Tag: Fury vs. Nagnnou

Spinning Back Clique LIVE: UFC 295 title bouts, White’s Fury-Ngannou response, Nunes’ successor, more

Our “Spinning Back Clique” crew discusses the continued fallout from Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury, the reshuffled UFC 295 and more.

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel discusses the continued fallout from Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury, the reshuffled UFC 295 and more.

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura and Dan Tom will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

  • It’s been more than a week, but the combat sports world still is abuzz with talk of [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag], who escaped [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s boxing debut with a split decision win in Saudi Arabia. Now it sounds like Ngannou’s first foray into boxing was successful enough he’ll have his second shot at a first win before he returns to MMA.
  • Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping are regulars on the commentary desk for UFC events now that their UFC Hall of Fame careers are over. They each have a big online presence with podcasts and YouTube content, and they recently decided to lob out a few matchmaking ideas. They weren’t bad. Can we pick any holds in them, or will they stand up?
  • It might not have been what most were expecting, but Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva were tapped to fight for the vacant women’s bantamweight title that Amanda Nunes gave up when she retired. We’ll break down the UFC 297 matchup.
  • The UFC’s return to Sao Paulo for the first time since 2019, and its second trip to Brazil in 2023, wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Heck, it lost three fights in a 36-hour period from the weigh-ins until fight night. But what went right?
  • With Jon Jones on the shelf for a long while, Sergei Pavlovich faces Tom Aspinall for an interim heavyweight title. And the vacant light heavyweight title is up for grabs between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira. We’ll break down UFC 295 title fights at Madison Square Garden in New York.
  • … and much more.

Francis Ngannou (mostly) takes high road on Dana White after impressive performance vs. Tyson Fury

Francis Ngannou sure proved UFC boss Dana White wrong in every way, but he didn’t completely rub it in.

[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] admits to being curious, but he really couldn’t care less about what his former boss thinks of his remarkable performance against Tyson Fury.

Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, lost to WBC heavyweight champ Fury in his boxing debut, but he managed to shake up the sports world with his performance this past Saturday in a fight that was dubbed “Battle of the Baddest.” Ngannou dropped Fury in the third and lasted all 10 rounds with perhaps the greatest heavyweight boxer of his generation before dropping a split decision that many observers believe should’ve gone the other way.

When asked Monday on “The MMA Hour” how he thinks UFC CEO [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] feels about the fight, Ngannou shrugged and answered bluntly.

“Who cares?” Ngannou told host Ariel Helwani. “Dana White feels like Dana White feels. I feel like I feel. Personally I feel great. I think you have to send him an invite so you can ask him. I would like to know, too.”

Ngannou, who fought out his UFC contract in January 2022, left the UFC earlier this year while still holding the promotion’s heavyweight title after the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on a new deal following a lengthy negotiating period. One major sticking point for Ngannou was the UFC’s refusal to give him the flexibility to compete in boxing, which he got from the PFL after signing with the rival MMA promotion in May.

Since parting ways, White has bad-mouthed Ngannou and his decision making. This past January, prior to the PFL deal, White said Ngannou “doesn’t want to take a lot of risks” and “feels he’s in a good position where he can fight lesser opponents and make more money.” Then in March, White said Ngannou will never be in the UFC again.”

Shortly after Ngannou signed with the PFL in May, White took the opportunity to grandstand about Ngannou’s desire to box.

“Francis just thinks he’s in a position where he’s got some sort of Conor McGregor-Mayweather fight on his hands, which he does not,” White said. “… MMA guys vs. boxers doesn’t make any sense to me. But I know he thinks there’s all this money in it. I disagree. I don’t think there is.”

Two months later, the Fury vs. Ngannou fight was officially announced.

Given how things played out for Ngannou, does he think White is happy for him?

“We have to ask him, but I don’t know,” Ngannou said. “I’m not sure, though. I’m not sure because he’s been throwing little stones my way, like trying to poke me. …

“Dana is Dana. He said what Dana said, which most of the time doesn’t mean anything. You mean (I wanted) a lesser fighter like Tyson Fury, right? That’s what I wanted, yeah. He was right.”

