MMA veteran Francis Ngannou revealed that he was doing a lot of trash-talking during the crossover fight with WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
On Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ngannou put in a stunning performance in a razor-close ten round split decision loss to Fury.
During the third round, Ngannou shocked everyone when he dropped Fury with a left hand.
“When we got closer and touched gloves, he said ‘Let me take you to school,’” Ngannou explained. “I’m like ‘You motherf—–, you are not taking me to school.’ That’s why when I knocked him down, I was dancing in front of him, like ‘You a bad professor, motherf——. You a bad professor. How is that school going? Who is taking who to school? Because to me, it looks like I’m the one taking you to school.’ That was the language that I was expressing at that time. Who was taking who to school?”
As the fight played out, Ngannou was very competitive and landed the bigger punches. He cut Fury’s forehead with an uppercut, and later pounded him with punches during the eight round.
After the ten rounds were over, Fury won with two scorecards of 95-94 and 96-93, while Ngannou was the winner of the third card with a tally of 95-94.
“I feel pretty good,” Ngannou said. “I wasn’t so busted up in the fight. I got hit a couple times but not too bad so I was able to manage not to get damage. So I feel pretty good. And regardless of the decision, personally I am satisfied with my performance. I know that I could have done better and I will go back and get better. But I really believe I didn’t come up short in this fight. I believe that I stood toe to toe with the number one boxer in the world for my first match, and I basically won the fight.”