Tyson Fury and UFC’s Francis Ngannou bicker over terms of potential custom rules showdown
- Heavyweight boxing champion Fury floats fight with UFC champ, saying ‘who would like to see my fight this beast?’
- Ngannou tells ‘The Gypsy King’ he’ll fight him in ‘a ring, an octagon or a phone booth’
Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury, the two apex predators of the combat sports ecosystem, have caught each other’s scents.
The 33-year-old Briton Fury, the WBC and lineal heavyweight champion in boxing, proposed a custom rules fight with Ngannou, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, on Twitter on Thursday.
“Who would like to see me fight this beast [under] boxing rules [in] UFC gloves?” Fury wrote, tagging Ngannou and UFC president Dana White.
Cameroon’s Ngannou, 35, was quick to serve up a counter-offer, suggesting a fight under MMA rules in boxing gloves.
Ngannou is slated to defend his title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on January 22 in Anaheim, California. Heading into the event, the champion is embroiled in a heated contract dispute with the UFC.
He has made it clear that any new deal he signs with promotion must allow him to compete in professional boxing, where he hopes fights with Fury, and other heavyweight stars like Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua, will be waiting for him.
UFC: Bisping urges Ngannou to shelve boxing plans
In response to Ngannou’s counter-offer, Fury noted that the UFC champ called him out – not the other way around.
“You want to come in to my world calling me and Wilder out to a boxing match,” Fury wrote. “I can guarantee you would be knocked out and also paid your highest purse to be so! So have a think.”
Ngannou, for his part, does not seem to be too hung up on the rule set, so long as Fury is the opponent.
“After I handle business on Jan. 22 I’ll fight you under any special rule set you want,” he wrote. “In a ring, an octagon or a phone booth.”
Ngannou (16-3 MMA) captured the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 260 in March of 2021, when he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the second round. He has not stepped into the cage since. He has never boxed professionally.
Fury (31-0-1 boxing), meanwhile, grabbed his newest armload of belts when he stopped Wilder with a volley of seventh-round punches in February of 2020. He has since defended those baubles in a trilogy fight with Wilder, winning by 11th-round knockout. He has never competed in MMA.
