Apparently UFC president Dana White wasn’t kidding: He really wants to make a fight between Tyson Fury and Jon Jones.
Appearing on a Twitter Spaces, boxing champ Fury said he’s received an offer from the UFC for a “hybrid fight” against Jones, the promotion’s heavyweight champ, while also adding that he’s also been in talks with former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou to have the same type of bout.
“I’ve been in talks with Francis Ngannou for a hybrid fight. There’s talks of me and Jon Jones doing a hybrid fight as we talk right now,” Fury said. “I received an offer from the UFC yesterday. So, you never know what’s gonna happen. The future’s bright for sure. There’s a lot of options out there, and it seems at the moment I’m still going to get an actual boxing opponent.”
Fury’s revelation of an official offer from the UFC signifies a complete 180 by White, who not even a month ago lambasted boxing for making too many “gimmicky-type fights” while reacting to Ngannou’s signing with the PFL.
“That’s one of the big problems with boxing right now,” White said. “It’s all about these gimmicky-type fights. That’s just not what I do here. That’s just not what I do.”
It didn’t take long for White to do an about-face on that stance. Since making those comments, he’s publicly expressed interest in booking Fury vs. Jones in the UFC several times to, as he puts it, settle the “baddest man on the planet” debate. Ngannou, who left the UFC as heavyweight champ, also has a claim to that unofficial combat sports title.
Ngannou willingly left the UFC last December after fighting out his contract in January 2022. He sat out the remainder of the year as he and his representatives remained in negotiations with UFC brass, primarily chief business offer Hunter Campbell, but a deal couldn’t be reached.
One of Ngannou’s requests was to have the flexibility to compete in boxing as he’s talked about wanting to fight Fury and other big-name boxers such as Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder for a few years. The UFC wouldn’t agree to that clause, among others, in a contract, leading Ngannou to walk away and sign with the PFL, which is allowing him to pursue boxing before he competes in MMA.
And so while the UFC wouldn’t allow its previous heavyweight champ to compete against boxers, it now has extended an offer to Fury to compete against its current heavyweight champ, Jones.
Make of that what you will.
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