MMA Fighting - Reaction: Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury Is Actually Happening

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury is official! On Tuesday, news broke that Ngannou and Fury will face each other on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a boxing match. While details on the fight are still murky, the big picture is that the two will compete under boxing rules but Fury's WBC Heavyweight title will not be up for grabs. Whether the bout will be contested as an exhibition is still unknown but what is known is that Ngannou has definitively silenced his doubters by securing the fight many thought was a pipe dream. MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew, Shaheen Al-Shatti, and Eric Jackman react to the breaking news, discuss Ngannou's ability to seemingly will things into existence, and ponder a world where just maybe Ngannou can pull off the biggest upset in combat sports history. Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Shaheen Al-Shatti: @shaunalshatti Follow Eric Jackman: @NewYorkRic Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now only from Audible. ...to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What is up, y'all?

Big news today in the world of sports, just in general, frankly. You know what I'm talking about? It's obviously Daniel Ricardo joining Alphiard. Latari to resume his stint in F1. Just kidding, guys. We're here to talk about Francis Singano. He did it, ladies and gentlemen, he did it. People said he couldn't.

They talked a whole mess of trash to him and who is laughing now because Francis Singano officially will be boxing Tyson Fury this October, October 28th to be specific. Details are still coming in about what this matchup looks like, but the gist of it is, October 28th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury and Ghana is happening. This will be contested under boxing rules. Unclear yet if this is an exhibition, though it certainly seems that way. What we do know,

Fury's WBC title will not be up for grabs in this. Don't know if this will count as an official boxing match or not. Frank Warren, promoter for Queensberry, says that this will be, this won't be an exhibition, but then went on to say that it could count towards their official records or not. So still a couple of questions, but the big picture here, Francis Ngano won. He got all the things. He is boxing Tyson Fury, the thing that started this three years ago. And so we're here to react to it. And I have with me a panel of wonderful people from M.AFighting.com, a wonderful website. Mr. Shaheen Al-Shadi, our deputy editor, associate editor, something of that nature. And Eric McHickie, just the best guy in M.A. arguably. Certainly.

the best hair in all of MMA. And of course, E.K. Seleiden on the ones and twos for us, he will be joining us a little bit later as we answer your questions at the end of this. But first, let's just start here, fellas. Pretty big news. Shaheen, let's start with you. What was your first or initial reaction when this all came down the pipe? He did it.

He actually did it. May we all fumble our bags as hard as Francis and Ghanu fumbled his bag? because the world would be a wonderful, wonderful place if we're all able to fumble to this degree. I mean, the man did it. After eating that man, I can't remember the exact quote from the Shawshank Redemption of how many miles and miles of foul-smelling shit

that Andy had to crawl through to get escape to freedom. But that man crawled through a lot and a lot of miles of the foulest smelling thing that you could put together in MMA. I mean, he was ridiculed up and down this sport for the better part of a year. Francis ruined his career. What is he doing? It worked out.

It worked out. The man got the bag in PFL and the man's about to go get the bag and fight the number one heavyweight in the world. And I think no one actually saw this coming to a certain degree until a couple of weeks, until fairly recently. But like if you would have asked this a couple weeks ago, it did feel like the boxing side of this whole equation for Francis kind of just didn't work out in the way that maybe he had hoped. But ultimately, that premonition we saw in April 20, 20, 20. in Wembley Stadium of those two men standing across from each other. It came true. And credit to Francis, man, that dude stuck to his guns.

He believed in himself. He gambled on himself. He batted on himself the whole way through. And he's about to fight Tyson Fury at the end of the year. By the end of the year, he will have secured the bag in two different sports. And also, kudos to the PFL for getting behind this. That man's about to be called the PFL fighter over and over again in the lead up to this. And that's a huge win for them as well.

Francis crawled to freedom through 500 yards of shit-smelling foulness. I can't even begin to imagine. That's what you're looking for. Shaheen five football fields. Eric, how did you take this one? Were you, I just assumed that everyone here, except for the saddest people on the planet, were overjoyed with this news. Am I correct in saying you feel the same?

I have to admit, my instant reaction wasn't necessarily like, Yay for Francis, although congratulations to Francis and Ganu. My number one reaction was that, like, combat sports is the most unsurious thing on the planet. Like, it just continues to amaze me that like these things can happen in a good way, in a very like hopeful, charming, optimistic way that like there is no rhyme or reason. There is no structure. sure there is no certainty. Things can change on a dime and we can get the most insane and crazy things to happen for good and for bad.

And in this case, for good, I think this is ultimately going to be good for the future of combat sports. So, yeah, I was just thinking how unsurious everything is and just the limitless possibilities and potential for things to happen. And I think Francis Ingana was banking on that. I think he was continually told that a Tyson Fury fight was not going to happen, despite Tyson Fury telling him that a fight is going to happen. Many did not believe that this would happen. Many believe that there would be different opponents. There were rumors of Tyson fighting six different people. And ultimately, it ends up being Francis Inganu.

