Francis Ngannou’s great effort against Tyson Fury in his professional boxing debut remains legendary in recent combat sports history.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion shut up all doubters this past October 2023. Manifesting his dream of boxing an all-time great, Ngannou went toe-to-toe with the then-undefeated 33-0-1 Fury. Ngannou lost the bout by split decision (watch highlights) on the judges’ scorecards but performed so well that many believed he was the true winner in every sense.
Amongst that party was longtime UFC commentator, Joe Rogan, who believes Ngannou probably needed a finish for a clean win, considering Fury had his follow-up match already scheduled.
“I thought he won that fight,” Rogan said on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “But, you know, they were setting up that [Oleksandr] Usyk fight. They were not gonna let — yeah, it just seemed like the fix was in a little bit.
“It was close enough that they could pull it off,” he continued. “You could go, ‘Okay, maybe. Maybe you could see him winning that,’ but I don’t think so. I thought Francis won it. A lot of people thought Francis won it.”
Ngannou and Fury have suffered the same fates in their matches since they fought. Ngannou, 37, took on Anthony Joshua in his sophomore boxing appearance when he suffered a second round knockout loss (watch highlights) in March 2024. Fury, on the other hand, was dealt his first loss against Usyk, who earned the split decision win in May 2024 (watch highlights).