Francis Ngannou has opened the door to a possible crossover fight against rising heavyweight boxing star Daniel Dubois, claiming a meeting between them would be a “tough fight”.
It comes as the 38-year-old will make his long-awaited return to MMA on October 19, following a couple of big boxing wins.
He will enter the SmartCage to face Brazilian star Renan Ferreira, in what is known as the “Battle of the Giants.”
It will be Ngannou’s debut in the Professional Fighting League (PFL), and the 38-year-old will earn a whopping $14.8 million, according to Forbes.
While the former UFC heavyweight champion told Mail Sport that he is focused on the fight against Ferreira, the Cameroonian also gave his thoughts on Dubois’ sensational fifth-round knockout victory against Anthony Joshua.
“Dubois is a very tough opponent,” Ngannou said.
“I think for years they’ve been talking about him as a promising guy in the heavyweight division. In his last fight (against Joshua), he showed it.
“So yeah, it would be a tough fight, a very tough fight,” he added, speaking of a possible showdown between him and Dubois.
Francis Ngannou (pictured) has opened the door to a possible crossover fight against Daniel Dubois.
Dubois (pictured) scored a sensational knockout victory against Anthony Joshua in September.
Ngannou (left) will face Renan Ferreira (right) in the SmartCage in his PFL debut.
“But I repeat, no fight is impossible, because no one believed he was going to defeat Joshua.”
While many had questioned whether it was time for Joshua, 34, to hang up his gloves, the British fighter remained defiant through that cloud of uncertainty, insisting he will continue boxing.
Joshua’s last win came against Ngannou in March, with the Brit scoring a devastating second-round knockout victory against the MMA star.
And Ngannou has also offered his opinion on whether Joshua should retire.
“That’s your decision,” he told this newspaper. ‘He is the only one who can make that decision.
‘If you feel you can continue. He continues. You feel like you no longer have that motivation or focus, so maybe you should retire.
But only he knows exactly what to do because he is still young. I mean, you have a few years ahead of you before you get there.
“But I repeat, it’s up to him.”
Now that he had faced Joshua and Tyson Fury in the ring, Ngannou revealed that he had “missed the cage”.
Ngannou also offered his opinion on Anthony Joshua’s (pictured) future in boxing and whether he should hang up his gloves.
Joshua’s (right) last win was against Ngannou (left) in March, where he outlasted the MMA star with a second-round knockout victory.
‘Well, I’m really excited to be back. I miss the cage, it’s been more than two years, almost three years. I miss the cage.
‘I’m going to enter a cage and not just any cage, it’s the SmartCage. It’ll be fun.’
He also sent a word of warning to his next opponent, Ferreira – with his fight against screen in Australia exclusively on Stan Sport.
“What I will say is that he (Ferreira) knows he has a different beast in front of him, nothing he’s ever faced before,” Ngannou said.
“I hope you know because if you don’t, you’re going to find out in a not pleasant way.”
Earlier this year, Ngannou was also called up by Fedor Emelianenko, who recently came out of retirement to face Tim Johnson and Ryan Bader.
“A lot of people have been criticizing me lately,” Ngannou said when asked if he would consider a fight against Emelianenko.
Ngannou (left) insisted Ferreira (right) will face a “different beast” next week.
‘I mean, Fedor Emelianenko is a fighter I really respect. I think he has his face on ‘MMA Mt Rushmore’. But for now, my attention is focused on Renan Ferreira. If you talk about MMA, my attention is focused on him.
“And after that fight, we can talk about the potential of what may or may not happen.”