And he believed in himself and was able to potentially cash in big. We don't obviously know the numbers yet. But you have to assume that with this happening in Saudi Arabia, that he's going to be rewarded. awarded handsomely for this fight. So, yeah, credit to Francis, but only in combat sports is something like this even possible. Yeah, we do, you're right. We don't know the numbers, but I think we can all just sort of assume, given the excessive amounts of cash thrown out by Saudi Arabia in recent years for different sporting endeavors, that even if, and I would assume that Fury is going to get

the lion's share of the profits here, really doubting Ganu's, you know, taking part paupers wages for this so and let's let's also be honest he knows that because a victory tour i thought i was going to have the best victory tour this week for my ddp prediction of uc 290 incorrect because ingano has been tweeting gentlemen eric nixnik has been tweeting and they absolutely get they deserve it they get to tweet their victory lap here uh dismissing all of the haters all the doubters there probably some of those in the comments. And if so, I'm sorry. Share your feelings. We'll get to them at the end, maybe. A couple of things from the press release before we get on to some other questions here. I just want to throw out, you know, the major quotes here from Tyson Fury. It's as it's the promotion you'd expect. As soon as the bell goes, it'll be bombs away. Guys supposed to be the hardest puncher in the world. Let's see how he reacts when he gets hit by the big GK. Inganu as just nice and lovely a person. person as ever. I've been waiting to be Tyson in the ring for three years. My dream was to box and to box the best. This is my opportunity to make that dream come true and to submit

myself as the baddest man on the planet. So let's go there. This fight, I don't know whether it will be. It certainly should be and can be promoted as the lineal heavyweight champions of the two primary combat sports boxing and MMA going head to head in some fashion. Is the winner of this the baddest man on the planet, guys? I think they have the best, I think they have the best claim to it. I'll say it that way because I don't think there is a, like, John Jones, for better or worse, has a word in the conversation. I don't think he can be excluded from it, regardless of Francis Ngano's lineal status.

But I would say out of the trio, now two of them are fighting. That's pretty good inclination. That's definitive enough for me to say that whoever wins this fight at least has pretty rightful claim to it. And then if John Jones on the back end wants the challenge for it, then maybe that's his opportunity. But I have no issue if they want to proclaim this as a fight for the title of Baddest Man on the planet. It completely makes sense. And in my opinion, there's three candidates for that. It's Jones.

It's Inganu. It's Fury. And two of them are fighting. So I've got no issue if that's. how they want to bill it. I like to take it. No. No.

Of course not. I mean, Francis deGon is the baddest. The Francis deGon is the baddest man. Well, if he wins, then that's just maybe the most impressive feat I've ever seen from a MMA fighter ever, right? Like, I think that's not hyperbole to say that would be number one. I don't even think that's maybe. It's just the number one most impressive thing I've ever seen.

But no, I mean, Francis Ingano is the baddest man on the planet. This is not a fight. This is a boxing match. we all know what would happen in the hypothetical Joe Rogan situation of Francis and Ganu and Tyson Fury being locked in a room that would not end very well for Tyson Fury. So like Francis is the baddest man on the planet. He's the lineal heavyweight champion of the world in MMA. So I don't know that that's up for grabs,

but I do like that as a tagline for this, right? Like all of this makes so much sense. The victory lap right now being taken from the Francis and Ganu camp between Francis and Eric Nixik, who Eric might have had the best reaction to all of this. Tweeting that South Park clip was just, that's Jeff's kiss. That's just perfection. I wonder how long, I'm going to ask him how long he's been sitting on that. Because there's no way he just pulled that out from out of nowhere.

And Francis going with the Lou Williams, Cackling, as he gets inside the vehicle, you got to love all, everything about this. It's just so funny. I will just say, if you're, because this feels like a feel good moment, right? Just because we've seen this guy's journey, we've seen the struggles that he's gone through. There are millions and millions of YouTube. video views right now of people telling Francis how badly he messed up his career and he can just shove it in all their faces right now. If you are amongst our cohorts right now in the MMA

media and you are staunchly against this and you are aghast at this idea and then we can very clearly look up your history and see that you are cheerleading hard as hell for Connemagreger versus Floyd Mayweather, we see what you're doing. It's very obvious what you're doing. That's all I'll say. I'm not going to name names or anything. We see what you're doing. It's very obvious. I'm just saying. That felt like a pointed jab, but we don't need to pick any particular fights here. I have a few questions that I want to kind of get out there with you all before we go to the peeps and sort of talk to them. The first one I'm just going to lead off with, and it sounds

like a joke, but I'm actually very serious. Is Francis Ngano a magician? Because you referenced his story, Sheen. Like, I'm dead serious. You talked about his story, and we don't. all know it. But when you really look at his story that that he was digging in a mine at 13 and really just through the force of his own will and having a dream and believing in it, he crossed a fucking ocean and did all these incredible things. Like getting to the UFC was an enormous accomplishment just in general. And then the fact that with like no real experience, he'd fought for like three years, fights for a title, comes up short, comes back, wins the Belt becomes the undisputed lineal

MMA champion of the world should never have been close to that. And now, despite the millions of people doubting him and getting dragged by Dana White in the UFC, he pulls this off. So I ask you, is he

the most incredible person who has ever set foot in this sport? Because it kind of feels like it at this point. No. I'll jump in. No, I'll jump in. I thought that was first. I'll jump in. Yeah. I mean, his story is going to make for a great movie, book, whatever it's going to be one day. To get it through the mud, to literally come from mines and cross oceans at risk of his life to get this opportunity is massive.

But I would argue, and I think he's kind of made this point, he was good before this. This is all house money for Francis Ngano. The fact that he was even in the UFC, became champion there, all the steps he's already taken, the dude made it. The dude already made it. And now he's just playing with house money and he's got a big bet on the line here and has the potential to really clean up. But I think every single part of this step now from here, it just adds to it. I think he's, I think he's already made it. I think you can look at that guy.

