Tyson Fury will fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a huge crossover fight in Saudi Arabia on October 28.
Ngannou is the lineal champion in MMA's No.1 promotion, leaving for PFL at the start of the year having never lost his belt. Jon Jones picked up the vacant belt, but the Cameroonian is widely considered the best heavyweight in the cage, while Fury is regarded to be the top dog in the ring.
Fury and Ngannou will likely compete in an exhibition bout which won't be professionally sanctioned, but no rules have yet been announced. Fury and Ngannou initially met in the ring after Fury's win over Dillian Whyte in April of last year, but the UFC's restrictive contract wouldn't allow him to even enter into negotiations.
The fight will take place in Riyadh, which has become one of the newest key destinations for boxing due to massive investment from Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud and his promotion Skills Challenge. They have already brought two unified heavyweight fights to the country as well as February's Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury bout, which drew over 800,000 PPV buys.
Speaking with Mirror Fighting last month, Ngannou said of the Fury fight: "It's always what I wanted, 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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Fury was deep in talks to hold an undisputed fight in Saudi Arabia against Oleksandr Usyk, but that has broken down and his rival will now face Daniel Dubois in a mandatory challenge this August in Poland. There is expected to be a major showcase event in December where Anthony Joshua, should he beat Dillian Whyte, will face Deontay Wilder in the Middle East.
Ngannou is signed to MMA's No.2 promotion PFL for his return to the cage next year, but he has insisted that his next fight will be in the ring after struggling through a tumultuous final year with the UFC. He will be a massive underdog for the fight, but is a massive knockout puncher and will fancy himself as able to land a knockout.
