The End Of Ngannou’s MMA Career

After nearly beating the biggest heavyweight boxer in the world, Ngannou needs to stay in the ring and see how far he can take this dream.

Francis Ngannou pulled off the unthinkable on Saturday night, boxing Tyson Fury to a controversial split decision in Riyadh (watch the highlights here). “The Predator” lost the fight by one round on one judge’s scorecard, but he won in the eyes of many watching. He knocked Fury down in the third. He controlled the fight. And he walked away unmarked.

It was great to see Ngannou do what he said he’d do. This is a man who came from the sand mines of Cameroon, who crossed Africa to make a new life for himself in France. A man who became the UFC heavyweight champion. A man that maneuvered his way out of his UFC contract to score a $10 million bag. A man who just took boxing’s biggest heavyweight champion to the limit.

The only downside to all this: It probably spells the end of his mixed martial arts career.

Ngannou has always said that he’d return to MMA after this fight with Tyson Fury. But with this performance being so great, there’ll be no shortage of boxing bouts being offered, with paydays on par if not way better than the $10 million Francis made tonight. Fury is already sounding like he may not fight Oleksandr Usyk in December. Would you be surprised if Francis Ngannou ends up getting an offer from Saudi Arabia to step in?

The original plan was for Ngannou to fight in the PFL sometime in February or March. But no opponent has been named. The options that have been floated are disappointing, even with the PFL potentially buying out Bellator and having access to their roster as well. There’s just no one exciting for Francis to face on the MMA free market. Putting him against someone like the PFL’s 2022 heavyweight tournament winner Ante Delija just feels like promotional malpractice.

Let’s just be honest and admit Ngannou’s performance against Fury has changed everything. Before, the best case scenario for Ngannou was regular MMA fights with a boxing bout here or there. Now we’d rather see him in the biggest boxing matches possible, and if Jon Jones wants to step up and face Ngannou in MMA? Yeah, then that’s a fight worth returning to the cage for.

This is no longer a one-and-done situation. “The Predator” is now a legitimate force in heavyweight boxing. He’s a two sport threat. Something like this has never been done at this level before. And we need to see how far he can take it.

Francis Ngannou should stay in boxing.