If we're measuring this as like life, the dude won. The dude succeeded. The dude did everything that it was in his power to possibly win the game. There's people that could argue like, I'd rather see Francis Ngano versus John Jones. This isn't a huge win. And here's why that's really motivated by our own selfish interests. What fight do we want to see? If you're taking this from the perspective of Francis and Ganu, it's a huge win.

It's a huge win. It's a career win. It's a life win. Just getting this opportunity. And he's made it. He's done everything that was expected of him and more shattering expectations of him. He had for himself and others had for him. So it's hard to think that anything is a misstep at this point for the guy that came from where he came from.

Frankly, if you wrote this out, right? If this was a Hollywood script that I turned in, I feel like it would be turned down for being too unbelievable at this point, what this man has been able to accomplish. The lifetime wouldn't make this movie. I'd be like, that's outrageous, no. It's incredibly admirable, man. Again, just every step of the way, this dude stuck to his guns in a way that takes immense, immense, balls, right? Like to be able to pull off any of these moves would be hard enough, like, leaving the UFC as the heavyweight champion of the world, being willing to accept the

serial gone fight on one leg, essentially, all of this, knowing that you would be able to land some sort of big boxing fight, even though everyone told you that you wouldn't for like the better part of eight months, all of this, to be able to gamble on himself to this degree and keep hitting on, he was hitting on on ace, double aces every single time and it just kept working out for him man like it was it's incredible frankly that he got to where he is right now but kudos to him man man won regardless of the nice game all right uh since we're living in fantasy land i do want to discuss this what happens if he wins we already mentioned it's probably the greatest achievement for any of mame fighter of all time but i don't think any of us believe that's really

possible but a lot of people didn't believe most of what francis is done is possible if he goes out there and wins what happens does that redefine mma what's how does that work for the pfl who has just signed this dude who was very clearly never going to fight in him again if he talks out tyson fury what what comes next rick if if if he pulls off the impossible yet again i don't think it will be like a complete paradigm shift. I don't think the sport will be, will be forever changed. I think more the idea that he opened the door

for getting money in this way is what's going to change things. If he wins though, he's got all the cachet in the world and the next fight is going to be massive. I think that's the type of opportunity. That's the type of fight. If he can beat Tyson Fury in this fight

where maybe the UFC starts to change their stance on co-promotion, maybe they figure out a way, to make John Jones versus Francis and Ghanu, it would open the door for literally any other possibility. Because I think these are the two biggest names in the respective sports that you can do at Heavyweight, right? You've got Francis and Gano, John Jones, the other option, but I'd make them comparable at this point, and Tyson Fury and boxing.

If whoever is the victor here, I think it opens the door for a lot of big opportunities. For Tyson Fury, probably more in the boxing realm for Francis and Gano. pretty much wherever he wants. If you're Anthony Joshua, if you're Deonti Wilder, you're probably going to want to crack at Francis Inganu. And if you're John Jones, I don't know how well it's going to sit with me that Francis Inganu is now somebody who beat Tyson Fury

a fight that I wanted that Dana White told me that he was angling for. And now Francis Inganu got it and won it. I think that the world is Francis Ngano's oyster if he can win this fight. You alluded to it. I don't like the odds there. I don't like the odds there. he's been doubted before and he's overcome them every time.

So yeah, but limitless options, he will be able to pick his next opponent. I even think that the John Jones fight would come back to the table if he's able to win. Oh, everything would be back on the table. Like literally everything would be back on the table. You said it wouldn't be a paradigm shift. I don't know that I agree. I think it would be a paradigm shift certainly in a lot of respects just in regard that. We talk about Apex Mountain a lot, right?

Like somebody win at the peak of their powers. like that would be Francis Apex Mountain and it would No other fighter in the history of mixed martial arts outside of Connor McGregor would have a higher apex mountain because Francis Angano would suddenly be like one of the biggest stars in boxing right like like Tyson Fury is is the greatest heavyweight of our era like he's undefeated he survived the not the punch of death from from dante Wilder in that first fight like if francisagano actually did this which he probably won't like we don't say that he will but if he did like is he the number one star in boxing all of a sudden? Maybe not number one, but he's probably like top three, right? I think you're underselling it. If Francis and Ghanu somehow were to pull this off and knock out Tyson Fury, the question

is, is he the number one star in boxing or in combat sports? Where does he rank globally in the term of sports stars? Because everyone will like this. I'm not here to tell you that this fight's going to be as big pay-per-view-wise as Mayweather McGregor, it's not. It's not going to do the numbers. It won't even approach it. It won't even approach it. No, but this is still the exact sort of fight, the cachet and what's on the line here that is going to resonate through the broader sports culture. Everyone will know that this happens at least. They may not all watch the way that everybody seemed to do for Maymac, but they will know that this happens and the narrative very justly will be, and God is going to get killed.

So if he goes out there and knocks him out, he is going to rise to a level of fame that Connor is the only dude in MMA who's ever been there. And not many guys in boxing have ever reached. It would be incredible. I don't think it's going to happen, but it would be... The UFC will be begging him to come back at that point if that happens. Like, if he managed to pull this off,

like, they would offer him any amount of money that he would want to come back to fight John Joltz. And also, like, it would just be hilarious in this weird arm race that he and John are in seemingly for him to get like the impossible thing that John would never get right? Because the UFC would never do this. They would never agree to this kind of fight. And for him to

be able to hold that over John of like, hey, yeah, I have the heavyweight title that you have, but also I've been able to do this as well. Like, that's unassailable, man. I don't know. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What?

