Tyson Fury, the world’s heavyweight boxing champion under WBC, secured an opponent for his next fight. But it won’t be Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua. Instead, Fury is set to fight former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
According to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, Fury, and Ngannou have a fight scheduled for October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Currently, there are no details about the specific rules and number of rounds. It is also unclear whether Fury’s WBC belt will be on the line.
While this development might come as a surprise for casual boxing fans, it is something that Fury actually hinted at.
“Big Francis Ngannou is here today,” Fury said after his win over Dillian Whyte last year. “He’s on my hit list in an exhibition fight, however, he wants it: in a cage, in a boxing ring, boxing gloves, UFC gloves, we can make it happen. I think everyone wants to see it.”
Ngannou also previously said that he wants to give boxing a try.
“My next step has to be boxing,” Ngannou told ESPN back in March. “I want to do one boxing match first, and then maybe go back to MMA because I still enjoy MMA. I want to do a couple of fights in boxing.”
Fury previously negotiated a fight with Usyk that would result in an undisputed heavyweight world champion. However, the two camps couldn’t come to an agreement. Fury’s last boxing match was in December when he defeated Derek Chisora via TKO.
Ngannou’s last MMA fight was the win again Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in early 2022 when he retained the UFC Heavyweight Championship belt. His contract with UFC later expired, and he opted to explore other options.
