Francis Ngannou has once again shocked the world by securing yet another super fight. Earlier today, Ariel Helwani confirmed the former UFC champion’s next move. ‘The Predator’ will face Anthony Joshua in a 10-round fight set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This adds to an ever growing list of super fights to be hosted by the Kingdom over the last 12-months. It also makes Dana White’s comments from a few months ago seem extremely foolish.
At the start of 2023, Francis Ngannou and the UFC were embroiled in an intense contract war. ‘The Predator’ wanted to explore his options in boxing alongside the UFC which Dana White did not want. Following his departure from the promotion, Ngannou shocked the world by securing a fight against Tyson Fury. When asked about the fight and the possibility of a fight between Ngannou and Joshua, White said,
“Anthony Joshua called it (Fury vs Ngannou) a gimmick fight this week. When asked about that fight, he is like I am focused on fighting the best guys in the world. You know, I am not interested in a gimmick fight right now. That is one of the big problems with boxing right now, its all about these gimmicky type fights. And that is just not what I do here, MMA guys vs boxers does not make any sense to me. But I know that he thinks there is all this money in it, I disagree.”
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In the space of just a few months, Ngannou has now secured fights against two of the top 3 heavyweights in boxing. Let’s take a closer look at how the former UFC champion got this done.
Francis Ngannou to shock the world once again vs Anthony Joshua?
When ‘The Predator’ was announced to fight Tyson Fury, not many people, if any, gave Ngannou even the slightest of chances. However, on the night, ‘The Predator’ not only won in most people’s eyes, he also dropped Fury to the ground and secured the only knockdown of the fight. Going into the fight, ‘The Predator’s’ boxing skills were not rated at all.
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However, after the performance against Fury, Ngannnou’s skills were taken a lot more seriously. If ‘The Predator’ had not performed well against Fury, it would have been the end of his boxing career. If Ngannou takes it up a notch to secure a win against Anthony Joshua, it will establish him as one of the biggest stars in all of combat sports. From there, the sky’s the limit for the former UFC champion.