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With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of the. Amex. Conditions apply. Yeah, let me clarify. I'm not talking about Francis's personal fame. I agree with you, Jed. I think it would be off the charts.

He'd be among the top, like, sports people in the world, among the most famous people in the world. But at the end of the day, the UFC is the UFC. Connor McGregor's fight after Floyd Mayweather is UFC fights. Like the machine keeps rolling. I don't expect, even if Francis Inganu goes out there and starches Tyson Fury, It will open up opportunities. There will be a fight for him, but at the end of the day, it's still going to be fights.

And the UFC is still going to be putting on their paper views and rolling along. I don't expect that this drastically changes anything business-wise for the UFC in that regard. And in fact, I think they dig their – I would assume that they dig their heels even further and try to discredit Francis and say that John Jones is still the baddest man on the planet and try to angle toward that fight with the UFC brand being brought to the table and PFL being the. the other part of it with Francis Inganu. But yeah, again, fame would be monumental off the charts. I don't think there will be a material change to the UFC's business or MMA business in general from this. But it would be a massive sports and cultural moment and huge for Francis, like astronomically

huge for Francis. Let me ask you guys, because I'm curious for your perspective, what do you think the reaction and the response from the boxing side? would be if Fury went out and lost this fight because it seems as though Fury is almost, like Fury has put himself in a very strange place within the boxing world, right? Would be why not, by making the Usik fight

essentially impossible to book? And then all of this weird false starts and just sort of like teasing people, but not really delivering on the fights that they've been asking for the last couple of years, if he went out and sort of got the, in the Scheiden fraud of him losing to this MMA fighter actually played out,

which again, it probably won't, but if it's it, do you think the boxing world would think it's hilarious? Do you think they would think that this is the worst thing they've ever seen? I'm just very curious for your perspective. So a little bit of both. And that's kind of driving out where my question was going, because I'm with you, Rick. I don't think this is ultimately going to be a paradigm shift for the UFC.

But for better or worse, a lot of this conversation and this sort of thing centers around, well, like, and the aforementioned or not mentioned person who may have responded about this in a way that sucks was like, well, it's going to look bad for MMA fighters to go out there and get tuned up in this different sport. Like, that's a very prevailing thing. And I think boxing certainly has that, right?

Like, if Inganu comes over, the reflexive nature will be, well, this sucks. And it's not great that one of our greatest champions just got beat by a dude who's a part-timer, basically. But I do think, I mean, you've seen it already. already, if you've been online today, there's a pretty clear segment of the boxing community that's just like, F, this dude. Like, we, it would be really funny if Inganu beat him because they are upset with how he has

handled things with the fact that Ussick should be the guy fighting Fury and isn't happening. So I think there's going to be some tension there. Ultimately, I think they probably don't really want Inganu to knock out Fury just because that speaks poorly of boxing as a whole, whatever the hell that means. But I think there's going to be a lot of people who are like, probably won't happen, but it'd be really funny if it did. And I agree. It probably won't happen, but it would be really funny if it did. It's a great point.

This does not feel as boxing versus M.M.A. as Mayweather and McGregor did. I feel like the boxing community has kind of cooled on Tyson Fury, as great as he is. Like he is a, like, what's the word I'm looking for? He is a star in terms of boxing and skilled in terms of boxing at a magnitude that is very rare. And he is a generational talent. That's what I was looking for. Tyson Fury is a generational type fighter. He is the best heavyweight of our generation.

And I don't really think that there's a close competitor for him. The fights that everybody wanted to see, he has been playing around with. He has quite frankly just kind of made a mockery of the whole thing. And I think boxing fans are turned off by that. They are more used to the, this feels more MMA. This feels more like our circus than theirs. And I don't get the same vibes of the boxing community kind of rallying behind him the way Mayweather was able to do that against Connor McGregor.

And the MMA fans rallying behind Connor McGregor. It feels more on the spectacle scale in the MMA camp, even though it is a boxing fight, in terms of how people are viewing it. And it's an interesting shift that I'm kind of seeing there. But yeah, Tyson, you nailed it, Jed. Tyson Fury has dicked around too long. He's, he's done this too much. And boxing fans are upset.

They wanted Fury v. Usik. They did not get it. And it's dragged out for a long time. And then, oh, maybe we'll get Joshua. Maybe we'll get some other contender. And it just, it never materialized. But I think the closer we get to this, the more people will be excited about it. I think there will be boxing fans who will kind of start to come back to it and warm up to the idea of, hey, look, at the end of the day, we're still getting a fight from a generational talent in Tyson Fury and we should be tuned in to watch.

But it does not feel the same as Mayweather McGregor to me. There is a distinct difference in the tone. I think that that's definitely true. And we could get into all that, but no need. So skills of peeps in just a moment here before we do. Last question, because we don't want to talk about this forever. We're just very quickly, very simply. I think we all will pick at the time for one man to win this, Tyson Fury.

But so we don't need to, we can talk about that later. Just tell me, what is your level of interest or excitement for this, you know, how many months out? Is it three, three and a half months out from this fight happening? So, Shaheen, how one to ten, how high are you about this happening? So I'm, we still don't have all the information, right? because I'm very curious to find out sort of the rule set, the rounds. I keep seeing people in the comments saying this is no knockdowns. We don't actually know that yet.

That's Eddie Hearn sort of just saying that, just in a sort of just saying stuff type of way this past week. So like we don't actually know whether or not. Eddie Hearn. Not involved in this at all. Yeah. Eddie Hearn not promoting this. Eddie Hearn also noted. Not Eddie Hearn promoter of the fight.

