Report: Tyson Fury to fight Francis Ngannou in boxing match Oct. 28

WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury will reportedly fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in the ring later this year.

The boxing match is set to take place October 28, according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. The ruleset is unclear at this time for the hybrid fight.

Ngannou recently left the UFC and vacated his belt to sign with PFL (Professional Fighters League) in free agency.

“Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou will fight on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sources told ESPN,” Coppinger wrote on Twitter. “WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman didn’t respond to a text message asking if Fury’s heavyweight title will be on the line. The rules and number of rounds are unclear at this time.”

Ngannou signed with the PFL after negotiations with the UFC eventually fell through and were almost non-existent. The relationship between the two sides was strained after Ngannou reclaimed his heavyweight belt.

But with no scheduled next fight and the lack of a matchup with current champion and MMA GOAT Jon Jones, Ngannou opted for greener pastures in his mind.

However, Ngannou is not expected to fight in the PFL cage until 2024 but his deal with the organization left the door open for boxing in a big money fight, in this case Fury.

“Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me,” UFC president Dana White said in May. “You’re going to pay the guy not to fight for a year and it’s already been like 18 months. He’s fought three times in the last three years. It’s just not what we do here. It’s not what we do. The day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen.”

White continued saying, “I don’t think that he’s afraid of anybody. It’s just the fact that he doesn’t want to take any risk. PFL is going to pay this guy to train for a boxing match that may not even happen and they may not even be involved in. How does that make any sense? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Ngannou, 36, hasn’t fought since January 22, 2022 when he defended and unified the UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane. He finished his UFC career with six straight wins, including his last two over former champion Stipe Miocic and Gane.

Ngannou will fight in PFL’s Super Fight division, which was created to attract fighters to sign deals with favorable terms, including bigger guarantees and bigger cuts of pay-per-view revenue.

As for Fury, he has yet to lose a boxing match, going 33-0-1 over the course of his career. He last fought in December, a TKO win over Derek Chisora to retain the WBC belt.

Ngannou and Fury is the latest MMA and boxing crossover, akin to Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather. But this one at the moment, is unclear in terms of rules and popularity.