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Tyson Fury’s name is back in the mouths of a lot of fighters, fans, and pundits in the MMA sphere this week. Fury has been a notable secondary player in the long-running drama between newly minted PFL signee Francis Ngannou, and his former employer the UFC.
Whether he ever had any intention of making good on the idea or not, Fury’s stated interest in boxing Ngannou was part of what lured the heavyweight champ into free agency and out from under the thumb of Dana White & Co. With Jon Jones pursuing his own bout against Ngannou, it’s put two of combat sports’ most notable figures into some extremely unlikely ‘what if’ matchmaking.
What if Tyson Fury went to MMA? How would he fair against Francis Ngannou? Or Jon Jones? Or even Joe Rogan?
Former UFC champ Josh Barnett throws his name into the discourse
With Tyson Fury happy to entertain a circus he knows he’ll never really have to star in, it seems everyone is coming out of the woodwork to throw a challenge his way. Among the notables to do so is even another former UFC heavyweight champion, the ‘Warmaster’ Josh Barnett.
Barnett took to social media to instigate his call-out and, more particularly, remind fans and boxers that MMA is a world in which they’re not at all equipped to compete.
Barnett hasn’t competed in MMA since leaving the UFC back in 2018. That departure came on the heels of what was effectively a 2-year USADA suspension for a possible violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy. Barnett appealed the suspension and was officially handed a “public repremand” in 2018. While he was never officially sanctioned, the damage to his career was done all the same.
After securing his release, Barnett signed a contract with Bellator in 2019, but was deemed medically unfit to compete ahead of his debut. The following year, he competed in a one-off bare-knuckle fight under the KSW banner, defeating former KSW heavyweight champ Marcin Rozalski via second round TKO. In the years since, the 45-year-old has remained active on the pro-wrestling scene and is currently set to step back in the ring on September 3rd against Masakatsu Funaki.
What’s next for Tyson Fury?
With Francis Ngannou now out from under the UFC’s clutches, this would seem like the perfect time to start actually building toward the fight that Fury had said he was ready to take. If plans are in motion, however, they certainly haven’t come to the knowledge of the public.
Fury had been expected to take on former undisputed cruiserweight & current multiple-belt holding heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandyr Usyk sometime this year, but negotiations for the bout have stalled and re-started often enough that a fight between the two men seems less and less likely all the time. There are rumblings that the long awaited bout between Fury and Anthony Joshua could finally come to fruition, but it seems just as likely that he’ll end up taking on a one of the WBC’s ranked top contenders instead.
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