Nigerian-Austrialian fighter Israel Adesanya has backed French-Cameroonian fighter Francis Ngannou to defeat British boxer Tyson Fury in October.
Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya, and Kamaru Usman are members of the ‘3 Kings’ of African heritage who used to dominate the UFC. However, the fighters have lost their hold of the UFC except Adesanya who is the current UFC champion.
Ngannou has left UFC and is currently trying to break into the heavyweight category while Usman lost his UFC title to Leon Edwards.
Ngannou’s exit from the UFC drew criticism, but the heavyweight fighter quiet his critics by announcing a high-profile boxing match against Tyson Fury. Immediately after the bout was confirmed, Adesanya reached out to Ngannou with a supportive text message to show his support for him.
Ahead of the boxing match, Israel Adesanya told his subscribers on his YouTube channel that he would travel to Saudi Arabia to watch the Ngannou Vs Fury mega-fight in Riyadh on October 28.
The middleweight champion said, “As soon as I heard the news recently, I was the first person to text him. I was like, ‘I’m gonna be there to witness history.’
“Because a lot of people were counting him out, I said, ‘Let him cook.’ And cook he did… I’m going to Saudi Arabia. I’m witnessing that sh*t live.”
The potential boxing-MMA match between Tyson Fury and Ngannou was the source of contention between Ngannou and UFC president Dana White. Ngannou ultimately quit the promotion as a result of this.
While he supports Ngannou in his boxing endeavor, Adesanya is still optimistic that the heavyweight fighter would eventually make a comeback to the UFC. However, Adesanya thinks Ngannou needs to safeguard his financial interests outside of the UFC before he returns to the brand.
“I think he’ll be back in the UFC, but he just has to make his bag elsewhere first,” the Australian-Nigerian fighter said.
