Do you know who has a difficult gig? The person on the Jackass franchise who has to come up with inventive new ways for the guys and girls on the show (and films) to get physically punished. After awhile, you would think that you’d run out of idea that inflict serious damage. But after taking several years off, apparently the Jackass team was able to compile a laundry list of new challenges for the next (and potentially final) Jackass film, titled Jackass Forever. And in this one, they’ve cooked up a particularly brutal stunt involving UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou.
This is not the first movie that Francis Ngannou is appearing in. The UFC brawler recently made his silver-screen debut playing an anonymous fighter in the ninth Fast and Furious sequel, F9. Ngannou isn’t playing a character in Jackass Forever. He’ll be playing himself. And while appearing as a guest on the Flagrant 2 podcast, the fighter revealed some painful details regarding his Jackass role. Not painful for Ngannou, mind you. Painful for the other guy… which is usually the case. As Ngannou put it:
That’s the craziest thing that I’ve ever seen. Man, I had to punch somebody in the nuts. I did it the first time, (and they said) ‘Listen man, we know you. People know that you’re the hardest puncher in the world. It wasn’t hard enough.’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Like… I can hurt this guy. Did he at least have kids already?’
If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to take a physical shot to your private area, you know that even a semi-gentle connection can send dudes into convulsions. So just the idea that one of the Jackass guys will be taking a full-throttle punch to the testicles by a full-blown warrior such as Francis Ngannou has me both wincing, but also incredibly curious as to what the end result of the punch is going to be. Morbid curiosity. That’s the textbook definition.
So, which Jackass team member was the “lucky” recipient of a punch to the nuts by the world’s strongest puncher, and the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world? Francis Ngannou couldn’t confirm, though he did let the podcast know that it wasn’t lead Jackass Johnny Knoxville. The fighter added:
No, no. Not Johnny Knoxville. It was somebody else. Man, so twice -- seeing how the first time went and you have to do it already a second time. I was like, man. And he was there waiting for you to punch him hard in the nuts. … But when you follow up with the Jackass story, you realize that is exactly what they do.
It is. And fans should be lining up outside of theaters to see what new insanity has been cooked up for Jackass Forever. The sequel dropped a trailer recently, and is gearing up for an October 22 release date. I hope the dude who took that punch has stopped having to sit on a bag of ice by now.
