UFC

TYSON FURY has warned UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou he’ll miss out on a mega crossover fight if he faces Jon Jones next.Ngannou revealed his eagerness to box The Gypsy King last month after ripping the heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic’s clutches at UFC 261.
Newly-crowned UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou recently called out Tyson Fury
But The Gypsy King has sent a warning to The Predator on InstagramCredit: INSTAGRAM@GYPSYKING101
Fury, 32, is open to a crossover fight but has urged The Predator to face him before he sets foot inside the octagon with pound-for-pound king Jones.
He wrote on his Instagram story: “@FrancisNgannou, if you fight @jonnybones he will 100% cent smash you [and] then it’s over!!!”
The WBC heavyweight king also urged UFC president Dana White to make the fight as soon as possible.
He wrote: “@DanaWhite @UFC let’s make me vs the ugly dosser Francis. ASAP.”
Fury’s message to Ngannou came less than 24 hours after he reiterated his willingness to throw down with Africa’s first UFC champion and branded him a ‘dosser’ in a blistering rant.
He said: “This is a message to Francis Ngannou and the UFC guys.
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How Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou compare
“Look, if you want some of this Gypsy King money, you know where to come find it.
“You want some of this Gypsy King power, I’ll give it ya.
“Any time, any place, anywhere. Seven days a week and twice on a Sunday you big ugly dosser.”
Fury, 32, is currently preparing up for a multi-million-pound undisputed heavyweight title fight fellow Brit Anthony Joshua.
The first instalment of Joshua vs Fury is set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the summer, although the pair’s long-awaited showdown has not yet been finalised.

And that has prompted Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum to claim the biggest fight in the history of British boxing is ‘dead in the water’.
The 89-year-old told The Daily Telegraph: “It will take months for the Saudis to do their due diligence on such a huge deal.
“It is not just a site fee, there are ancillary demands from the Saudis stretching into the broadcast deals and other things, it could take months for it all to play out.
“It could even take until 2022 the way it looks right now.
“The fight in July or August is dead in the water as far as we are concerned.
“The two fighters need to go and have other fights this summer while the negotiations for that fight in the Middle East conclude.”
UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou warns Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury he wants to box More

UFC legend Royce Gracie challenged Mike Tyson to a ‘no-holds-barred’ fight ‘to the finish’, a new memoir has revealed.The boxing icon tore apart the heavyweight division in the late 1980s before a rape conviction, along with excessive partying and further personal life problems, rocked his career.
Brazilian MMA star Royce Gracie (right) was a pioneer of UFCCredit: Getty
Mike Tyson was challenged to a huge match-up by the UFC legendCredit: instagram.com/miketyson
While Iron Mike was preparing his comeback to the ring, the MMA promotion UFC was founded and Brazilian fighter Gracie, now 54, won three fights on its first night in late 1993.
And his desire to be seen as the top fighter on Earth led to a stunning challenge for the Baddest Man on the Planet.
In a memoir by sports writer Fiaz Rafiq,’ To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment’, it is revealed: “[Tyson] was challenged by the Gracie Brothers, in particular Royce, back in the early 1990s.
“The UFC champion’s perception was that Tyson was the best boxer in the world, but he refused to accept that Tyson was the best ‘fighter’.
“The Gracies had a point. They had been beating all-comers from various styles long before the Octagon was first engineered.
“And Royce wasn’t going to rest until he did everything within his means to provoke the heavyweight champion into accepting a real fight in a no-holds-barred setting.
“To settle the matter once and for all, Royce formally challenged the most feared boxer of our time to a fight to the finish, and so did his elder brother Rickson.”
Gracie felt that Tyson, 54, was beatable despite his huge frame and ferocity – yet the proposition was declined with Iron Mike feeling there was ‘no way he’d win’.
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To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment is out May 3
Rafiq wrote: “For Royce, any fight was a matter of who could implement their own strategy, and much of the Gracie style was developed to avoid even the chance of their opponent landing a lucky punch.
“What Royce lacked in brute force, he clearly made up for in technical skill, as his opponents – including a professional boxer – quickly discovered.
“‘There’s only one way to find out,’ he told me, as a smirk crept across his face followed by loud laughter. Sadly for posterity, Tyson declined.”
In fact, Gracie came back a few years later with a fresh proposal, which was dismissed by a boxing world that is now clamouring for YouTube brawlers such as Jake Paul and crossover events like Conor McGregor’s match with Floyd Mayweather.
Rafiq continued: “In Iron Mike’s case, one rejection wasn’t enough for Royce.
“In 1997 the Gracie’s challenge made the headlines again, after the publication of a one-page advert in Men’s Health in America, in which the UFC champion once again challenged the former heavyweight boxer ‘officially’. Anywhere, anytime, no rules!

