26 October 2023 , 19:37
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Conor McGregor has backed Francis Ngannou to take Tyson Fury to deeper waters than most expect when the two heavyweights meet on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia.
The two-weight world champion will travel to Riyadh for his first public appearance in the Kingdom this weekend in order to watch the massive crossover fight, which sees MMA's top heavyweight switch to boxing to take on the ring's No.1. It echoes McGregor's famous 2017 bout with Floyd Mayweather, which became one of the highest-selling pay-per-view events in history.
And McGregor reckons that Ngannou's particular style of fighting is actually better suited to boxing than MMA, particularly with his stunning power. The Cameroonian started fighting in the boxing discipline, and feels that this event is something of a homecoming to his original dream career.
"MMA ventures over to boxing once again, this time in the kingdom and this time with the heavyweights," McGregor told fans in a voice note on Twitter this evening. "I'm so excited to be there, I can't wait to land and touch down in Saudi Arabia and see what the country has to offer.
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"I'd like to talk about the bout; great bout, interesting bout. Francis Ngannou is more of a kickboxer/boxer than he is a mixed martial artist in my opinion. You start throwing in grappling with Francis, it's never good for him, he has a striker's mentality and this will stand to him in this bout."
McGregor understands that it's a tall task for Ngannou to pull of the monumental upset, but feels that he has the right mindset for such a massive challenge. "He has a tough ask with Tyson Fury but any man can land a shot," he continued. "Tyson does get hit, you would not know.
"It's going to be a tough ask but I'm excited to see it unfold. Tyson looks great in the build-up, fast, light, elusive. It could be a seriously stellar performance from Tyson Fury here and what's the variable? There's a few variables in this."
The Irishman noted that Fury is named after Mike Tyson, who will be in the corner of his opposition on Saturday night. He feels that could be a big emotional factor for the Brit, whose entire life and identity has been shaped by a man now eager to costing him his first win.
"The Mike Tyson influx into this in Francis Ngannou's corner is very interesting," he added. "Francis has power, big power, but with a striker's mentality if it gets a bit tougher for him in the later rounds that mentality will stand to him vs a mixed martial artist's mentality.
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"With power, anything can happen. Mike Tyson in the corner, that type of style could be a kryptonite of a long, rangy, distance type of fighter and I don't think that Tyson's going to want to let Francis test his power on him. And has Mike Tyson given some tips to get inside, change an angle and bang a shot that clips the top of the temple to make it an interesting bout? You wouldn't know.
"Also, Tyson Fury is named after Mike Tyson, former youngest heavyweight champion of all time, icon in boxing and Tyson Fury's father John named his son after Mike Tyson; Tyson Fury. Fast forward a few years, Mike Tyson himself is now training a man to beat his son. That casts so much emotions into it and adds so much on to it, it heaps so much on to the story.
"So what type of energy will be in the building and what type of energy will the Furys be going into that bout with? Particularly John and Tyson. So it is a very interesting bout with all these things considered."