Ngannou said he never doubted himself or his decision to forego the financial security of a long-term UFC contract for his freedom to choose his own career path. Ngannou said he was willing to return to Cameroon and work as a farmer if nothing went his way.

“You have to understand something: Things have played out for me perfectly, maybe even more than anyone expected,” Ngannou said. “But let me tell you this: Let’s say after the UFC, after (leaving the UFC), I didn’t have any of those contracts whether it was the PFL contract or the Tyson Fury fight contract, I wouldn’t regret it. You know, it wasn’t an overnight decision. It was a decision that I thought about. I thought about it many times.”

Compromising what he stands for wasn’t an option.

“I’m not doing what I don’t want to do just because, I mean, just to please somebody,” Ngannou said. “No, I don’t do that. I can’t do that. It’s just beyond my capability. Never regret, but I think things been playing out even better than I have expected. I couldn’t even script this out. This is so beautiful. Why would I regret it? Everything’s been good.”

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For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Spinning Back Clique LIVE: Ngannou shocks boxing world in loss to Tyson Fury, Jon Jones forces UFC 295 overhaul, more

Our “Spinning Back Clique” crew discusses Francis Ngannou’s loss to Tyson Fury and its impact, looks ahead to a reshuffled UFC 295 and more.

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel discusses Francis Ngannou’s loss to Tyson Fury and its impact on boxing and MMA, looks ahead to the reshuffled UFC 295 and more.

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

  • [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag] escaped [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s boxing debut with a split decision win, but he also was knocked down by the former UFC heavyweight champ, was cut, and generally didn’t look like the kind of fighter regarded as the best heavyweight boxer in the world. But this was all about how good Ngannou looked, and we’ll break down the performance.
  • Ngannou left the UFC while still heavyweight champion in a contract dispute and signed with the PFL. He’s expected to return to MMA under that banner in 2024 – but his better-than-expected boxing debut against Fury has most people jonesing to see him box next instead of have a cagefight. What do we think his best option is?
  • Even though [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] said Ngannou had an offer to be the highest paid UFC heavyweight of all time, he left the promotion and signed with the PFL – a promotion that gave him the OK to also box, which was a sticking point on the UFC side – for a bunch of money, plus stake in the company as an international executive. His fight with Fury was for a reported $10 million guaranteed, plus pay-per-view backend. And in the meantime, while he was off finding plenty of success and newfound sports stardom outside MMA, his former home’s new heavyweight champion, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], had to pull out of next week’s UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden with an injury. With Ngannou’s success, and the near-term mess at heavyweight in the UFC, is the UFC left with egg on its face?
  • Ngannou was the “Baddest Man on the Planet” when he was the UFC’s heavyweight champion. He left the UFC, and generally speaking that title hasn’t been bestowed on MMA fighters outside the UFC. That means current heavyweight champ Jon Jones can lay claim to that moniker. But so, too, can Tyson Fury, the WBC’s heavyweight boxing champion … whom Ngannou knocked down Saturday. So does the math work out that Ngannou has that combat sports bad man title now?
  • Jon Jones had to pull out of the UFC 295 main event heavyweight title fight against ex-champ Stipe Miocic with an injury that was caught on camera. Instead of putting Miocic in an interim title fight that Dana White said would be insulting to him, Sergei Pavlovich faces Tom Aspinall for an interim belt. The winner then will wait for Jones to return from his injury, which is expected to be at least eight months. Did the UFC make the right moves with all this madness only a couple weeks before one of its annual tentpole events?
  • … and much more.

Francis Ngannou coach Dewey Cooper expects top 10 boxing ranking after Tyson Fury fight

If there was any doubt whether or not Francis Ngannou belongs in the heavyweight boxing world, it was answered Saturday.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – If there was any doubt whether or not [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] belongs in the heavyweight boxing world, it was answered Saturday.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou (0-1 boxing) lost a close split decision to WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia. Fury’s title wasn’t on the line, and in fact he already had his next title defense booked before he stepped foot in the ring with Ngannou.

