes interim belt holder Tom Aspinall will help his charge prepare for his fight with Renan Ferreira.

"I was hoping he [Aspinall] would be in France. And we'd be able to train together a little bit. I'm not going to say it's not going to happen. It will probably happen before we leave here because he's about an hour's flight away. Tom doesn't live that far away.

However, he was kind enough to send me some names of his sparring partners and guys that we could reach out to, to try to get involved here to help Francis. But Aspinall was busy doing his own thing. Tom's a great guy who's a pleasure to deal with," MMA News quoted Nixick as saying.

Recall that the bout between Ferreira and Ngannou will take place on October 19 in Saudi Arabia. At stake will be the PFL heavyweight title belonging to the Brazilian.