WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou have never been more interested in fighting one another.
If Francis Ngannou fails to come to terms with the UFC, it appears he has a big boxing matchup ahead of him once he becomes a free agent. Ngannou and the UFC are in the middle of tense contract negotiations, with Ngannou’s current deal with the promotion set to expire after his upcoming unification bout against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. If Ngannou loses, he will be a free agent. If he wins, White recently stated that Ngannou would be contractually obligated to fight with the promotion again.
Ngannou has recently stated that in order for him to re-sign with the UFC, he must be granted the freedom to box. When mentioning potential opponents, Fury was among the names “The Predator” listed as being on his radar.
“Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder. I would like to test myself to that level,” Ngannou said during an interview with TMZ Sports. “It’s not the same sport, although I’m the champion, I’m in the top in this division. At the end of the day, it’s just about like trained hands, trained punches, having a good delivery system to produce bombs, and I’m sure that if I deliver my own punch, it’s pretty good, I can make some damage.”
Fury’s Response Sets Off Trash-Talking Twitter Exchange With Ngannou
Thursday, Tyson Fury took to Twitter to get a very early jump start on promoting the very hypothetical matchup.
“Who would like to see me fight this beast boxing rules @ufc gloves? @danawhite@francis_ngannou.”
It wasn’t long before the “beast” offered a taunting response to “The Gypsy King.”
“How about MMA rules with boxing gloves? I can do you that favor,” Ngannou wrote.
“you want to come in to my world calling me & wilder out to a boxing match. what i can guarantee you would be knocked out & also paid your highest purse to be so! so have a think,” Fury said in his latest retort.
“After I handle business on Jan. 22 I’ll fight you under any special rule set you want. In a ring, an octagon or a phone booth,” Ngannou assured.
Today isn’t the first time Fury expressed interest in boxing Ngannou with MMA gloves. Last summer, prior to Tyson Fury’s victory over Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight, “The Gypsy King” went back-and-forth with Ngannou in the media in a similar fashion as they did today. Speaking to Michael Bisping for BT Sport, Fury said that he’d have a boxing match with Ngannou inside a cage with MMA gloves on (via MMA.uno).
“Yeah, I would fight one of those guys, I would fight Ngannou with the little gloves on in a cage, but no grappling and all that, just boxing. Cage boxing. That will be good, right? I would fight these guys, but you know it’s a totally different sport. It is like cricket and tennis. They both have bats or rackets but it is something totally different. If I fight Ngannou in a wrestling match, I am not a fighter, so they are going to take me to the ground like James Toney and they are going to tear me to pieces.”
MMA News will keep you posted if there is any progress made on this fight ever becoming a reality or if these two behemoths continue to trade barbs on Twitter.
Who do you think would win in a boxing match with MMA gloves between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury?
