Options abound for Francis
Ngannou following his near miss against Tyson Fury
over the weekend.
Advertisement
During a Monday appearance on “The MMA Hour,”
Ngannou discussed some of the possibilities that he could pursue
after falling to Fury via split decision this past Saturday in
Saudia Arabia. Perhaps the most intriguing of those is a mixed
martial arts bout against boxing heavyweight Deontay
Wilder, a former WBC champion who went 0-2-1 against Fury. The
former UFC champion confirmed that there have been talks regarding
such a fight against Wilder.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Ngannou said. “In fact, we have
spoken about that. That has been in the discussions. So that’s
something that can potentially happen. Nothing is set, but it’s
been something been coming to my attention, so that’s something
that makes sense. He’s really serious about MMA. …
“It’s going to be a different beast for him. Unlike this time that
I was the one experiencing the mountain, climbing the mountain.
He’s going to be the one climbing the mountain because we watched
this, we all watched the fight last Saturday.”
Ngannou has stated that he still plans to compete in MMA, and his
Professional Fighters League debut is still expected to come next
year. In a separate interview on “The MMA Hour,” PFL founder Donn
Davis said that could be as early as March or as late as
December.
“We always slated for him to have one MMA fight in 2024,” Davis
said. “We had contengencies — March (or) December. So will he fight
next year? Yes. Which fight will it be? I don’t know. We’ll partner
with Francis and let that be his call.”
Davis added that a mixed-rules fight — with the rule set to be
determined — pitting Fury against Wilder is something that PFL
would like to pursue.
“What do I think would be fascinating? Deontay
Wilder in a mixed rules right,” Davis said. “I think that’s the
most interesting thing we could all see … This will all come down
to availability, money, details — but I think those can come
together.”