MMA veteran Demetrious Johnson would like to see his fellow former UFC champion, Francis Ngannou, continue his career in boxing.
On Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou made his professional debut in boxing – against the man many observers regard as the top heavyweight in the sport, WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
Ngannou, who entered the ring as a massive underdog, put on the performance of his career.
He shocked every critic by dropping Fury with a hard left hand in the third round, made the fight very competitive, and came very close to shocking Fury in their ten round non-title fight.
Fury was awarded the bout with a razor-close split decision, with tallies of 95-94 and 96-93, while a third judge had it 95-94 for Ngannou.
Earlier this year, Ngannou signed promotional agreement with MMA organization PFL.
He plans to make his PFL debut in 2024. Ngannou’s last fight in MMA was a defense of the UFC heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in January 2022.
Johnson believes Ngannou has nothing left to accomplish in MMA – and wants to see him move forward with a boxing career.
He felt Ngannou did enough to earn the decision over Fury.
“What? These guys are f——- high. Judges are blind. Booooooo…Each time there is some stuff that I’m just not ok with that goes on in the fight world. Francis Ngannou came out and executed beautifully. He won that fight. He was absolutely robbed. This is the thing that’s destroying boxing,” Johnson said.
“I don’t think I wanna see Francis [go back] to mixed martial arts. I know that might be hard to hear, but I don’t see why PFL cannot do a boxing. Why [can’t] PFL do boxing? You have one of the biggest stars in boxing right now, Francis, who just beat the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson Fury. I want to see Francis box. I don’t want to see him do mixed martial arts…There’s nothing left for him to do in [MMA].”