Eddie Hearn, some dude. Eddie Hearn, not a big fan. fan of Tyson Fury personally. He has had interactions with this man. So, you know, you can take that for a grand assault. If it's a no knockdowns fight, that's a very weird stipulation. I don't know how you actually really enforce that. Like, what happens if Francis knocks him down?

You're going to stop the fight? Like, okay, we just watched it. Like, I don't know. The whole thing is strange. But if this is just a general boxing fight, exhibition or not, but just general boxing rules, I don't know, man. I mean, my interest is peaked. I would be interested to see Francis just in another realm entirely.

anytime Francis fights in anything or competes in anything, I certainly am right there to watch it, right? That's just a very intriguing human being when he tries to do what he's best at. So, I mean, I'll put myself like in an 8 out of 10, certainly. Like, this is, like,

Mayweather and McGregor had a certain appeal because of where Connor was in his career, and up to that point, he sort of he had been proven right and everything, right? Like, the Nate Diaz thing was a stumble, but he recovered from it and then became a two-division champion. everything all of his premonitions sort of came true so there was an element of magic around him whereas just like okay like this guy's a fortune teller he's a sousayer like whatever he says he can make

happen so that was always like that was sort of the intrigue of that right like this is just so giant this feels like something we've never seen before i agree with what both you guys saying that's not what this is this just feels like two very very large men who punch hard and anything can happen in any situation like that like francis is not going to win but if francis does win it would make more sense than if Connor beat Floyd. So I'd say eight out of ten, probably my level of excitement for this or interest. But certainly I'm sure that'll push higher once we understand the rule set. And the lead-up starts getting the buzz going and we get closer to the fight.

Ricky, where are you at? It's hard for me to put a number on it, but I will put it this way. This is the most interested I'll be in a Francis and Ganu fight because the options outside of the UFC are not particularly compelling for me. This is the most interested I will be in a fight that I consider a mismatch. This is the most interested I'll be in a fight that I don't consider particularly close. It's the best possible fight for Francis and Gano. It's the biggest fight that he can possibly get.

And I am I am interested in the spectacle of it. I am interested in the circumstances around it. I'm interested in how they're going to promote it. I'm interested in what Tyson Fury does after the fight. I'm interested in what Francis and Gano does after the fight. The in the ring is almost secondary for me when it comes to the, this because I have an opinion formed in my head and then I'm expecting it to go one certain way. But it's as good as it's going to get for Francis and Gano outside the UFC, in my opinion.

I'm going to give myself a firm nine, could even be a 10. Look, the in-ring product, not going to be that exciting, probably. But if it, if it is, it's the coolest than that ever happened. But I remember Maymac and I remember not being super pumped, even though I thought that that I thought it was likely to happen. And the whole buildup, it was an event. And this isn't quite the same thing. But how many times in our lives are we ever going to have lineal champions facing off against each other in like a very legitimate aspect?

And whatever you think about how this will go down, this is maybe not a once in a lifetime, but twice in a lifetime opportunity. This isn't something that happens every day. And unlike with Mayweather McGregor, which featured two people that personally I did not enjoy. joy, I at least really like Francis Ngano, so I can be happy and celebrate this, even with the negative parts of this that will come, because they will be there. A lot of parts of it won't be great. Everything around this, I am, like you said, Rick, I'm really interested to see the build, to see, you know, do they do a big promotional press tour? What does this look like? Do we get like a 24-7 style, like all of it? I'm, I am just pretty fascinated in this now, even if the end product

is probably not going to be that great. So with that it, Casey, let's bring you in and let's talk to the peeps. Let's answer a couple of questions. We don't want to go forever here. But biggest news in combat sports in at least 72 hours since 290 a town. So let's talk about it. What are we got, Casey? All right.

Real quick, your excitement level to this announcement compared to your excitement level to the John Steppe announcement. A thousand percent more. I couldn't care less about the John Steepa. I feel like we all understand what John Stepe is probably going to look like. This is not the Steepam Eochich that was beating Daniel Korme. This is a 41-year-old Steepin Miochich.

That fight will certainly be better to watch on its merits, but it's also just not a fight that I have ever cared about all that much. So it's fine. But looking at the calendar right now, outside of Gaichi Porier there's not another fight that I'm more excited about in the UFC even though almost all of them

will be more competitive fights Is he GDP? You're not more excited for your boy? That's not on the calendar. I do not believe that's happening in Sydney. I mean if that when that fight gets... Not booked yet.

It may not happen this year. If it does, that will surpass this but there won't be too many magician. New mythical fighter. magician in Ghanu. Look, like, Shaheen said it.

Like we, there was the very real mystic Mac is, he can just sort of speak things into existence. And then that turned out to be dumb because he didn't speak a lot of his losses into existence. But like, Ngano has done the same thing only maybe not as loudly. But it's,

it's really impressive how he just managed to make everything he wants ever happen. I will say he has the right dance partner. Tyson Fury is the one who. would do this, right? Like Tyson Fury is the one who's willing to take that risk and willing to put on a show. I commend Tyson Fury for doing this. On that note, quick to y'all, I will say the very slight disappointment I have in this one is I thought the Wilder would have just been like Chef's Kiss ideal. That would be one, would that have been better or worse for y'all while there were Fury here?

I don't think they would have sold it as well. I think Tyson Fury is going to sell this fight. On a worldwide level. On a worldwide level. Oh, yeah. Correct. Tyson Fury is a carnival Barker. Like, he's tremendous at selling these fights when he wants to be.

