PFL

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes Francis Ngannou needs to strike while the iron is hot on the heels of his high-profile encounter with Tyson Fury.

Hearn said Monday on The MMA Hour that Ngannou should line up a rematch with Fury or challenge another top heavyweight such as Anthony Joshua, which would be an "absolutely massive" event:

For his part, Ngannou said he has had contact with Deontay Wilder about a fight under MMA rules:

Given the massive gulf in boxing experience between he and Fury, many fans wrote Ngannou off heading into last Saturday's clash. Instead, he was a game challenger and sent Fury to the canvas in the third round.

Per CompuBox, the PFL star connected with 59 total punches to 71 for Fury and had a slight 37-32 edge in power punches.

ESPN's Marc Raimondi noted Ngannou received around $10 million from the crossover spectacle, and it stands to reason his paycheck would be even bigger now that he has proven himself in a boxing ring to some degree.

The PFL will be counting on the 37-year-old to make his debut for the promotion at some point, but it's not immediately clear how soon that will be.

Purely in terms of finances, fighting Joshua, Fury or Wilder is far and away his best move. Raimondi wrote how Ngannou's earnings against Fury were "exponentially more than he made in his UFC fights."

Turning down the opportunity will be a tough ask if a formal offer is made.

Francis Ngannou may have lost via a controversial decision but that doesn't mean his is making any excuses.

Ngannou fell to Tyson Fury via a split decision (93-96, 94-95, 95-94) in his first official boxing match, and many believed that Ngannou had an unfair ruling. Still, the UFC standout did not want to make any excuses for the loss.

"I'm a fighter," Ngannou said, per Mike Coppinger of ESPN.com. "We can run it back again, and I'm sure I will get better. This was my first boxing match. It was a great experience. I'm not giving any excuse."

Ngannou elaborated by saying that the experience was positive and that he is looking forward to future fights.

"I know I came up short," Ngannou said, per Coppinger. "But I'm going to go back and work harder with a little more experience and little more feeling of the game. And I will come back even stronger."

Ngannou was able to knock Fury down in the third round but the decision went to Fury, who is soon awaiting a major matchup against Oleksandr Usyk. Ngannou will now look towards additional boxing matches, and the strong performance against Fury bodes well for his future in the ring.

Heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury narrowly earned a victory over Francis Ngannou Saturday and had plenty of praise for his opponent.

Fury emerged as the winner via a split decision (96-93, 95-94 and 94-95) but was knocked down by Ngannou and the fight was much closer than originally anticipated.

"He's a hell of a figher and a hell of a lot better boxer than we thought he would be," Fury said, per Luke Brown of The Athletic. "He's an awkward man and a good puncher and I respect him a lot."

Fury praised Ngannou's shiftiness and difficulty to square up as reasons why the boyt was so difficult.

"He was very awkward, he wasn't coming forward and was waiting for me to throw," Fury said, per Brown. "He's given me one of my toughest fights of the last ten years."

Fury maintained his undefeated record (33-0-1, 24 KO's) but certainly had a scare from Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut after a very successful UFC career.

Fury is currently scheduled to take on Oleksandyr Usyk for heavyweight supremacy in December, although it is not yet known if Saturday's bout could delay that and Fury was non-committal about when it would happen.

"It's not up to me, Fury said, per Brown. "Let's go now if you want. These guys will sort it all out and it will be our next fight guaranteed."

That fight will be for the undisputed heavyweight championship and is scheduled to occur December 23 in Saudi Arabia.

Jake Paul has made it clear that he has no interest in meeting Nate Diaz in the boxing ring again, but he's prepared to face him in an MMA cage.

Paul's Most Valuable Promotions announced on Monday that he has rejected Diaz's offer for a boxing rematch but he accepted an offer from PFL for an MMA fight against the former UFC star.

Paul recently announced that he intends to return to the boxing ring in December, but his opponent has not been revealed. Diaz challenged Paul to a rematch of their August fight, posting a mocked-up flyer for the fight on Instagram and writing, "Rematch December. You ain't got nobody to fight. So I'll beat your ass Dec 15th."

Diaz lost to Paul by unanimous decision in his first career boxing match following his departure from the UFC. The fight wasn't particularly exciting, with the lone highlight being Paul scoring a knockdown in the fifth round.

This isn't the first time that Paul has brought up the possibility of jumping into the MMA world to face Diaz. In September, he claimed to TMZ that Diaz turned down a lucrative offer to meet him in the cage.

