" Crossover Fights Are Fucking Stupid " - DW

UFC president Dana White is not on board with the potential crossover bout between Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury.

Following his recent win over Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium, boxing’s WBC heavyweight champion Fury stood shoulder-to-shoulder with UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou inside the boxing ring as both men answered questions about the potential bout. Both fighters appear to want the fight to take place and seem confident that it can come together in the near future. White, however, does not agree with the possibility.

“That fight’s definitely not a lock,” White said on The Pat McAfee Show. “… They’ve been talking about it and everything. I mean, guys, Fury is the best boxer – one of the greatest boxers of all time. I mean, you look at the guys he’s beaten and how easily he’s beating them. I don’t know, we’ll see how this whole thing plays out.

“I don’t love the crossover fights. I don’t love ’em.”

This particular fight between Ngannou and Fury would potentially take place with a hybrid ruleset, although the details have yet to be agreed upon by both sides. White was asked to clarify why he doesn’t love the prospect of his heavyweight champ facing off against the best from the boxing world, and didn’t mince in his response.

“‘Cause they’re fckin’ stupid,” White said. “Fcking waste of time, energy, and money. …It’s silly, but I get it.

“… Boxing is a massive advantage for Tyson Fury. Ngannou just wrestled Ciryl Gane. … If you know anything about fighting, it’s a silly conversation.”

White’s position is quite the contrast from when a boxing match between former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather began building momentum and ultimately took place in 2017. The result of that bout could have played a role in souring White to other crossover fights like it in the future, but ultimately, it comes down to what the public wants, according to the UFC boss.

“The thing was, the Floyd-Conor fight took on a life of its own,” White explained. “I mean, everywhere I went that’s all people were asking me about. It got to a point where fans wanted to see that fight and the media wanted to see that fight, and you know me. People aren’t knocking our door down for this fight.”

2 Likes

Agreed.

Everyone wants to be luke Conor, but what made that foght was Conor and Floyd putting on a show with the press tour. People were hooked befor the actual fight. Does anyone think Canelo and Usman can entertain with witty repertoire? Fury and Ngannou? Lol!

4 Likes

TOTALLY AGREE!

I dont care much about that fight, nor marty vs canelo.

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Usman or Canelo cant talk - bad promotion
Francis even worse
Fury can talk but doesnt have the follower base
Imagine the tour with Francis, who speaks two words
All the show would end up looking pathetic as the ufc is
Francis prob earns more money in one boxing match, then all years together in Ufc, ufc would have to pay him even more later

Agree

Fury doesn’t have the followers?!..

DJ’s most recent fight was pretty awesome

Dana is right…nobody is banging down the door begging to see Usman vs Canelo or Francis vs Fury.

Would those fights sell? Yeah, of course…because Canelo and Fury are the two biggest draws in boxing, and any fight you make with them will sell with the right promotion. It’s like saying that Usman vs Conor makes sense because it’ll sell. Of course it will, Conor vs fucking anyone does 1M buys.

Does anyone think these fights are competitive? Not anyone intelligent. With Conor vs Mayweather we at least had a couple things to make it intriguing:

Conor was much bigger. Floyd walks around about 150 pounds, Conor walks around at like 180. He’s quite a bit bigger, so there was supposed to be an advantage there for Conor. Also, Conor was in his prime, and Floyd was retired. So the reason it was intriguing, Conor was bigger and still in his prime…could the older and smaller Floyd use his superior skills to win?

Canelo vs Usman has a size advantage for Usman, but that’s it. Canelo is killing dudes, and is the best boxer in the world right now. If Canelo was 45 years old and retired? Maybe this one has some intrigue.

And Francis looks big and scary, then you see him next to Fury and he looks fucking small. Fury is in his prime, one of the best HWT boxers ever, undefeated and has a big advantage in length/reach. If you made it some weird hybrid rules with it taking place in a cage, with them allowed to clinch for a period of time, and throw knees to the body or elbow…something that gives Francis an advantage…that’s different and could be fun.

If you did something like the DJ fight and alternated rounds…with round 1 being 5 minutes of boxing in a cage with MMA gloves, then round 2 being MMA…that’s very different and would be fun…but just a boxing match in small gloves? Fury runs him over and it ends up looking really bad for the UFC, seeing their champion get dominated like that.

Hes right.

Hes also got a gigantic bald head, but hes right.

I’d rather see Fury vs Francis than the next 20 UFC events combined