Dan Hardy wants to see Francis Ngannou focus on MMA.
Ngannou (18-3) claimed the inaugural superfight heavyweight title by knocking out Renan Ferreira (13-4) in the first round of the PFL: Battle of the Giants main event in October.
“The Predator” is still seeking mega fights in boxing, but Hardy thinks he’s better off in the cage. He sees the winner of Friday’s heavyweight tournament final between Denis Goltsov (35-8) and Oleg Popov (19-1) at the 2024 PFL Championships being his potential next opponent.
“I think it makes the most sense to me,” Hardy told MMA Junkie Radio. “You’ve got two guys here – two impressive Russian fighters that are both at different ends of their career. Goltsov has tried this path several times. He’s not been successful, but you can’t deny that he’s got the skills to beat everybody in the division – it’s just a case of him doing it successively on the way to $1 million. He’s probably got the best jab in the heavyweight division right now, and I feel like that could be a real problem for Popov in this fight.
“But, I also expect Popov to be durable physically and mentally. Fedor (Emelianenko) in his corner, he’s going to be telling him to get his head off the center line and come over the top and around the sides and keep working his wrestling game. Popov is on the longest win streak in the heavyweight division right now – 18 fights, 19 fights. If he’s able to come through this and beat Goltsov, that’s a clear contender in my opinion because of the impressive streak that he’s on as well as the fact that he will have just won the world championship for this year. It’s the one that makes the most sense.
“I think there are other options out there, but whatever Ngannou does, I would rather him do it in mixed martial arts because I think we see the best of him. He’s more free and just way more dangerous in mixed martial arts.”
Ngannou has laced up the boxing gloves twice. He knocked down Tyson Fury and pushed him to the limit in a controversial decision loss in October 2023. However, his second appearance was finished by Anthony Joshua in a Round 2 knockout loss in March.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2024 PFL Championship.
