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Heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury and Jon Jones have been verbally sparring lately over a fight that will probably never happen.
Fury spent some time recently at the Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA Gym in Phuket, Thailand. Apart from getting some sparring rounds in, the heavyweight boxer also had a Q&A with head coach George Hickman and the other coaches, fighters and students from Bangtao. Fury spoke about Jones and the possibility of ever facing each other in the ring or the cage.
Tyson Fury says Joe Rogan is the reason ‘ridiculous’ Jon Jones talk started
“To be honest with you, all this talk of a me and Jon Jones fighting in a cage is absolutely ridiculous,” Fury said in a video obtained by Bloody Elbow. “Like, I’m the lineal world heavyweight champion. The man who beat the man going back to John L. Sullivan. Why would I even dream of going in a cage and wrestling and all that? It’s not my thing.”
Fury then went on to explain that this entire discourse was started over something UFC commentator Joe Rogan said.
“It was actually Joe Rogan, little shitbag, who [started this],” said Fury. “Just out of the blue, there was no talk of me or Jon even fighting. Jon’s a great guy, probably the GOAT of MMA. [Rogan] said, ‘Oh if Tyson Fury goes in a room with Jon Jones he’s going to get absolutely smashed to bits.’ Like, if someone goes in the room with me and it’s no holds barred, you’re going to have to kill me to stop me.”
“He didn’t say an MMA fight or a boxing fight, he said go in a room together and Tyson Fury’s not walking out,” continued Fury. “So I don’t know where it all started and Jon said something and I said something and we’ve being going back and forward.
“There was never talk of me saying I was going to go in a cage with Jon Jones and go in there and get my arm snapped off. No way. The thing was, I offered Jon, you want to walk in a boxing ring and make some real money then come and fight me. But zero chance of me going in an MMA game and rolling around and all that. Zero.”
Fury details offer he made to fight Francis Ngannou
Tyson Fury was then asked by Bangtao head coach George Hickman, whether he would take on Jon Jones under some kind of hybrid rule-set that included boxing with MMA style gloves.
“I’ve offered to fight Ngannou in a cage under boxing rules with four ounce gloves on and guess what’s happened? His arsehole fell out,” responded Fury, eliciting laughs from those who were gathered.
“Obviously my forte is not taking people down and all that sort of stuff, it’s different for me. It’s like, yeah I’m going to fly a jet plane. I don’t know how to fly a jet plane, I have no idea. In a stand up sport, in punching combat, whether it’s in a cage, in a phone box, whatever it’s going to be, if they want to do that, then no problem. But definitely not, I’m not going into any MMA fights.”
Fury then detailed precisely why he wouldn’t fancy his (or any other boxers’ chances in MMA).
“It doesn’t farewell for boxers,” he said. “I’ve only ever known one boxer to win and that’s Ray Mercer when he knocked out Tim Sylvia with one punch and that was it. All the rest of them, James Toney got done by Randy Couture, quite a few of them have been done quite quickly. Because a boxer’s thing is, he stands up and he stands side on (stance) and a shoot takes them down and (then the MMA fighter can) punch them up. So yeah, it won’t be something that I’m interested in, at all. But if them lads want to come over into my boxing world then they are more than welcome.”
Dana White tried to get in on this act
UFC President Dana White, who is on record saying his promotion doesn’t do ‘gimmick fights’, jumped on this discussion and has said, repeatedly, that he would pave the way for a gimmick special fight in the Octagon between Tyson Fury and Jon Jones.
White revealed that he didn’t believe Jones could ever beat Fury in the boxing ring. Instead he challenged Fury to compete in MMA (or fly a jet plane, as Fury would say).
“All these boxing guys want to talk about this and keep it in the ring. I’m telling Tyson Fury, who I respect very much: If you really want to find out who the baddest man on the planet is, I will make that fight,” said White.
What’s next for Tyson Fury and Jon Jones
Fury last fought in December. That’s when he beat Derek Chisora via tenth round TKO to defend the WBC title (in a fight he never looked in danger of losing). Immediately after the fight he called out Oleksandr Usyk, who is the WBC title short of being undisputed heavyweight champ.
Despite Fury and Usyk going nose-to-nose on the ring apron in December, a fight between the two has yet to materialize.
Jones won the vacant heavyweight belt in March against Ciryl Gane. It is believed his first title defense will be against former champion Stipe Miocic in Madison Square Garden later this year. Jones has hinted that this fight could be a retirement fight.
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