“Years later I asked Royce about the famous challenge, and discovered that the heavyweight had been, at least in theory, willing to put up.
“‘I heard that my brother tried to bring him in [to the UFC],’ Royce explained. ‘He had accepted but people around him – the lawyers, managers, and the Commission – said no way, because boxing had too much to lose.
“But he had accepted and he wanted to do it. I talked to him before and he’s like, ‘I’d love to try this stuff out, man’.
“But people around him did not allow him to do it. If he lost a fight, if it happened, well, boxing was already in the decline in America so it wouldn’t be good for boxing’.”
To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment by Fiaz Rafiq is published by Pitch Publishing, released May 3 and priced at £20 in hardback or £9.99. Ebook available in bookstores and following this Amazon link.
Mike Tyson reveals what it takes to be part of his entourage and will include anyone who has a purpose in life More

UFC legend Royce Gracie challenged Mike Tyson to a ‘no-holds-barred’ fight ‘to the finish’, a new memoir has revealed.The boxing icon tore apart the heavyweight division in the late 1980s before a rape conviction, along with excessive partying and further personal life problems, rocked his career.
Brazilian MMA star Royce Gracie (right) was a pioneer of UFCCredit: Getty
Mike Tyson was challenged to a huge match-up by the UFC legendCredit: instagram.com/miketyson
While Iron Mike was preparing his comeback to the ring, the MMA promotion UFC was founded and Brazilian fighter Gracie, now 54, won three fights on its first night in late 1993.
And his desire to be seen as the top fighter on Earth led to a stunning challenge for the Baddest Man on the Planet.
In a memoir by sports writer Fiaz Rafiq,’ To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment’, it is revealed: “[Tyson] was challenged by the Gracie Brothers, in particular Royce, back in the early 1990s.
“The UFC champion’s perception was that Tyson was the best boxer in the world, but he refused to accept that Tyson was the best ‘fighter’.
“The Gracies had a point. They had been beating all-comers from various styles long before the Octagon was first engineered.
“And Royce wasn’t going to rest until he did everything within his means to provoke the heavyweight champion into accepting a real fight in a no-holds-barred setting.
“To settle the matter once and for all, Royce formally challenged the most feared boxer of our time to a fight to the finish, and so did his elder brother Rickson.”
Gracie felt that Tyson, 54, was beatable despite his huge frame and ferocity – yet the proposition was declined with Iron Mike feeling there was ‘no way he’d win’.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN SIGN UP OFFERS HERE
To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment is out May 3
Rafiq wrote: “For Royce, any fight was a matter of who could implement their own strategy, and much of the Gracie style was developed to avoid even the chance of their opponent landing a lucky punch.
“What Royce lacked in brute force, he clearly made up for in technical skill, as his opponents – including a professional boxer – quickly discovered.
“‘There’s only one way to find out,’ he told me, as a smirk crept across his face followed by loud laughter. Sadly for posterity, Tyson declined.”
In fact, Gracie came back a few years later with a fresh proposal, which was dismissed by a boxing world that is now clamouring for YouTube brawlers such as Jake Paul and crossover events like Conor McGregor’s match with Floyd Mayweather.
Rafiq continued: “In Iron Mike’s case, one rejection wasn’t enough for Royce.
“In 1997 the Gracie’s challenge made the headlines again, after the publication of a one-page advert in Men’s Health in America, in which the UFC champion once again challenged the former heavyweight boxer ‘officially’. Anywhere, anytime, no rules!

“Years later I asked Royce about the famous challenge, and discovered that the heavyweight had been, at least in theory, willing to put up.
“‘I heard that my brother tried to bring him in [to the UFC],’ Royce explained. ‘He had accepted but people around him – the lawyers, managers, and the Commission – said no way, because boxing had too much to lose.
“But he had accepted and he wanted to do it. I talked to him before and he’s like, ‘I’d love to try this stuff out, man’.
“But people around him did not allow him to do it. If he lost a fight, if it happened, well, boxing was already in the decline in America so it wouldn’t be good for boxing’.”
To The Top: Enter the Octagon, the Ring and Entertainment by Fiaz Rafiq is published by Pitch Publishing, released May 3 and priced at £20 in hardback or £9.99. Ebook available in bookstores and following this Amazon link.
Mike Tyson reveals what it takes to be part of his entourage and will include anyone who has a purpose in life More