Francis Ngannou has claimed that he is baffled by Tyson Fury's constant public posturing as fight talks continue between the pair for a crossover bout.
The UFC heavyweight champion recently signed with PFL for his return to MMA, but wants to box before committing to his cage comeback. And he is willing to jump straight in at the deep end and push for a fight with Fury in his professional debut, having now left his restrictive deal with his former promotion.
Ngannou has been in talks with Fury over the past year-and-a-half, but is no closer to signing a contract than he was while restricted by the UFC's exclusive deal. And speaking with Mirror Fighting at PFL's second night in Atlanta yesterday, Ngannou explained that he has been frustrated by the boxer's constant flip-flopping.
"It's always what I wanted," Ngannou said of the Fury fight. "But apparently Tyson Fury's pretty good at bouncing here and there, I don't know exactly. But I am here and I want to fight, whenever he really wants it I'm here. It's been like three years that we've been going back-and-forth on social media so I would be very happy to take that fight.
"I have seen a lot of comments from Tyson Fury at this point of things I'm a little confused! I don't know if he enjoys doing comments or enjoys fighting, at this point but as I've said I am here and I am ready and my team have been working on getting in touch with him and his team which so far we are not there yet but we are in conversation."
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Ngannou is keen to prove himself at the top table of heavyweight boxing, and is willing to dive in at the deep end against hard-hitters such as Fury, Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. Last week, Wilder attended a PFL show of his own and declared that he would be keen on a two-fight deal for a boxing match and then a rare MMA crossover.
"It's something that can happen anywhere," Ngannou said of the potential Wilder clash. "He would be good in the smart cage for PFL and in MMA. On the boxing side we're going to figure it out because we were talking about one boxing one MMA and I'm not really sure if that's the smoke that he wants but I'm open to give him two boxing fights!
"It's going to be very challenging for me but that's what I want. I would like to have one of those big names now but there are options because I am not thinking about just having one boxing fight. There is also an option if something doesn't work out that I do maybe a warm-up fight or something to get a feel of it, but I'm interested in all of it. The goal of taking a fight like that would be to get to the next big fight."
