Francis Ngannou happy to fight Tyson Fury in MMA, then return favor in boxing

Francis Ngannou is more than willing to fight Tyson Fury in the octagon and the boxing ring.

Yes, that’s “and,” not “or.”

With boxing world champion Fury appearing to be dead set on making an eventual move to MMA, he proceeded to call out several heavyweights, including Ngannou, who wasted little time with his response.

“I’m like man, I don’t have a fight and anyways I was about to come find you in your territory, so if you come to my own, that would be great,” Ngannou told MMA Junkie. “And I can return you the favor because I want to cross to boxing sometime soon. That’s exactly how I feel right now.”

Ngannou (14-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), whose initial dream was to become a pro boxer, is very familiar with the the sweet science. His boxing background has translated very well into his MMA career, with 10 knockouts on his resume, taking out his last three opponents in the first round.

And while he’s been eager to get his next UFC fight, Ngannou says naturally, he’d be interested in facing Fury, since he comes from boxing roots himself.

“Maybe the frustration, the situation is teasing me, but my background is boxing,” Ngannou said. “I was going to do boxing before I discovered MMA. My dream was always boxing, so I took MMA because it was the opportunity that came to me, and I just needed it.”

Fury has already made his first step towards MMA, when he paid a visit to middleweight contender Darren Till at Team Kaobon, and was seen hitting pads, and drilling some takedown defense with Till during the training session.

“I think Fury is taking himself seriously,” Ngannou said. “I think he’s very serious about when he said he’s going to move to the octagon. He likes the show. He’s a showtime guy – you can see when he walks out in the fight. You can see like recently he was in WWE, so I think at this point in his life, he’s just there for the show.”

“Once again the video is just the proof of what I’m saying: He’s serious,” Ngannou added. “He’s taking himself really serious, and I wonder if he has been training. I think he’s been training on the ground you know, like in secret because he seems to be liking it, to like MMA, which many people do, and they just do it in secret, but now he just came out with his passion and obviously the intention to, actually.”

Ngannou, himself, has also been taking a potential fight with Fury seriously as he was seen hanging out with boxing legend and former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who he said has agreed to coach him if he were to fight Fury.

“Mike Tyson is a very spiritual guy,” Ngannou said. “I feel like when he was talking, I can recognize myself about almost all what he said. Very wise way to see life, he understands how life works. I mean not only sports, but life. It was very great, very interesting,”

UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic was also on the list of heavyweights that Fury called out, as he recently said that he’d actually rather fight Fury over a Daniel Cormier trilogy.

But Ngannou believes Miocic only started entertaining the idea, when he saw the back and forth between him and Fury, and the progress they’ve made towards a potential fight.

“I’m not having a problem for Stipe to fight somebody,” Ngannou said. “I just want to fight, and I want the title shot. Maybe if it’s happening, him fighting Tyson Fury, and they let me fight for the belt, let’s go, but I think Stipe is reacting like that now because how Tyson Fury and I have been going back and forth.”