While former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and current boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury are excited at their upcoming bout in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Oct 28, the event has its detractors. Aside from the very vocal UFC President Dana White, add retired former top UFC contender Chael Sonnen to the list.
“It’s the most ridiculous sporting competition of our lifetime,” Sonnen said on “The Schmo And The Pro.” “Let me give you an example. Take the Lakers — and the real Lakers, right, back when they had the guy named Shaq [O’Neal] and Kobe Bryant, rest his soul. I don’t know if LeBron James] was ever on that team, but remember when they were really good?
“And you’ve got Phil Jackson as a coach. Take them and go put them against [Tom] Brady and the Patriots. You’ve got these great teams, but you’re going to go do it under football rules. Do you see how stupid it is? Do you see why it’s never happened? You see why it’s never even been discussed? That’s what’s happening here.”
Bully Beatdown?
Sonnen upped the ante by taking a personal shot at Tyson Fury, arguably the best heavyweight boxer on the planet, for what he views as professional bullying.
“What kind of a scumbag is Fury, though, man? I’ve really got to tell you: Fury broke my heart,” Sonnen said. “I liked this guy, and I liked the entertainment. I like so many things about him. You take a guy like Fury, who God made huge, gave great coaches, great training partners, great experiences, too — he has weapons and tools that other men can’t deal with if they’re not armed.
“And he’s going to choose to use those to beat up a guy who’s at least 37 with no experience and is on one leg? That’s a bully, and it’s a scumbag. I would never do that to somebody. Jesse James made a lot of money, and there’s hitmen that made a lot of money. I mean, there’s things that you can do, but you own it. You’re a bully, and you’re a scumbag.”
Francis’s Fight
The fight is titled “Baddest Man on the Planet,” and will take place under the official rules of professional boxing, with three judges ringside adopting the 10-point must system. For Ngannou, it is the flex of a lifetime as he defied the rejection of the fight by his former employer, Dana White, jumping ship from the UFC in free agency to join the Professional Fighter’s League for his MMA career and getting a fight made with Fury in boxing.
The first cross-combat fight to make a global impact was Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor, still the second-highest boxing pay-per-view ever. For Ngannou, he is looking for huge paydays and game-changing bouts. All other opinions are just noise as he paves his lane in combat sports.
