Former UFC double champ Conor McGregor believes his former colleague Francis Ngannou doesn’t have that much of a disadvantage against Tyson Fury this Saturday night in Saudi Arabia.
I’m excited to see it unfold: Conor McGregor
Fury and Ngannou are set to lock horns in a 10-round, non title boxing match on 28th October at the Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dubbed as “Battle of the Baddest”, the fight will mark the former UFC heavyweight champ Ngannou’s debut into boxing while also have Fury, the reigning WBC heavyweight champion’s returning to action from his 10th round TKO win over Derek Chisora back in December last year.
While crossover matches aren’t uncommon in today’s combat sports sphere, many are seeing this fight as an absolute advantage for Fury, while there are several opinions that Ngannou may not be able to go the distance.
McGregor, who himself started the crossover trend and faced Floyd Mayweather Jr back in 2017, believes that Ngannou will be able to stand his ground and refuses to count him out, despite his opponent being seen as the top heavyweight fighter of today.
“I’d like to talk about the bout, a great bout, an interesting bout. Francis Ngannou for me is more of a kickboxer/boxer than he is a mixed martial artist, in my opinion,” wrote McGregor on X.“He’s more of a standup fighter than he is a mixed martial artist. You start throwing in grappling with Francis, it’s never good for him. He has a striker’s mentality. This will stand to him in this bout. He has a tall ask with Tyson Fury but any man can land a shot. Tyson does get hit. It’s going to be a tough ask. I’m excited to see it unfold. Tyson looks great in the buildup. Fast, light, elusive, it could be a seriously stellar performance from Tyson Fury here.”
“What are the variables? A few variables. The Mike Tyson influx into this in Francis Ngannou’s corner is very interesting. Francis has power. Francis has big power with a striker’s mentality. If it gets a bit tougher for him in the later rounds, the striker mentality will withstand versus if it was a mixed martial artist’s mentality.”
“With power, with that, anything can happen Mike Tyson in the corner, that type of style could be a kryptonite of a long, rangy distance type of fighter in Tyson Fury. I don’t think Tyson is going to want to let Francis test his power on him. Has Mike Tyson given some tips to get inside, change an angle, to bang a shot that clips the top of the temple, to make it into an interesting bout?” he added. [H/T Boxing Scene]
SHARE
