Sean Strickland Suggests Mixed Rules For Fury vs. Ngannou
UFC middleweight Sean Strickland has an interesting take on the ruleset of a potential matchup between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury.
Recently there has been rumbling of a potential fight between the WBC heavyweight champion and the UFC heavyweight champion.
The pair have both teased the fight with several back and forths on social media.
Although the crossover bout is a fun idea there are still some glaring logistics that would need to be addressed. Although Ngannou has previously mentioned trying his hand in the professional boxing ranks, Fury has stated he would have the boxing match bout take place in an octagon with 4oz MMA gloves.
So this would be a professional bout, more of a crossover exhibition but how much of a crossover? Could they potentially follow in the steps of Triller Triad and allow additional clinch work alongside untraditional punches such as superman punches and spinning backfists? Well UFC middleweight Sean Strickland took to his Twitter to share an interesting idea of what he thinks should happen.
‘Tyson fury beats Francious in a boxing match without a doubt,” Strickland wrote. “Francious kills Tyson in a fight. Literally takes his life….. They should do 4 ounce gloves with bare knucke rules. That’s the middle ground…’
Is Tyson Fury v Francis Ngannou Likely?
Over the past few years, we have seen an explosion of crossover events, catalyzed by the Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor fight. Just in the last few months, we have seen MMA veterans such as Tyrone Woodley, Frank Mir, and Vitor Belfort all step into some form of boxing/mixed rules event seemingly in pursuit of payday that would be impossible through MMA.
Not only is there an audience for this kind of event, but Ngannou’s very public feud with the UFC is also making it seem that he will not return to the promotion. This means that Ngannou will be free to fight wherever he sees fit and with a well-documented appetite for boxing it’s likely we see ‘The Predator’ in the squared circle next.
Although Ngannou maybe boxing next, it will almost definitely not be against Fury, who has number mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte breathing down his neck along with a potential showdown with Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title.
