Tyson Fury and UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou have said they will meet in the ring to fight – just minutes after the Gypsy King had suggested he would be retiring.
Speaking after beating Dillian Whyte to retain his WBC heavyweight title, Fury said the successful title defence could be his "final curtain" because he had promised his wife Paris that he would retire. However, American broadcaster ESPN brought Ngannou into the ring – and the fighters appeared to verbally agree to a 'hybrid' fight.
Ngannou – who is months away from the end of his UFC contract – said: "It's gonna be a hybrid fight with different kind of rules... MMA gloves, in the ring, kinda mix it up. A little different".
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Fury said: "This is going to be one very special fight. It'll be something never before seen in the history of our sport. We're not talking two guys around 140lb, I'm 270lb, he's 270lb. It's going to be an explosive fight when it happens.
"I'm the boxing heavyweight champion, he's the UFC heavyweight champion, he's in great shape, look at the muscles on him," Fury continued.
Ngannou added: "We are going to find out who is the baddest mother****** on the planet," to which Fury replied "good man Francis".
It came just minutes after Fury said his win in the sixth round over Whyte "might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King.” Fury said: “I promised my lovely wife Paris that after the Wilder Three fight that would be it.
"I meant it. But I got offered a fight at Wembley and I thought I owed it to the fans, to every person in the United Kingdom, to come here and fight. Now it’s all done I have to be a man of my word and I think this is it.”
Fury’s wife Paris said the WBC champion had nothing more to prove to the world of boxing. She told talkSPORT: “The world has seen him reach the pinnacle. He’s just proved it again, the top quality that he is.
“I don’t enjoy this one bit. This is great, the celebratory bit. But all the lead-up and actual fight is a horrible situation to be in. He’s got nothing else to prove in the whole world.”
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