The clash of giants between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and UFC heavyweight champion was verbally agreed upon between the two at the Wembley Stadium last weekend.
Fury defended his heavyweight crown by knocking out Dillian Whyte after dominating ‘The Body Snatcher’ for most of the match.
After the victory, Tyson Fury invited Ngannou to join his interview with American broadcaster ESPN and the two basically started promoting the match.
Talking about the potential showdown, Fury promised an explosive clash between two big guys.
In an interview with The MMA Hour on Monday, Ngannou shared more details about their crossover showdown.
“We both want this fight, that’s clear, and we respect each other,” Ngannou said. “Probably next year it will happen. I think it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of our promotions, but we will sort this out at some point.”
He also believed that he can knock out the undefeated champion Fury.
“100 percent I believe I can knock him out. As I said, it’s not easy, but it’s possible.”
But before the extravagant showdown finally takes place, Ngannou needs to settle his contract dispute with the UFC.
In addition to the pay rise he demanded, he added that he wants this Fury bout in his new UFC contract.
“The Tyson Fury fight has to be part of the discussion [with the UFC] – there is no other option,” said Ngannou. “The UFC is a great promotion and I want to keep fighting. The Tyson Fury fight is not my last fight, there’s still a lot of fights out there. There’s Jon Jones, there’s the Stipe Miocic trilogy, there’s big fights I can do in the UFC and I’d really like that to happen.”
From the Whyte fight, Fury banked a total of $33.6 million including the $4.1 million win bonus.
While Ngannou earned an estimated $600,000 from his last title defense against Cyril Gane.
The huge differences in pay between the two champions explains perfectly why Ngannou wants this showdown so much.