Israel Adesanya Explains Why Ngannou Didn’t Beat Tyson Fury

Nigerian-born Australian former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has stressed that Francis Ngannou wasn’t allowed to win Tyson Fury to please the “bureaucrats in boxing”.

Following the unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September, Israel Adesanya has decided to voluntarily step away from the competition. It’s unclear when he will return to the ring but his fans won’t miss him much thanks to his media engagements.

Recall that the two-time UFC middleweight champion walked with Ngannou to the ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the Cameroonian made his boxing debut against Tyson Fury. This meant that he was within enough distance to experience the effects of both his friend’s heroic effort, which culminated in Fury’s split decision victory, and Ngannou’s third-round dropping of Fury.

One judge scored the fight in favor of Fury, giving Ngannou a score of 95-94. This suggested that the former UFC heavyweight champion was only a few steps away from deposing the longest-serving heavyweight champion in boxing history.

Most pundits believe the scores in some of the rounds were tied, but Adesanya is very certain about who won the boxing bout.

The Nigerian-born UFC star said, “I thought [Ngannou] won, but I was just like, it’s a close fight, but I felt if you were in the arena, if you were watching when you watch a fight you know who won. You just know who won. I wasn’t scoring the fight, you know—even them two, they know. You know who wins a fight because you’re in there with that person and those who are watching you.

“But then I was very wary of the judges, I just knew boxing gonna boxing. Not saying MMA doesn’t have it as well, but imagine … I’ve been there before, and I can relate, so I just knew. I wasn’t confident in the judges, because I knew for a guy with zero boxing fights to come in there in his debut boxing fight, not even as an amateur, and beat the reigning lineal champion, the bureaucrats in boxing would not like that.”