NEW UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has sent out a warning to boxing stars Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury ahead of their £200m unification clash.
Ngannou finally reached the UFC summit after knocking out Stipe Miocic in their rematch, having initially lost to the American in 2018.
His attention swiftly turned to a fight with Jon Jones, who announced a move up to heavyweight last year.
But Ngannou, 34, believes Bones, 33, does want to fight him as the American tries to solve a payment dispute with UFC’s Dana White.
However, he has now followed on from the dethroned Miocic declaring his desire to face AJ or the Gypsy King in the ring by talking up a bumper big-money crossover of his own.
And it stems from his first fighting hero Tyson – the legendary boxer he aimed to emulate after arriving in Paris from Africa before he even knew what MMA was.
Speaking to ESPN, the Cameroonian said: “This is in the future, it’s somewhere, definitely. I’m going to box; I have to box in my career.
“My main dream has always been the noble art and even though I deviated into MMA, which I love, I still have to fulfil something in boxing.”
Ngannou also revealed he has no desire to sit waiting around and basking in his glory.
Instead he wants two more fights before the end of 2021 – and he is happy to face anyone should Jones not climb into the cage with him.
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He added: “I don’t know what’s happening between Jon Jones and the UFC but something seems wrong and I think maybe he’s handled it in the wrong way.
“But that’s not my business, there are a lot of contenders ready to fight and there are a lot of fights here.
“For the first time, I’m the man who is making the call, I don’t have to sit down and wait for people; they are waiting for me and I am ready.
“I can choose to fight and I want to fight twice this year. I hope that fight happens, I would love that fight but if not I will move on. I am ready to fight in the summer, maybe August, so that I can also fight in December.”
He added: “If it was up to me, Jon Jones is a good one. I’ve taken the best heavyweight of all time out so now to take the pound-for-pound No.1 guy out would be good; it would be good for the resume.
“I think he wants a challenge but I think he is also at the stage in his career where he wants a big pay cheque, and I can’t argue with that.
“He is the greatest and the pound-for-pound No.1 guy, you can’t deny anything in this sport to Jon Jones.”
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