Ever since Francis Ngannou jumped on the ring to face-off Tyson Fury, the entire world of combat sports started savoring the moment these two closed a deal to fight. We had no idea if any of them would agree to fight each other but there were some clues sprinkled around.
Ngannou left the UFC precisely to get chances like this one because Dana White wouldn’t allow him to do anything outside of the company. Ngannou felt he deserved far more money and benefits than what Dana White was offering and he decided to bounce.
After he signed a new contract with the PFL, the stage was set to seal the deal on a fight that could chance the combat sports landscape for good.
After literally ducking several opponents due to money disagreements, Tyson Fury finally got around to close a deal to fight Ngannou. He got to convince the former UFC champion to get inside the ring with him and potentially get an easy win against a non-boxer. The fight is reportedly taking place on October 28 and it will happen in Saudi Arabia.
The announcement was made by combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani and there is a set of rules both fighters will need to follow. Given that this fight will be outside of the traditional boxing circuit, there will be 3 judges ring-side adopting the 10-point must system. But the fight won’t be an exhibition only as both sides promised to go out and try to knock each other out.
Promotion banners Queensberry, Top Rank, and GIMIK Fight Promotions were the ones that reached an agreement to make this fight happen. BEfore this announcement took place, Tyson Fury responded to allegations from Oleksandr Usyk’s camp that he should be stripped of his WBC Heavyweight title if he fought Ngannou next.
The WBC didn’t have a mandatory fight for him to keep the division active because they were waiting for a proper opponent to materialize. Given that he couldn’t reach agreements with any other heavyweight, Tyson Fury does seem like he is taking the easy road once again. Maybe those head punches he suffered against Deontay Wilder were more serious than people initially thought. Ngannou is one of the best MMA fighters in the world but boxing Fury is literally getting into a lion’s den.
SOURCE: MARCA
