{"id":317140,"date":"2019-06-24T09:21:32","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T16:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=317140"},"modified":"2019-06-24T09:21:32","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T16:21:32","slug":"francis-ngannou-hints-at-future-move-to-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/francis-ngannou-hints-at-future-move-to-boxing\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou hints at future move to boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Long before Francis Ngannou became one of the most feared contenders in the UFC heavyweight division, he was dreaming of a career as a professional boxer.<\/p>\n<p>While he&#8217;s currently focused on his MMA career, it sounds as though he hasn&#8217;t given up on his dreams of competing in the boxing ring.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FRANCIS NGANNOU: JUNIOR DOS SANTOS CAN&#039;T CATCH MY BOMBS; CROSSING PATHS INTO BOXING SOONER OR LATER\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y6OUsLD41HI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, first of all, boxing is my background,&#8221; Francis Ngannou recently told Helen Yee (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowkickmma.com\/francis-ngannou-believes-transition-boxing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LowKickMMA<\/a>). &#8220;Boxing was my first love for a very long time. For more than 10 years I have been loving boxing without even knowing what MMA was. Then, I get in MMA by opportunity, but still boxing lover. So, I think, at some point, I can end up to cross paths with that dream.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSooner or later, it\u2019s going to definitely \u2014 it might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Francis Ngannou does migrate to the sport of boxing, his power will make him a dangerous opponent for just about anybody \u2014 even if he&#8217;s a few steps behind in terms of technique. For that reason alone, UFC commentator Joe Rogan believes the UFC heavyweight could reach championship heights in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark my words, if Francis Ngannou decides to jump ship and go to heavyweight boxing, he will nuke some fools,\u201d Rogan said on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TkDjXYMmygc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a recent episode<\/a>\u00a0of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Francis Ngannou has a problem with grappling, what does he not have a problem with? Striking. He KOs Alistair Overeem. Alistair Overeem is a world class striker. He\u2019s a kickboxer at the highest level, wins the K-1 Grand Prix. I mean, he\u2019s knocked out Badr Hari, he\u2019s beaten \u2018Turkish Tyson\u2019 (Gokhan Saki), he\u2019s beaten some good guys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrancis Ngannou, everyone he connects with other than Stipe [Miocic], goes night night. Stipe is the only guy. Stipe figured out how to use his championship mettle, use his grit, use his takedowns, and won the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How do you think Francis Ngannou would perform as a professional boxer?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 6\/24\/2019. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before Francis Ngannou became one of the most feared contenders in the UFC heavyweight division, he was dreaming of a career as a professional boxer. While he&#8217;s currently focused on his MMA career, it sounds as though he hasn&#8217;t given up on his dreams of competing in the boxing ring. \u201cSo, first of all, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":305514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10646,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Francis Ngannou hints at future move to boxing | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou teases a future move to the sport of boxing \u2014 a sport he refers to as his &quot;first love.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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