And he's going to be, I think he's going to be all in on this. It feels like there's an element of F you with both Tyson and Francis for this of just like a giant. Absolutely. Like, hey, you didn't think we'd do this. Go screw yourself type of thing. So I think they're going to try to sell it as hard as possible. To your point, I think. I think Deonti Wilder was the best matchup for Francis Ngano of the top heavyweights.

I think he would have been the one that Francis would have been the most competitive with, which would have made for a more exciting in-ring product. I still don't think he wins that fight. I think you go for the gusto. I think you go for the biggest fight. And Francis Inganu and Tyson Fury are going to sell the bejesus out of this thing. And hell, maybe Francis can at least look competitive losing. Yes.

You know, in some moment, if that happens, didn't look. competitive but people convinced themselves he did yeah yeah that that has eight different in the beginning right like the first yeah it was like wait what's happening here and then boy just did his thing in the first round where he figured him out and then he solved him in four minutes and then the fight was over but fury could do the same thing he could absolutely carry and got who for eight rounds or whatever and then then now francis can maybe get a wilder fight I think there's a very, I'm not going out on a limb here by saying this. I'm not breaking any news.

There's a very, very high, very high percentage chance that Francis Inganu looks absolutely terrible in this fight, just because these things don't translate, right? Like we saw with Joseo Aldo, I would say Jose Aldo is a much better striker than Francis Angano and he went to boxing and he looked incredibly average. And like he was coming off of looking pretty damn good in M&A. Like these things don't always translate. It's just the heavy weight aspect of it that makes it just that. that adds that little bit that you need to be like,

eh, you know, one shot. You never see it. If Francis cannot miss, like he doesn't, he's not going to hit Fury, but if instead of like whiffing and looking really bad, because whiffing always looks the worst to anybody, like even people who don't know, if he can just hit Fury on the arms,

then we can start selling this. I'm talking myself into this, guys. This is the beauty of it, though, because it's truly house money for Francis. I think this is the prevalent opinion. most people think he's not going to have a chance. A lot of the people have watched his UFC career and never thought he was that great either, that he was lacking some technicality in terms of the striking,

even clear in MMA competition. And now it's translating over to sport and boxing where that is the primary function, where you need, especially against the guy who is supremely technical like Tyson Fury, it is going to potentially look bad. But Francis, Gagan, who has a way to look bad and then still touch you and you go down, much like Deonte Wilder. Like that power is a great equalizer. And there's not, I hate the puncher's chance thing.

I don't really believe in that. I don't think that that's true with the exception of like a handful of people. Francis and Ghanu, Deante Wilder, those are two that I truly believe they just need to touch you. They really just need that one shot. And it doesn't have to look pretty. And it doesn't have to look clean. It doesn't have to be their best punch. And you just have to be caught in an awkward scenario.

And they can take you out. So that exists in a way that I really don't give people. people a lot of credit for in most fights it exists for francis and ganu so he doesn't have to be a great boxer quite frankly he really doesn't if tyson fury lets him stand there long enough there's really there really is a chance eric the slow motion like the super super slow motion of the rosenstruck knockout yeah is perhaps the ugliest technique that has ever successfully worked in the history of fight sports yet it's completely worked like that technique is overrated asterisk is du plus C and all the people who Oh, Robert Whitaker is so much more technical than him all.

Hill hard go boom. That's what matters, baby. I love that every show. I just love that every show we're going to do for the next four weeks is going to be how many DDP references can chance. I mean, that one actually holds a sense. Also, I will say this comment from Jimmy West, perfect. People will buy this fight because it's a monster movie.

That's it. That's right. I mean, that is. That's 100%. It's Godzilla, Mothra, it's whatever that is. Yeah, that's exactly right. Casey, what other than the course you got from the piece? It's one of those things where if you just showed a rando who has no idea about either of these dudes,

hey, like here's one guy, incredibly jacked, looks like, looks tremendous getting off the bus, and then here's Tyson Fury who maybe I wouldn't describe him in that way. Like, who do you think is going to win? It's got that element, too. By the way, this was the conceit for years and always has been of Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury. and Anthony Joshua just never got it done. Like the dude kept losing and just couldn't get in there. But Francis Ngano is sliding into the spot that should have been filled by Anthony Joshua of

an Adonis, look at me and I'm going to pound on this slub. And we obviously know in practicality and execution, that's not what's going to happen. But that was the slot occupied by Anthony Joshua. Now it's going to be Francis Ngano who's going to get that shot. Really need somebody in a lighter weight class to adopt that. just like the pudgy physique. But you never see that for like feather weights. It's true.

It's only at heavy weights. That was BJJ is the closest, but he even had abs when he was younger. The cut, the cut makes it too hard. The cut makes it too hard. You just got to do it at heavyware. You're going to let it all hang out. Let it be. Joseph Palladie.

Kelvin Gassett. I'm holding out. Oh, that's a good one. Kelvin. At some point in my life. I'm holding on, I hope that at some point in my life, some bantam weight's going to come in looking. like,

Parker just storm the world and it's going to be I mean the best. Maybe John Littaker like end career John Littaker he can let it go a little bit maybe get a little belly going

but throw some sledgehambers. I want it to be DJ. I want DJ to get a little pooch. Mr. Bellotti, do you expect Dana White to make a big fight announcement to overshadow Fury versus Inganu news? What do you think about this guys?

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Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Peloton.

A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.ca. I think they're in a tough spot, right? Like, if you just go through the list of potential fights, right?

