Ngannou living dream as he faces Joshua in heavyweight showdown
Ngannou living dream as he faces Joshua in heavyweight showdown
Former UFC champion back in action after disputed loss to Fury
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Five months ago, Francis Ngannou was largely viewed as just another top MMA fighter crossing over to boxing for big payday and an inevitable butt-kicking when he squared off with lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
That is what happened when Conor McGregor faced Floyd Mayweather in 2017. It’s what Jake Paul has done to a series of MMA fighters — Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley (twice) and Ben Askren — over the past three years.
Why would Ngannou be any different? Yes, he was the reigning UFC heavyweight champion but when his contract expired and he was unable to come to terms on a new deal he left the title behind and it was on to boxing, the sport he originally fell in love with and always wanted to pursue.
He quickly landed a big-time fight with Fury and they met on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a 10-rounder for which Ngannou reportedly earned more money than he had in all of his UFC fights combined.
As Fury and the world found out, Ngannou was far more than a soft touch with a big name. To the surprise of almost everybody but himself, the big underdog gave Fury hell. He shockingly dropped Fury with a left hook in the third round, cut him and generally roughed him up.
When the final bell sounded many thought “The Predator” deserved the victory but he lost a disputed split decision, 96-93 and 95-94 for Fury and 95-94 for Ngannou.
The loss did nothing to diminish his fire to continue boxing, or the public’s interest to see him box again, and now he finds himself returning to the ring rather quickly to face the division’s other superstar in former two-time unified titleholder Anthony Joshua in the main event of the “Knockout Chaos” card on Friday (PPV.com, 1 p.m. ET, $69.99) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
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