But after the Cameroon native knocked the unbeaten Fury down in the third round – the fight’s only knockdown – and won the fight with one of the three judges, his confidence for what he can do in the sweet science compared to MMA must have grown exponentially.

After the fight, his striking coach at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Dewey Cooper, told MMA Junkie that Ngannou’s boxing future is a bright one.

“I thought we won the fight with the knockdown,” Cooper said ringside after the fight. “It was a back-and-forth fight. I feel like it was probably even on the rounds, but the knockdown should’ve given us the advantage, like the one judge had it – 95-94 is how I scored it. I even told Francis the last round, ‘You’ve got to stay sharp – don’t let him steal this fight.’

“I thought we had won it closely. But (even losing) this fight closely is a magnificent accomplishment. Everybody – you (media), every-f*cking-body said we had no shot. Everybody said he’d get knocked out tonight, and what did he do? He dropped the champ – the prime, undefeated champ. His first fight out (in boxing), he went 10 rounds with the same energy as the champ.”

The talk immediately after the fight was not only debate over whether or not Ngannou won, despite it being his boxing debut, but whether Fury’s next fight should be a rematch with Ngannou and not a title unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Alternatively, Ngannou could eschew an official MMA move to the PFL and instead box another heavyweight standout.

And Cooper thinks that might be a valid option for Ngannou because, he said, Ngannou could be a top 10-ranked heavyweight boxer this week.

“Absolutely, (he’s set up for another big fight),” Cooper said. “Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, said he’s going to rank him in the top 10 because he’s better than most of the (boxing) heavyweights in the top 10. He said that (to Ngannou) in the ring. So absolutely, you’ll see him (box) again.”

Regardless of when, where or against whom he’ll fight next, Ngannou proved he knew what he was doing when he bet on himself by leaving the UFC while still heavyweight champion – and walked away from what CEO Dana White said would have made him the highest paid heavyweight in company history.

Now Cooper thinks Ngannou will start to truly garner respect in the combat sports world, even if he disputes the scoring that left his fighter without his hand raised.

“I felt like we won the fight by a round or two, but this is why boxing is going on a decline – a slight decline – well, except for Saudi Arabia,” Cooper said. “Boxing is now a business disguised as a sport. We need to keep it real and make these decisions as transparent as possible. At the end of the day, it didn’t go our way. But I’m proud of Francis. He went 30 minutes. He went 25 minutes with that other company, the UFC, on one leg, and now he went 30 minutes in his first boxing fight. If those aren’t accomplishments, I don’t know what is.”

For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

MMA Junkie Radio #3408: Francis Ngannou coach Eric Nicksick on Tyson Fury fight, Khamzat Chimaev, Stipe Miocic and more

Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” right here.


Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,408, the fellas welcome in Eric Nicksick, Francis Ngannou’s head coach at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, to talk about his fighter’s close loss to Tyson Fury in his boxing debut. Plus, they discuss Khamzat Chimaev’s injury, the UFC 295 upheaval and much more. Tune in!

Coach Eric Nicksick: Francis Ngannou proved it’s possible MMA fighters can compete against high-level boxers

Coach Eric Nicksick said Francis Ngannou proved MMA fighters can compete in high-level boxing with his Saturday showing against Tyson Fury.

The history is not great for MMA fighters transitioning to professional boxing.

There have been a few here and there who have been able to notch wins, but at a high level, it’s a rare scene. But Saturday in Saudi Arabia, former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] crossed over to the boxing world and gave WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury one of his toughest career fights. Ngannou was defeated in a close, split decision, but many think he did enough to beat Fury.

[autotag]Eric Nicksick[/autotag], one of Ngannou’s main coaches, believes Ngannou proved to the MMA world that it is possible to compete against high-level boxers.

“I think it’s huge,” Nicksick told MMA Junkie Radio on Sunday. “It’s that 4-minute mile mentality where the guy that breaks the 4-minute mile does the impossible feat and then when somebody does, everyone knows they have an opportunity to do the same thing. I think more and more MMA guys look for this opportunity as well.