You don't assume that Israel at Asana is going to be willing to, hey, play ball and step all over his buddy, Francis and Gano's announcement. Like, yes, let's rush to announce my fight so we can counterprogram this. You don't expect that Alex Volcanowski, who just spoke to Ariel yesterday on the MMA hour and said, hey, I want to have surgery. And then I'll kind of assess my timeline is automatically going to get thrown into a fight with either Ilya or. Islam. There's really not a great challenger for Islam unless you wait for the Dustin and Justin fight to play out or be Volcanovsky, but again, he's having surgery. Maybe you've got the light heavyweight belt hanging out there. Who knows, that one seems to be dragging on

and taking some time. The real one that's a potential is Connor McGregor versus Michael Chandler, but to me, it feels like with the legal stuff hanging over it and the fact that it's dragged on this long, it's probably not going to be that. So it's, it's hard. It's, it's hard for the UFC right now to counter program it. But I mean, that would be one that would work for the podcast. For the podcast. For the podcast.

For the podcast. Pro fights info says, yeah, Pro Fight Info says, Rousey for the vacant band and weight title incoming. I want to be clear, I actually made that argument. When you retired, I was like, honestly, no real reason Rousey couldn't come back right now. So, Rousy versus Sanya. Who are you picking? I would still pick Rousie,

because I will, I'll pick against Sanya in every fight, but the one time I picked her and it worked out. I will say also, Michael Chandler did tweet a Christmas tree emoji earlier today, basically right after the Incan News got announced, which, you know,

you could guess is him saying December, him and Connor McGregor will be happening. I think that that would, be the closest fight announcement we could get, but everything else seems pretty tough. Shane, do you think the UFC is going to do the thing where Francis says something? And then they're like, okay, John Jones now, because they've already shot the John Jones bullet. Yeah, that's the thing is the fight they would have announced for this exact moment would have been the John Jones fight, right? Like they kind of blew it a little bit too early on that one.

So I don't know really what's in the coffers for them other than Connor. They can make a new title. They can say John Jones and Steepa are fighting for the heavyweight. Baddest man on the planet. They would say that it's for the baddest man on the planet belt or something like that. How much? Yeah. For the Jones Stepey buildup, how much is that changed now?

Because that fight will be, I think, two weeks after the Francis fight. That's right, yeah. And that. I'm sure that just becomes a victory tour of how bad Francis probably will look in this fight. there's going to be there's going to be a lot of steep wrestling francis in the first fight in the promo packages there's going to be a lot of that there's going to be a lot of john jones is the baddest man on the planet talk um yeah i don't think it material changes it because i think they've already been on this like vindictive course against francis and ghanu but there will be i think a little more celebration if he inevitably loses i think that they'll they'll revel in it a little bit more for sure uh case we got anything anything else? Yeah, I'm just, I'm so, I'm so interested in how these two big fights are going to kind of kind of, because there's going to be, I'm assuming some sort of press tour

for, you know, for both fights or at least, at least a boxing fight. I don't know how the UFC will handle Joan Steepay. But the problem is the UFC in their big counter fight has steepe in it. So it's not like they can put him in front of Mike and be like, ah, we're going to blow him out the promotional waters in this. one. I don't think you need steep. A two fights, Tyson is the best on the mic by a large margin. For sure that. But I think you need John Jones to make noise. If you're the UFC, if you're

John Jones, I think you have to be very aggressive in the buildup to Fury and Inganu and just remind people. You need to continue to beat that drum, hey, you know, this fight's happening, but tune in in two weeks, that's going to be for the real baddest man on the planet. I think you need to keep that course and keep that going. So that if Francis does lose, Now it looks like you can kind of dismiss that and wipe that away. So I think John needs to be on his shit for the next couple weeks. I will say. I think you should just no-sell it if you're the UFC.

I think them doing all this counter stuff is bad. I think you're just like, okay, whatever. But you know that's not their style, dude. You just know that's not what they do. Especially because I was going to say this fight even, the fact that this came together is even more hilarious to me because of how desperate it seemed like Dana White was to steal. this from Francis, right? Like him and John Jones went on off all-out offensive, like not very long ago to try to steal this fight.

And it almost looked like they had it for a half a second and the fact that this is where it ends up. I said at the top, but just like, what a major win for PFL this is. Like, PFL is going to be named dropped so often in the lead up to this fight. You know that Francis is going to make that a very important stipulation of that. I very ardently believe that. Just to stick it to the UFC, he's going to ask to be called PFL fighter, PFL fighter. They're just going to be involved in this in a way that, like, he helps them tremendously, right?

This is one of the biggest fights on the calendar now. I agree. I will say one of the things that jumped out from the press release was they identified Francis, not as the lineal heavyweight champion of MMA, which would have been appropriate, particularly because they called Tyson that, but as former UFC heavyweight champion, not like current PFL fighter. And that felt not ideal. So I don't know how much shine PFL.

is getting. I think it'll be some, but I don't know. Well, you have to consider to the source. That is Frank Warren, right? That's Queensberry. Like that's, I don't know that he even knows what PFL is. Once they actually get in a room and they start talking about how they want to promote this fight, I'm sure that will be a big sticking point for Francis. There's two things that I immediately thought in regard to PFL and the relationship with this is one that I've always long thought Francis and Gan, who should have signed with an MMA promotion and then boxed, which is what he ended up doing, not tried to box and then signed with an MMA promotion. so that regardless of the outcome of this boxing fight, he has a landing place where now he's assured and signed with them at his highest possible value. Now, if he wins, his value would have been higher, granted,

but I think we're operating under the assumption that he wasn't. He has this landing spot. But that brings me to a question, which I have, maybe I'll throw it to Shaheen first. If he loses, does his value for PFL go down? No, I don't think so. I mean, I think this is going to be one of the biggest, spectacles for better or worse that we have in the second half of

