UFC fighter spoke candidly about his son’s death for the first time since 15-month-old Kobe died suddenly this past April.
“The day that I was leaving, he was crying. Wanted me to go with him,” Ngannou, 37, recalled during an episode of ‘s “JRE MMA Show,” released on Tuesday, July 23. “I knew that I [was] going to be back. I [had] no clue that was it.”
Ngannou explained that the last time he saw Kobe was in Cameroon — where the fighter is from — just before he left the country.
“He was with my little brother and he didn’t want me to go because he became my buddy so much that even when I’m around, he don’t want me to leave him alone,” the fighter recalled.
Ngannou shared via Instagram on April 29 that his son — who was named after the late Kobe Bryant — had died two days prior.
“Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone. My little boy, my mate, my partner Kobe was full of life and joy. Now, it’s laying without life. I shouted his name over and over but he’s not responding,” the social media statement read. “I was my best self next to him and now I have no clude [sic] of who I am. Life is so unfair to his us where it hurts the post.”
Further discussing his death on Tuesday’s podcast, Ngannou explained that his son had “fainted” and “passed out twice” before they took him to various doctors. Kobe was eventually diagnosed with a swollen lung.
Ngannou said he put his “guard down” and went on a planned trip to Dubai when he received a phone call from his brother, revealing they were in the hospital. While on the phone with his brother, the nurse told them, “He’s gone,” referring to Kobe.
“All of a sudden, you realize how a kid that wasn’t there two years ago has become a major part of your life,” he said during the podcast episode. “Then you realize that all the things that you were worrying about didn’t mean s–t at all.”
Ngannou added: “It was the only thing at time that really matter[ed]. But it’s not there anymore.”
The fighter also recalled seeing his son’s things following Kobe’s death.
“Then, you get back in the apartment and see all his toys, the stuff that he was playing, the thing that you take from him the other day and put here, it’s right there,” he said. “But he’s not there anymore. He will never be there anymore.”