Eric Nicksick

“The first thing I wrote Sean Strickland: ‘Ready to move to boxing?’ And he’s like, ‘Damn right. That’s all I do (is) spar boxers, anyway.’ I think that Francis paved that way and showed we are capable of competing, and not only competing, winning and putting it together at a high level. I’m proud of him, he kind of laid that groundwork.”

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Ngannou’s showing Saturday was a big shock for the combat sports world. Few expected Ngannou to go the distance with Fury, let alone be competitive. For Nicksick, this is just one of the many things Ngannou has overcome in his career.

“Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to Francis and the level of expectation he carries,” Nicksick said. “We love that – the doubt and everything that we’re told we can’t do. It does motivate us, and I know it motivates him. This is something that he’s had in his mind for such a long time now. For it to come to fruition, there’s a moment in the ring where Tyson was walking in, and I’m just taking it all in, looking at the event itself, and Francis looks over at me and just has this big-ass smile on his face. I’m like, ‘Dude, you did this.’ Literally, before he fought, like, ‘You did this. This is on you.’ I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

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For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Chael Sonnen rips scoring in Francis Ngannou’s loss to Tyson Fury: ‘Boxing is not a real sport’

Chael Sonnen goes off on boxing following Francis Ngannou’s split decision loss to Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia

You can add [autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] to the list of MMA fighters who aren’t happy with the ruling in the [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] crossover boxing match.

“Boxing is not a real sport,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “That hurts me. That hurts me to say, but there’s no way to deny that.”

Sonnen, a former UFC title challenger, made those comments after he saw Ngannou lose to Fury with a split decision in a fight in which he scored the only knockdown and, to many, did enough in subsequent rounds to get his hand raised.

“A man’s body of work deserves to be recognized, and it deserves to be recognized accurately,” Sonnen said. “That is disgusting, what they just did to him. Anybody would’ve been wise to predict that that was going to happen. There was no chance that boxing was going to allow him to come in and get that win if it went to a decision.”

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But on top of the criticism in the scoring of the fight, Sonnen was surprised to see Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut, stay competitive with Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion and one of the best pound-for-pound boxers today – and arguably beat him.

Sonnen also noted Ngannou’s lack of experience, lack of inactivity due to injury.

“This is a heartbreaking thing for me, not because of whatever weirdness I’ve got going on with Francis. It’s a heartbreaking thing for me because my entire life, I have respected boxing,” Sonnen said. “And to find out that boxing is fake, I don’t mean the decision was corrupted, you cannot be a real sport. You cannot be by any means be a real sport.

“This is the second time I’ve seen the best in the world in boxing – the absolute best, in their prime, in boxing – get beaten up by a guy with zero experience. One of them was a drunk cokehead and still beat the hell out of the greatest boxer that never lost before or after. And then you get a gentleman who’s at least 37 years old, who has never done the sport and trains full time in an MMA gym.”

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For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Francis Ngannou calls judging in Tyson Fury loss ‘a shame for boxing,’ sees future rematch

Francis Ngannou calls out the judging in his split decision loss to Tyson Fury in his boxing debut Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] thinks the scoring in his split decision loss to [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag] was a bad look for boxing.

The former UFC heavyweight champion is convinced he did enough to beat Fury in their 10-round boxing match Saturday in Saudi Arabia – and many online think so, too.

Ngannou said he’s at peace with the result because he’s proud of his showing, which came in his boxing debut in the wake of his departure from the UFC while he was heavyweight champ. But he also had a feeling things weren’t going to go his way if the fight went to the scorecards.

“I’m confident that I won that fight, but I wasn’t surprised of what happened last night,” Ngannou said on his YouTube channel. “I knew that it would’ve happened. … I think it’s a shame for boxing. I think it’s a shame for this sport. I think those judges or whoever, they should be sanctioned. I want to understand why those judges judge like that.”

Ngannou thinks his rivalry with Fury is far from done. They might not be booked to rematch next, but the Cameroonian is confident they will meet again in the future.

