Francis wasn't green. Already had 6 UFC fights and 6 others. He just got beat by a better Stipe fighter that night. He was only 'green' for not going 5 rounds in an MMA match.
Francis wasn't green. Already had 6 UFC fights and 6 others. He just got beat by a better Stipe fighter that night. He was only 'green' for not going 5 rounds in an MMA match.
Ok, let’s take a look at his career until that point:
Per a few sources, he began training in boxing at age 22 in Cameroon before migrating 4 years later.
So before leaving Africa since he was also working, it doesn’t appear that he had much if any significant experience in training combat sports or martial arts in general (no mention of youth karate, wrestling, etc…)
His first 4 pro fights appear to have been in a French promotion (I haven’t done a deep dive) in which 2 round
(not 3 or 5) fights are the norm; very similar to the American amateur scene.
Three fights later “Guh-no” (I’m sure you remember that one) made his debut in the UFC.
And in his 14th ever fight (he won a kickboxing bout in 2015,) he fought Stipe for the title even though I’d have been surprised to see Ngannou be able to run 3 miles in less total time than he spent in the octagon that night (because literally zero cardio.)
So, with 3 years of boxing training (while working full time,) <4 calendar months of MMA training prior to his first bout, 14 fights (13 total in MMA,) later with what appears to be zero endurance training and next to no background in martial arts from his youth and I’m sure you’re familiar with the details about his migration and homelessness during that whole period…
I’d argue that he was still somewhat green.
He wasn’t a strong farm boy who just strapped on the gloves; but still fairly green in comparison to other athletes at the highest level of a sport.
TLDR: a bit of boxing training as an adult then <4 months of training followed by 4 fights in an amateurish promotion and 10 more bouts with zero cardio compared to men/women who’d been spending their whole lives competing, seems to be the epitome of the label “relatively green” that I initially gave early 2018 Francis Ngannou. 
