Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou: How to watch the fight on ESPN+ PPV

October 24, 2023 ndowd

Oct 24, 2023, 09:21 AM ET

WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury gets back in the ring for a non-title exhibition bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV).

Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of Manchester, England, is coming off two stoppage victories, a sixth-round TKO of Dillian Whyte in April 2022 and a 10th-round TKO of Derek Chisora in December 2022. Fury had been expected to face unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title, but when talks to finalize the bout collapsed in March, Fury set his sights on Ngannou. According to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, the match will be fought in a regulation boxing ring under boxing rules, including three ringside judges using the 10-point must system.

“He’s going to be a very, very good fighting man,” Fury said in a news conference to officially announce the fight on Sept. 7. “You can see that he’s massive. He’s in shape. He’s going to be a real challenge. It’s something different for me. I’m used to boxing boxers and boxing the head off of somebody. But fighting an MMA guy who comes in with a different style is going to be different.”

Ngannou, 37, of Cameroon (he’s now based in Las Vegas), won the UFC heavyweight championship with a victory over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021. He defended the belt against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. A year later, Ngannou left the UFC and signed with the PFL in a deal that allows him to box as well.

“I have been dreaming of becoming a boxer since I was a kid,” Ngannou said. “I’m not just going to box, I’m going to box the guy at the peak of the mountain. Usually, I would not pay attention to what is going around. But this thing is so big that I can’t stop thinking about it. History is going to be made.”