Francis Ngannou Still Plans to Compete in Boxing, MMA Going Forward

By pushing Tyson Fury to the limit, Francis Ngannou may have opened the door to a whole new world on Saturday night.

While Ngannou lost a split decision to the man regarded as the best heavyweight on the planet, many observers believed “The Predator” deserved to get the nod on the scorecards. With that in mind, Ngannou would seemingly have plenty of options for future fights in the Sweet Science, where paydays often exceed those offered in mixed martial arts. For now at least, Ngannou still plans on being a double-threat in combat sports.

“I can do both. Nothing can stop me from doing both,” Ngannou said in a post-fight interview with ESPN. “If I have the skill for both of them, why not? As for right now, I have a deal with PFL, and I’m intending to fight MMA again. I still love it. I might do some MMA fight, but I’m still going to do boxing. I never intend to just step over and do one fight and go out. That wasn’t the plan at all, never. The plan is still the same.”

As far as a timetable for his next bout, Ngannou is still targeting early next year. While that was once expected to be his PFL debut, he isn’t ruling out another boxing match, either.

“I’m really going to fight sometime in February or March. Maybe in the cage or in the ring, but I’m going to fight,” he said. “I basically have both, and we are working on what’s going to work better.”

Ngannou admitted that Saturday was the biggest stage of his combat sports career to date.

“It was a big night,” he said. “It was an impressive night. Great people around, big show. More than I’ve ever seen. I think it’s the biggest show in combat sports so far that I’ve seen. I’ve never seen so much concentration of legends in the same place. You get a little excited but of course when the fight starts, it’s the fight. Nothing else. You get focused on the fight.”