“I think Tyson is going to fight Oleksandr Usyk. I don’t know when exactly, so I don’t know when we will be able to do the rematch, but I do believe we’re going to run this back,” Ngannou said. “In the meantime, I still have some MMA fights. I might go to PFL, get some fights and then come back to boxing.

“We’re going to meet some time soon. It’s been almost two years since I last competed, so I think I should be back in five to six months and at least compete twice next year. I don’t really have a preference (on MMA or boxing), but I do have an excitement for boxing after last night.”

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For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Kamaru Usman: Boxing world now sees what Francis Ngannou brings to the table

It’d be hard to blame most combat sports observers for presuming they knew the eventual outcome to Francis Ngannou’s boxing debut.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – It’d be hard to blame most combat sports observers for presuming they knew the eventual outcome to [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag]’s boxing debut.

They likely figured the former UFC heavyweight champion would take his career-best payday for a boxing match with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, maybe throw some punches for a few rounds, eventually get put away by the 6-foot-9 “Gypsy King,” then head back to his new MMA home, the PFL, to play once again in his own sandbox.

But Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou put on the kind of performance that often made him look like the longtime boxer and Fury the one crossing over to a new sport. Ngannou landed the fight’s only knockdown courtesy of an overhand left in the third round. That helped him get a 95-94 score from one of the three judges in the 10-round non-title showcase fight. But the two others had the fight for Fury, who kept his unbeaten record intact with a split decision.

In the aftermath of Ngannou’s close loss, many in the combat sports world opined he may actually have won the fight. Regardless, a new respect for Ngannou in the boxing world was virtually universal.

Kamaru Usman, who like Ngannou is a former UFC champion who was born in Africa, was ringside to watch his longtime friend’s boxing debut. He seemed to think Ngannou fell victim to the differences between judging in boxing and MMA.

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“(Ngannou) landed the harder shots, the cleaner shots – but it’s boxing,” Usman told MMA Junkie on his way out of Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. “(The judges) are going to do what they’re going to do. Of course I’m proud – yes, very proud. I knew this: I said if Francis touches you, either hand, it’s going to be a problem. I (thought) Tyson Fury felt that, and that’s why he just decided to point fight (and play safe).”

Usman thinks Ngannou can call his shots now. The reported plan was for him to make his PFL debut in MMA in 2024, likely as part of a pay-per-view. But he availed himself so well in the boxing ring his first time out that new potential options opened up the minute the bell rang to wrap up his 10 rounds with Fury.

Usman said he’d like to see Ngannou either rematch Fury, who already had signed a heavyweight title unification fight deal with WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for a December fight prior to his bout with Ngannou, or fight one of the sport’s other stars.

“Either (the rematch or a new opponent) – it doesn’t matter,” Usman said. “Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, all those other guys, the big big-name heavyweights – I think now they see what Francis Ngannou has to offer.”

For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Video: Was Francis Ngannou robbed in Tyson Fury loss? On-site analysis in Saudi Arabia

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn and The MacLife’s Oscar Willis analyzed Francis Ngannou’s loss to Tyson Fury in the aftermath ringside in Riyadh.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] put on a better showing than most of the combat sports world thought he would in his boxing debut – and a far better one, at that.

Ngannou dropped a close split decision to WBC heavyweight champion [autotag]Tyson Fury[/autotag] on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou’s first pro boxing match came on the heels of his departure from the UFC over a contract dispute while still its heavyweight champion.

Ngannou wanted the ability to box, which the UFC historically has been opposed to letting fighters do while under contract – except Conor McGregor in 2017 against Floyd Mayweather. Ngannou has a new MMA deal with the PFL that allows him to box.

Fury was a 14-1 favorite heading into the fight and widely was expected to handle Ngannou with relative ease. But Ngannou knocked Fury down with a left hand in the third round – the fight’s only knockdown – and seemed to be the fresher fighter in the closing rounds, as well. The split decision loss was closer than almost anyone expected, and the live odds heading into the 10th and final round favored Ngannou to win the fight.

MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn and The MacLife’s Oscar Willis analyzed the fight in the immediate aftermath on site in Saudi Arabia. Check out their conversation in the video above.