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Mike Coppinger
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Brett Okamoto
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Brett Okamoto
ESPN Staff Writer
- MMA columnist for ESPN.com
- Analyst for “MMA Live”
- Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun
The fight is finally here. Tyson Furythe WBC and lineal heavyweight champion, takes on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV).
The fight will be contested in a boxing ring over 10 rounds, but Fury’s belt won’t be on the line.
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), 35, of Manchester, England, defeated Dillian Whyte by sixth-round TKO in 2022 and eight months later stopped Derek Chisora in the 10th-round . It was expected that Fury would face unified champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship, but talks to finalize the bout ended in March.
Ngannou, 37, of Cameroon, has notable victories in the UFC against Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021, and against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022. Ngannou left the UFC a year later and signed a contract with the PFL that allows him to box.
Follow along as Mike Coppinger, Marc Raimondi and Brett Okamoto recap the action or buy Fury-Ngannou on ESPN+ PPV
