Tyson Fury Predicts Huge Payday For Francis Ngannou Vs. Jon Jones In UFC
Tyson Fury knows Francis Ngannou has moved on from the UFC, but “The Gypsy King” still thinks Ngannou could return to the promotion and make a lot of money by fighting Jon Jones.
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“The Predator” famously walked away from the UFC at the beginning of this year as the promotion’s reigning heavyweight champion before he signed with the PFL. The 37-year-old is now poised to realize a lifelong dream this weekend when he makes his boxing debut against Fury in Saudi Arabia.
Jones moved up to the heavyweight division and claimed the vacant title following Ngannou’s exit from the UFC, and during a conversation with Ariel Helwani this week Fury predicted that a fight between Jones and Ngannou could still do massive numbers.
Jones won the heavyweight title after Ngannou left the UFC.
(Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)
“I would definitely say him and Jon Jones is at least a $10 million each fight, for sure,” Fury said on The MMA Hour. “Not collectively, not to do ten fights each or whatever. Just on a one-off, single fight, I would love to believe that that does a lot more than $10 million each on pay-per-view. And that’s a fight that after I fight him, then I’m sure he’d love to go and fight Jon. Or maybe not, maybe he wants to do something else, I’m not sure.”
Ngannou’s debut for the PFL is expected to take place sometime next year and will likely feature on one of the promotion’s planned pay-per-view events that will showcase a number of the high-profile free agents signings they’ve added this year.
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Fury is fully aware that Ngannou is committed to the PFL and may have burned some bridges with the UFC when he left the promotion, but he also thinks the Cameroonian made the right choice for his career and that fans would still be interested in the Jones fight.
Ngannou and Jones faced off at a PFL event earlier this year.
(PFL)
“I think [leaving the UFC] was an absolute genius move because if he goes to boxing and he loses to me – which, he will lose to me – then he’s collected $10 million, a career high payday, and he hasn’t really damaged his reputation. Then he can still go back to the PFL and fight people in the cage, or he can still go and fight Jon Jones."
It’s little surprise to see how confident “The Gypsy King” is about his fight with Ngannou considering the former UFC heavyweight champion will be stepping into the boxing ring for the first time. Fury is currently a massive favorite heading into the matchup, and he’s already lined up a highly-anticipated fight with Oleksandr Usyk that will take place in December.
There’s a strong argument to be made that Ngannou is already a winner given the significant payday he’s reportedly set to receive for boxing Fury, but there will also be plenty of combat sports fans on the edge of their seats this Saturday hoping to see “The Predator” pull off a massive upset.
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