Paul Battison
BBC Sport journalist

There aren't many people who leave the UFC in their prime and go on to better themselves, but Ngannou has never done things by the book.

The Cameroonian was a star in the MMA world when he left the UFC as its heavyweight champion early last year, but he is now a star on the global stage after blockbuster boxing fights with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Ngannou earned plaudits for his boxing but MMA is his bread and butter, where he made a name for himself as one of the most devastating punchers in the sport's history.

His fearsome stand-up is what first caught the attention of the boxing world, but inside an MMA cage he has many more strings to his bow - proven by his win over Ciryl Gane in 2022, where he out-wrestled the Frenchman.

He is the favourite against Ferreira, with doubts looming from critics over the standard of challengers in the PFL's heavyweight division.

The biggest win of Ferreira's career came against former Bellator two division champion Ryan Bader in February, but at 41, the American is in the twilight of his career.

A win over Ngannou, however, would change everything for the Brazilian, thrusting him to the forefront of the global heavyweight MMA landscape.

Francis Ngannou has been on quite the journey for the last two years.

First, he affirmed his position as the UFC heavyweight champion in early 2022. Then he decided to see out his UFC contract and announced in early 2023 he was a free agent.

There was a lot of chatter about Ngannou's exit. The UFC losing their UFC champion and one of their most marketable stars at the peak of his powers.

Where would he go? Well, PFL as it turned out. In May 2023 Ngannou confirmed he had signed with the MMA promotion, one of the UFC's rivals.

But Ngannou then immediately embarked on his boxing adventure. In a truly wild turn of events, he fought, dropped and narrowly lost on points to Tyson Fury, who was the reigning WBC champion at the time.

In March, he was knocked out by Anthony Joshua in another huge event.

It means Ngannou returns to MMA an even bigger star with a host of new fans. The PFL will be delighted they agreed to wait for him.

But the question remains, after two years, eight months and 28 days away from MMA, will Ngannou be the same fighter he was?

The first fight of the night is done and dusted and what a fight it was! We've got Fabian Edwards' second attempt at beating Johnny Eblen coming soon but first, let's build up to the main event of the night; Francis Ngannou v Renan Ferreira.

Hughes is pumped on the mic in his post-fight speech.

He shouts into the camera: "Believed in myself. This is the path I chose, and look what I can do. I'm a superstar."

When he is asked his first question, he holds nothing back.

On the split decision: "It's hard when you're doing the one fighting to know the score. Judging from AJ's face, I think it's pretty clear I won that one. I nearly had him out of there."

On his career-best win: "The PFL believed in me and look at me now. I took the risk, I fought one of the best in the division. Here I am, a rural kid from Ireland. I bet on myself."

"How many times did I hurt him? Who else has done that to AJ McKee? That knee almost took him out in the first round. And I tell you what, that wasn't one of my best performances. I was completely gassed after the first round. I had to dig down deep to get that win."

On what could be next? "We want to see Ireland v Dagestan, we want to see Paul Hughes v Usman Nurmagomedov for the Bellator lightweight title. Let's go!"

Is a split decision harsh on the performance of Hughes? It may well be. He was brilliant but he doesn't care! A win is a win and as he says post-fight: "No one has done that to AJ McKee."

It's Ireland's Paul Hughes with the biggest win of his career!

Hughes has landed a split decision victory over AJ McKee with the judges scoring it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

It's just the second time McKee has been beaten in his career.

McKee looks tired in the final stages of this round and Hughes capitalises with some huge strikes. Hughes lands a brilliant right uppercut but McKee stands firm.

We're going to the cards but it's a fantastic performance from Hughes, who may think he's done enough to win.

Dan Hardy
PFL chief on DAZN

Hughes trying to maintain his posture here, he knows the danger of McKee's guard.

Pressure from McKee in the early stages of the round before Hughes puts him on his back. That's no problem for McKee, though, as he speaks to Hughes to try and tempt him down to the mat.

McKee is using his brilliant grappling skills here.

A heavy left lands on McKee and Hughes goes for a jumping left knee too.

Hughes gets a bit greedy with the knee and stumbles, allowing McKee to try and take his back, but time runs out before the American can do anything.

Dan Hardy
PFL chief on DAZN

AJ is lunging and Hughes is waiting for him to lunge, so he can slip [the punch] and land a left hook.

Much slower pace to the second round so far with McKee more cautious than he previously was after getting a taste of what Hughes can do.

Both men are upright and trying to land strikes. Will we see any more of those knees from Hughes?

Dan Hardy
PFL chief on DAZN

It was almost like Paul Hughes had a bell in his fist as he connected.

What a great end to the first round for Hughes! He's got McKee on his back and lands a number of heavy punches.

Wow! Was McKee saved by the bell there? I think so! Hughes lands a brilliant knee on the head and then McKee is dropped by a right hook. That should count as a knockdown.

Dan Hardy
PFL chief on DAZN

I can definitely see an argument for Paul Hughes winning the first round here.

McKee is currently piling the pressure on Hughes as he has the Irish fighter pushed up against the cage. Hughes does brilliantly to find some space and plant a knee on the side of McKee's head.

We're under way in this lightweight fight. McKee comes in fast with a kick to Hughes' body and then attacks Hughes' lead left leg.

McKee aggressive right away!

Here we go, the first fight of the night and what a cracker it promises to be looking at these records!

Will it be Hughes or McKee who tastes defeat for only the second time?

AJ McKee once had 18 consecutive Bellator wins. Wow.

First up for us tonight is Ireland's Paul Hughes' fight with AJ McKee. By his own admission, it's the first time Hughes has come into a fight as the underdog but that doesn't dent his confidence.

Hughes added: "[It's] definitely my first time as an underdog and by far the biggest fight of my career. This is life-changing stuff, if I beat AJ - or when I beat AJ - my life will be changed.

"I'm going to walk him down and knock him out. That's what I foresee here. That's what's going to happen."

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