Tyson Fury has been told that his offer to fight against Francis Ngannou is a bad idea after the former UFC heavyweight champion having left the franchise to pursue new opportunities.
Cameroonian star Ngannou became one of the biggest names in combat sports as he forged a 17-3-0 record before he left the company due to failing to agree a new contract. In the process, he became the first reigning UFC champion since BJ Penn 2004 to leave the franchise.
While the reason he left the company was partly down to conditions such as health insurance provision and sponsorship deals, there is scope for incredibly lucrative deals as a free agent. He faced off with Fury in April at Wembley, teasing fans ahead of a potential fight with Anthony Joshua also on the table.
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However, the idea of Fury fighting Ngannou under a special ruleset has been ridiculed by former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen this week. He slammed the idea of a mixed rules fight proposed by Fury as being ridiculous when speaking on his YouTube channel.
“I see Tyson Fury come out over the weekend and finally clear up first what we’re going to do first with Francis,” Sonnen said. “They’ve always said they’re going to make up a sport. These two were going to do a game, but they were going to do something combat related. For reasons unknown, they weren’t going to box. Francis offered to box, and for reasons unknown, Tyson did not accept that invitation, and they were going to make up rules.
“Tyson finally laid out for us what they are. They were going to fight in a cage. I have no idea why. They’re going to fight in a cage. OK, fine. They’re going to wear four-once gloves. I have no idea why, but OK, fine. They are then going to follow boxing rules, the rules of Queensbury. …
“I put this out there because of how disappointing it is to see these boxers as beggars. Guys that are hot to fight to go out there and get it on your own, that have physical capabilities that other men can only dream of. But they don’t know how to go out there and get it on their own.
"They just don’t know how. I bring it to you because to watch Tyson Fury beg, it was surprising. I don’t want to call it disappointing. It was really close to calling it that, but I don’t want to call it that. So Tyson comes to us with perhaps the dumbest idea in sports history. He knows it is.”
UFC stars transitioning to the world of boxing has not always been successful, with Conor McGregor losing to Floyd Mayweather in 2017 before Jake Paul beat a succession of UFC stars, beginning with Ben Askren before back-to-back wins against Tyron Woodley before his most recent victory against Anderson Silva.
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