2023 it's going to capture a lot of mainstream eyes that I think a normal Francis in Gondon fight versus him Cyril Ghan or whoever like that that that it would not capture and ultimately I think this will be like we just went through the the memory of Maymac I think is still very strong in people's minds that was not too long ago like people understand what these fights are people understand that there's a one in one hundred chance for Francis to win and that generally win the MMA fighter fights the boxer in boxing rules that it looks a certain way. I feel like by the time Maymac happened, it almost like became this weird 50-50

fight in a lot of people's minds that was not actually close to reality. And a lot of people made a lot of money betting on it because of that. This I think is going to be the opposite. I think by the time this comes, like for instance, it's still going to be like an eight to one dog. And people will have a general understanding like, hey, if he looks good, that's good for him. But don't expect him to look good. Speaking of odds, they opened at minus 400 for Fury. I don't know where they're currently at because I can't find a book with them listed,

but the opening is minus 400, which is just... That is it. Floyd opened up at a minus 1,000, I think. No, no. He was minus 5 and minus 6 for a really long period of time. Yeah. Is he didn't open? Well, maybe it opened.

I think, I don't know. Maybe he opened. But what did he get down to like three or two? No, I don't think he got that low, but he got lower than it was in the five. It was in the five and six range for a very, very long time on fight night itself like laid into the fight night. That's when it started climbing up to like in the thousand in the four digit range. But he was minus 500 for a good long bit, a good long bit. Jed, is this about to be your Valentina Shevchenko version two where you just drop your entire bank account on this minus 400?

odds because that seems like the move right now. I'm not going to lie. So I would, but somebody made a very good point as I was talking about this. And it's that we don't really know what's going on with this fight. So if this is an exhibition, then like it's putting a lot of money to wait essentially not in escrow for what could be something wonky or real. So as it gets closer, if those odds are even similar, hell yeah. Like just unloading all of the money I can lay my hands on on Tyson Fury. But

that's that's for October. For now we're good. We don't we got usc Vegas 77 to bed on. We don't need to put the whole ankle on Tyson Fury. Casey, what else we got from the from the peeps? One more I think. Let me find one

this one's kind of funny. Does this announcement hurt Holm Silva from J.N.? How can you, what is dead may never die? How can you hurt something that no one cares about in the first place? That would be my response here. How dare you speak that way about the Bantamweight title bout we're about to see? They should just make it a title bout.

Then at least you have to pretend to care. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, that's another conversation. A whole different conversation. Yeah. I just want to bring this comment real quick. King Fury. Tyson Fury is the greatest salesman ever.

He will sell the fight. Yeah. Well, I don't know that this greatest salesman ever, but he's definitely going to sell the fight. He's very good at it. And he's very good in the respect that not dismissing the other man, right? Like he's going to big up Francis so much up until October. He's going to make Francis. None of his comments have disparaged him.

Like none of his comments have disparaged Francis. And which honestly, half the MMA fighters could learn something. Alexander Volcanovsky is looking at you, bud. Like you don't have to be like, this dude sucks to be like, I'm going to beat him. You could just be like, that dude's awesome. It's really good. It's super hard. And I'm going to be there.

Yeah, I'm just kind of waiting for this fight to have that, that Toronto moment when Connor and Floyd vests off in Toronto. And then that was like, oh my God. Yeah. When you accepted almost, you knew, but you kind of accepted this is going to be such a gigantic fight. When this, when Fury and Wilder, yeah, sorry, Fury and Agona finally face off in some sort of public press conference, then I think the conversation is going to change a lot. There is, there, there is something in our lizard brain that when we see Francis and Ganu next to Tyson Fury, we're going to believe. leave for a second. There's going to be a moment where you're like, holy shit. That's the most important part. That's the most important part. Look at that man and he's got a shot. And then you'll snap into reality and be like,

maybe not. But that works. That works. And you do that enough and you keep the build going and people will start to feel it. And Connor McGregor is one of the best at capturing that. Connor McGregor is one of the best at making people believe that he can do anything he says he's going to do. Francis and Ghanu has a way about him of doing that as well, but it's mostly a visual thing. You just look at him and it's hard to believe that he's not the best fighter who's ever lived because of the way he looks. So yeah,

you're right. When they face off, it's going to be a moment and it's going to feel like something real. I love it. We're going to end on this. I have one last question as we exit because we've been going about an hour. I think that's good enough here. Guys, what if Ngano brings MMA angles into

this matchup? It's time for the MMA angle discussion to return and I'm so excited for it. That's it. I'm not, gentlemen. I got nothing. You thought I forgot.

I did not forget about the whole MMA angles dialogue. It was the best part of MAMAC. That's it, ladies and gentlemen. Friends in Ghanu, facing Tyson Tysen, Tiri, October 28th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

More details to come as they come out. In the meantime, I would say keep it tuned to mvayfinding.com. It's a great website. We're going to keep you updated. Just maybe occasionally refresh John Jones's Twitter page because something's coming out of that within the next six hours. And that'll be at least fun before he deletes it.

So until then, that has been Shaheen Al-Shadi, New York, Rick, E.K.C. Lidon, myself, Jed Mishu. We will see you next time. Love y'all. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.