Francis Ngannou still wants the biggest challenges available to him, but he understands when it comes to potential opponents like Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua that he will either have to face them in boxing or concede to mixed rules to make it a fair fight.
While he prefers a rematch with heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury more than anything else, Ngannou has other options available to him after nearly pulling off the upset of the century in his professional boxing debut. Despite losing a split decision to Fury in October, Ngannou suddenly became an attractive opponent for a lot of top-ranked boxers including Joshua, who promised to knock out the former UFC champ if they ever meet.
“Even Tyson Fury said the same thing and Tyson Fury is better than Anthony Joshua,” Ngannou said in response while speaking on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast. “What do I care about what people say?
“I’ve been in this game for so long. I’ve seen so much. I’ve heard so much what people intend to do. There’s a difference between wanting to do and be able to do.”
If Joshua wants to fight, Ngannou has no problem accepting that challenge, although he expects that it’d have to be in a boxing match because the 2012 Olympic gold medalist wouldn’t have a hope if they actually competed against one another in MMA.
Ngannou says that’s ultimately what separates him from the best boxers in the world — he can set foot in their ring and give them everything they can handle, but there’s no chance anyone from boxing could actually have a realistic chance against him in MMA.
“Anything that he wants. Ring or octagon,” Ngannou said of Joshua. “The good thing is I’m the one that can go everywhere comfortably. My comfort zone will be the octagon, but I’m going to the ring and putting them in a bad spot in the ring.
“Because I have my territory [in MMA] where they cannot mess with me. If they come, they will need something like some favor, like, ‘I’ll give you this, we’ll take kicks out.’ I have to give him something. But when we step in the ring, they don’t give me anything and I still get them in trouble.”
The same goes for Wilder, although Ngannou has more faith in him than Joshua when it comes to the potential to give somebody trouble in MMA.
Wilder, who faces Joseph Parker on the same card as Joshua in December, has shown interest in potentially crossing over to MMA previously. PFL co-founder Donn Davis even teased Wilder vs. Ngannou as a mixed-rules fight that could possibly happen in 2024.
“Let’s say he’s not fighting me, he’s fighting somebody else,” Ngannou said of Wilder in MMA. “I look at the profile of that fighter, I put my money on Deontay. Basically, even just as a boxer, basically now that he’s really intent on doing MMA and [he’s] training, I’d put money on him.
“Because he just needs to cut somebody to land a punch. It could also be a mixed rules [fight]. We were thinking of mixed rules. Because honestly it’s going to be too hard for him if it’s not mixed rules.”
Ngannou believes Wilder is a realistic opponent in boxing or MMA, but he’s still awaiting word on who will end up as his next opponent.
“Even before this Tyson fight, we were talking with [Deontay Wilder],” Ngannou said. “He’s also willing to fight me in MMA. For real.”
