KO artist Francis Ngannou challenges Tyson Fury: “He was first”
After that Tyson Fury scored a sensation win this weekend, UFC knockout king Francis Ngannou was quick to issue a challenge.
This weekend’s boxing bout between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury continues to produce stories that spill into the MMA community. The English fighter knocked Wilder out in the seventh round, following six previous rounds of utter dominance. With Fury reigning as the greatest boxing heavyweight of this generation, there are call outs abound, and the latest one comes from UFC KO artist Francis Ngannou.
“(I’m interested in) competing in the boxing match in general, but Fury and I have some little story together because he was first calling me out in MMA and everything,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie. “Basically, the man stands, after his fight yesterday as the best heavyweight. No argument about that – he stands as the best heavyweight. For someone looking to box, you definitely have to go through him to prove that you’re the best.”
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While this call out can be seen as a pure “money fight”, Ngannou insists that isn’t the case. As of now he’s ranked at #2 in the UFC heavyweight division. While he has a loss to current champion Stipe Miocic, a rematch for the title is not off the table. Despite this Ngannou sees a budding boxing career ahead of him.
“I know for a fact that I’m going to do a few boxing matches,” Ngannou said. “I’m not just about one shot. I’m not just like, one big fight. I want to make my own little statement in a boxing career.”
Fury has also alluded to future MMA fights as well. Those claims have been taken with a grain of salt however, as Conor McGregor has refuted the Englishman’s claims of them planning to train together.
Ngannou will face Surinam’s Jairzinho Rozenstruik next at UFC Columbus on March 28th. Rozenstruik definitely shows shades of Ngannou’s early UFC career in his own ascent. This is as both were blazing a trail through the heavyweight division, both finishing former champs Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem.
