Ngannou will be in Riyadh for Usyk vs. Fury 2, and while he’s there Alalshikh will share some big fight options: one in boxing and one in MMA.
Turki Alalshikh has big plans for Francis Ngannou in both boxing and MMA.
Alalshikh is the Saudi money man who has put together most of the massive boxing events over the past two years. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight for the second time this year on December 21st thanks to Turki’s deep pockets, and he’s also the man who put “The Predator” in the ring against Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Despite Ngannou losing both of those fights — one controversially, one in devastating fashion — Alalshikh is still looking to set up some more boxing fights for him. And perhaps the biggest MMA fight of all against Jon Jones?
The Riyadh Season magnate was on the DAZN Ariel X Ade show and teased his plans, which may involve Deontay Wilder if “The Bronze Bomber” still seems serious about fighting after two passive losses in a row.
“Why we not see Ngannou against Wilder?” he asked. “I need to sit with Wilder. Two minutes to see his condition, I can catch it from two minutes if he’s ready or not. I don’t want to waste time and money anymore. I need to check first if he’s still got it.”
“Francis will come to me in December to watch the [Usyk vs. Fury] rematch,” he said of the former UFC heavyweight champion. “We have a lot of business together. I have on the table two options for Francis: one in MMA and one in boxing I want to discuss.”
When pressed if he wanted to set up Ngannou vs. Jones, Alalshikh gave a non-direct answer.
“The MMA, you know all the time, my answer is all the time we want to do the biggest things,” he said. When told how impossible it would be to get the UFC onboard, he added “We need to send Dana White to the moon.”
If there’s one man who can send an offer big enough to make the UFC reconsider its hard stance on not co-promoting, it’s Turki Alalshikh. On the other hand, if there’s one man who can resist the urge for a big Saudi payment now in order to keep the UFC’s low payscale intact for the future, it’s Dana White.