MMA star Conor McGregor is very interested in Saturday’s crossover fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou.
Back in 2017, McGregor jump-started the crossover market when he made his professional boxing debut against five division world champion Floyd Mayweather at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Mayweather, who snapped a two-year layoff to take the fight, broke McGregor down and stopped him in the tenth round.
Their fight became one of the most financially successful events in combat sports history.
Ngannou, who like McGregor is a former UFC champion, will make his debut against the man who many view as the top heavyweight in boxing.
Very few observers are expecting Ngannou to last the distance, but McGregor refuses to count him out.
“I’d like to talk about the bout, a great bout, an interesting bout. Francis Ngannou for me is more of a kickboxer/boxer than he is a mixed martial artist, in my opinion,” McGregor said on X.
“He’s more of a standup fighter than he is a mixed martial artist. You start throwing in grappling with Francis, it’s never good for him. He has a striker’s mentality. This will stand to him in this bout. He has a tall ask with Tyson Fury but any man can land a shot. Tyson does get hit. It’s going to be a tough ask. I’m excited to see it unfold. Tyson looks great in the buildup. Fast, light, elusive, it could be a seriously stellar performance from Tyson Fury here.
“What are the variables? A few variables. The Mike Tyson influx into this in Francis Ngannou’s corner is very interesting. Francis has power. Francis has big power with a striker’s mentality. If it gets a bit tougher for him in the later rounds, the striker mentality will withstand versus if it was a mixed martial artist’s mentality.
“With power, with that, anything can happen Mike Tyson in the corner, that type of style could be a kryptonite of a long, rangy distance type of fighter in Tyson Fury. I don’t think Tyson is going to want to let Francis test his power on him. Has Mike Tyson given some tips to get inside, change an angle, to bang a shot that clips the top of the temple, to make it into an interesting bout?”