Breaking Down the 5 Best Fight Options for Francis Ngannou

Francis Ngannou didn't get the win in his highly anticipated boxing match with Tyson Fury, but the lineal MMA heavyweight champion was anything but a loser by the time all was said and done on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Despite facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge in his first pro boxing bout, the Cameroonian knockout artist pushed the undefeated lineal boxing champ Fury for 10 tense rounds and even scored the lone knockdown of the fight. The action was so competitive that Fury only escaped with a split-decision victory—a verdict that many fans felt should have gone the other way.

It was a performance nobody expected from Ngannou, and one that turned him into a legitimate superstar overnight. He is clearly a high-level talent in both boxing and MMA, and because of his bold decision to walk away from his restrictive UFC contract, he has the freedom to pursue whatever fights interest him in either sport.

Keep scrolling for the four fights we think make the most sense for the man many now consider to be the true king of heavyweight combat sports.

Generally speaking, when a big fight is as close as Fury vs. Ngannou, there is immediate talk of a rematch. That's particularly true in cases like this, where one fighter put forth such an unexpectedly brilliant performance.

We all want to know if Ngannou is really as good as he looked on Saturday night, or if Fury perhaps took him lightly. So how about a rematch? After the drama of their first fight, it would be a blockbuster, and it could be made even more exciting if Fury agreed to put his titles on the line the second time around.

Unfortunately, it's seldom that simple in boxing.

Fury, as we all know, is signed on for a Dec. 23 undisputed championship clash with Oleksandr Usyk. That date now looks questionable—thanks to Ngannou's concussive handiwork—but Fury remains committed to the Ukrainian, and it's unlikely those plans will fall apart completely. Maybe it gets delayed to January or February, but it will most likely still happen, which means Ngannou will have to wait for a shot at redemption against the man many feel he beat in Riyadh.

Thankfully, he has plenty of other options in "The Sweet Science."

If an immediate rematch with Fury is off the table, Ngannou may look to set up a boxing match with former WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder.

Wilder has long been considered one of boxing's premier heavyweights but came up short in a three-fight rivalry with Fury, losing back-to-back fights by stoppage after battling the Brit to a draw in their first meeting.

He has since rebounded from that saga with a vicious knockout win over Robert Helenius, which helped reaffirm that, even if he isn't the division's best fighter, he is one of its hardest punchers. In fact, it's widely argued that Wilder holds that distinction outright.

Ngannou's arrival in the sport casts some doubt on that argument.

The lineal MMA champ shares Wilder's propensity for vicious, one-punch knockouts, and on top of that, is quite a bit bigger than the former WBC champ. He may legitimately be the most dangerous puncher in all of combat sports right now.

The good news is that there's a pretty good way for the two heavyweights to settle this debate: Let them fight and see who is still standing when the dust settles. It's a matchup so alluring that you don't need to put any titles up for grabs to sell it.

Eddie Hearn, who was in attendance for Saturday's Ngannou vs. Fury fight, wasted no time trying to pull his fighter Anthony Joshua into the spotlight after the fact, arguing that the former unified heavyweight champ would have beat the version of Fury we saw in Riyadh.

It's clear Hearn is trying to set up a fight between Joshua and Fury, and he may be right that Joshua has a real shot at winning the matchup these days. With Fury tied up with Oleksandr Usyk, though, the promoter may be wiser to set his sights on Ngannou.

A fight between Joshua and Ngannou would be big business—even if boxing purists aren't sold on it. Joshua is one of the biggest sporting stars in the United Kingdom, and Ngannou, who has lived his entire adult life in France, has plenty of cache in Europe as well.

Joshua would have to be favored on the basis of his massive experience advantage, but between his recent losses to Usyk and Andy Ruiz, and Ngannou's brilliant performance against Fury, it would be an interesting fight for as long as it lasts.

Francis Ngannou stated many times before his fight with Tyson Fury that, despite leaving the UFC, he is not finished with MMA.

After his riveting battle with Fury, it's clear that his most lucrative options exist in boxing. Nonetheless, he has since reiterated that he wants to compete in MMA again, and if he does, we know where it will happen: Earlier this year, the former UFC champ signed a deal with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) that gave him the freedom to compete in boxing but is exclusive in terms of MMA.

The PFL will be paying Ngannou far more than he ever made in the UFC and afforded him plenty of other perks in the offing. Unfortunately, the promotion now faces the substantial challenge of finding him a suitable dance partner.

The PFL has some solid heavyweights on its roster. Chief among those are Denis Goltsov and Renan Ferreira, who will fight for the 2023 heavyweight championship on November 24, and former champs like Ante Delija and Bruno Cappelozza. The problem is that, even if one of those guys has the chops to beat Ngannou, which is unlikely, none of them have much mainstream cache to meet him in the cage. They're just not big enough names.

Even if the PFL ventures outside its roster in the search for Ngannou's next foe, the outlook remains bleak. Say the promotion buys Bellator and signs its best fighters, as the rumors have long suggested. Even in that event, the best options available for Ngannou would be the likes of Ryan Bader, Linton Vassell and Vadim Nemkov who, while talented, are total unknowns among casual viewers.

That's not to say the PFL can't figure something out. The promotion has been full of surprises over the past few years—signing Ngannou being the best example—but as of now, it's fair to say they've got a tough job on their hands if the former UFC champ's next fight is under MMA rules.

Francis Ngannou's decision to leave the UFC behind was clearly in his best interest. He made more money fighting Tyson Fury than he did over the course of his entire career with the promotion, and will continue to exceed what he would have earned there in his next fights.

That's awesome, but from a fan's perspective, there was one major consequence of his decision to leave: It deprived us of a fight between him and Jon Jones, who remains locked up in an exclusive UFC contract.

Jones, the former UFC light heavyweight champ, has long been considered MMA's top pound-for-pound fighter and claimed the UFC's vacant heavyweight title after Ngannou left the promotion. Before all of that happened, he and Ngannou were linked to a fight that would have clocked as one of the biggest in UFC history. Unfortunately, the promotion couldn't make it happen, and Ngannou set off for greener pastures.

At this point, it seems nearly impossible that this fight will happen. Ngannou has signed an exclusive deal with the PFL, and while the PFL might be willing to co-promote with the UFC, the UFC has never played well with others and seems intent on pretending Ngannou never existed. Jones, meanwhile, recently signed a new long-term deal with the UFC, and at 36, is unlikely to fight anywhere else before he retires.

It's a long shot, but hey, Ngannou almost beat Tyson Fury last weekend. Clearly, anything is possible.