Tyson Fury has been told he must "man up" and don 4oz UFC gloves to fight Francis Ngannou in a huge crossover fight.
Fury has long been teasing a match-up with the UFC heavyweight champion, and has offered a compromised ruleset where they wear small MMA gloves but compete under boxing rules.
And UFC star Sean Strickland has said that Fury now needs to put his money where his mouth is an agree to a fight with Ngannou under that agreed ruleset.
Strickland said that it was the closest Fury can get to honouring his family's bare-knuckle heritage while still keeping within the bounds of both sports.
And he believes that with just that one caveat, Ngannou would all of a sudden have a chance to defeat the unbeaten heavyweight boxing champion.
"At the end of the day, we're MMA fighters," Strickland said in an interview with Helen Yee Sports. "Not boxers - there's a clear difference.
"I think Tyson Fury should man the f*** up, he should man up.
"He's a 'Gypsy King', he likes to do bare-knuckle, he should change the rules, do four-ounce gloves, close to bare-knuckle - be a man to your lineage.
"Because that's what you say you are, show it to the world with Francis and then he can make the 'go f*** yourself' money, everybody is going to be happy.
"But I think if that's the case, Francis has a legitimate shot at knocking out 'The Gypsy King'."
Strickland is currently preparing for his next UFC headline bout against Jack Hermansson this weekend, and has spent some time training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas where Ngannou has become a world level competitor.
The hard-hitting Cameroonian won the world heavyweight title last year, and then defended his belt last month against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.
Fury called out his heavyweight rival after watching him grind out a five-round decision, saying: "Congratulations, Francis Ngannou but if you want to make real money, come see the big Gypsy King."
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Ngannou later responded by posting a fight poster emblazoned with "2022", although an injury he has suffered will require surgery and he is likely to be out until the end of the year at the earliest.
Ngannou has on multiple occasions reiterated his desire to swap the cage for the ring before he retires, having started MMA after failing to get a boxing career off the ground in his younger years.
But he is also locked in a restrictive UFC contract that doesn't expire until December, when he will be able to leave the deal that saw him paid 52 times less than Fury for his last fight.
"As I always say, boxing is always in the back of my pocket," Ngannou has said. "It's something that I must do before the end of my career.
"And right now, I'm really looking towards any opportunity to get that because it's not like I had a lifetime here so I better start thinking about it."
