Former UFC Champion Recommends Stipulation Change In Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou: ‘C’mon Tyson! Give The F***in’ Guy A Chance!’
This former champion would like to see Fury try to even things out between himself and Ngannou.
Luke Rockhold isn’t discounting the chances of Francis Ngannou upsetting Tyson Fury, but he’d be more interested in the fight if it was going to be contested in smaller boxing gloves.
The former UFC middleweight champion is coming off his own foray into striking sports when he took on Mike Perry in the main event of BKFC 41 in April. That fight ended in the second round when Rockhold had a few of his teeth knocked out, but it doesn’t appear as if that result has encouraged him to fully walk away from combat sports yet.
Rockhold recently spoke to Chamatkar Sandhu and was asked for his thoughts on Fury vs. Ngannou and whether or not “The Predator” had any path to victory outside of landing one big punch.
“Francis has got power like nobody has power,” Rockhold responded. “Tyson’s a big guy, he’s a strategic guy who’s hard to hit, but if he can get to him the first two rounds maybe, maybe three. But Francis is gonna get tired quickly. Throwing and not being used to the situation against a guy like him, it’s like you can’t expect Francis to have a big gas tank. As much as I love Francis, this is gonna be a tough f***ing fight.”
Luke Rockhold Proposes Smaller Gloves For Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury
The matchup will be a professional bout and count towards each man’s respective boxing record, however given the unique circumstances Rockhold would have liked to see Fury allow Ngannou to use gloves that are at least somewhat closer to what he used in MMA.
(Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
“I would have liked to see them do eight-ounce gloves. That would have been cool…C’mon Tyson, give the f***ing guy a chance. Put eight-ounce gloves on and let’s see how much more interesting this thing gets. That would be something special…At least you’re leveling the odds a little more. Twelve-ounce gloves, it doesn’t really do the thing justice for sure. I think tens, if not eights. Eights would be appropriate in my mind.”
It appears unlikely that Rockhold’s suggestion will be put into effect considering we’re now less than two months away from the heavyweight showdown in Saudi Arabia, but one thing Ngannou does have going for him is the advice and support of boxing legend Mike Tyson.
“The Predator” has the chance to shock the entire combat sports world on October 28, but regardless of the result of that matchup the reported payday he’ll be receiving should set the former UFC heavyweight champion up nicely before he returns to MMA next year.