"We're at the drawing board right now. Nate Diaz ducked the $10 million offer, so he's not the badass that everyone said he was," Paul said (h/t MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew). "I wanted to fight him in MMA and do something that no boxer has really ever done, which is, in the prime of their career, go over to MMA. MMA fighters have gone over to boxing, but I want to go over to MMA and Nate Diaz ducked the offer."

Diaz posted a fiery response on social media, writing, "Here's your MMA fight b---h your easy [as f--k] we can box or fight MMA at ⁦[Real Fight Inc.] no problem f--k PFL and f--k [you] p---y [fist emoji]."

It will be interesting to see if the 38-year-old eventually opens up to the idea of welcoming Paul into his world, as it can be presumed that Diaz would have the advantage in an MMA fight.

On Wednesday, the Professional Fighters League announced the sale of a minority stake to SRJ Sports Investments, a company launched earlier this month by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

According to ESPN's Marc Raimondi, the commitment from SRJ to the PFL is worth "more than $100 million," with one source saying it "could be worth substantially more" than that number. As part of the deal, the PFL will launch a new regional league called PFL MENA in 2024, and SRJ will be an investor in the new league to "support PFL's expansion into Saudi Arabia and the Middle East," per Raimondi.

In January, PFL announced the establishment of the PPV Super Fight Division, which will feature the likes of Jake Paul, Francis Ngannou, Kayla Harrison and Amanda Serrano, the latter of whom was signed earlier this month. Wednesday's announcement noted that the Super Fight events will be held in Saudi Arabia, with the first event expected to be held in the first quarter of 2024.

"PFL's mission is to become the global co-leader in MMA with our fighter-first mission and disruptive sport-season format," PFL founder and chairman Donn Davis said in a statement. "This investment by SRJ continues the monumental growth that PFL has experienced throughout the world, and there is no better partner in global sports than SRJ."

Over the past few years, the Saudi Arabian government has become heavily involved in sports. The agreement with the PFL is the country's first official jump into mixed martial arts, and it already has a familiarity with combat sports after hosting and financing boxing and professional wrestling events in the past.

Saudi Arabia's recent increased involvement in sports has led to accusations of sportswashing, because its use of the Saudi Public Investment Fund to involve itself in sports such as golf, soccer and Formula 1 racing and cycling is viewed as an attempt to overshadow its well-documented history of human rights violations.

As part of the announcement on Wednesday, PFL "plans to launch and develop six international regional leagues by 2026, creating the first ever 'Champions League of MMA.'" The first regional league, PFL Europe, was launched earlier this year, while PFL MENA is planned for a launch in the second quarter of 2024. PFL's "four-event sport-season format" schedule will be announced in the fall.

Undisputed middleweight boxing champion Claressa Shields is going back to mixed martial arts in 2024.

Shields announced on Wednesday she has signed a new "seven-figure deal" with PFL.

PFL CEO Peter Murray issued a statement (h/t ESPN's Brett Okamoto) about Shields' re-signing with the promotion:

"It is a privilege to announce the PFL has re-signed the most dominant women's boxer in the world, Claressa Shields, to a new multi-year agreement. Claressa and the PFL share a fighter-first, merit-based value system and take on the world attitude. We are proud to welcome 'The GWOAT' back to the PFL and the sport of MMA."

Shields' new deal continues a positive trend for PFL of landing marquee stars. Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion in May that also gives him the ability to pursue boxing fights.

Shields originally signed a three-year deal with PFL in November 2020. The agreement allowed her to compete in non-tournament mixed martial arts bouts as a lightweight. She went 1-1 in two fights during the 2021 season.

Her first MMA bout was a TKO victory over Brittney Elkin on June 10. She lost by split decision to Abigail Montes in her second fight three months later.

The 28-year-old has had three boxing matches since the start of 2022. She most recently defeated Maricela Cornejo by unanimous decision on June 3 to retain the undisputed middleweight title.

In her career, Shields has a 14-0 record as a boxer and has won two Olympic gold medals as a middleweight in 2012 and 2016.

Undisputed featherweight boxing champion Amanda Serrano announced on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that she has signed a deal with the Professional Fighters League.

The PFL also confirmed the news.

The league announced in a statement that it agreed to an "exclusive partnership" with Serrano "which will see her fight exclusively in MMA for the new PFL PPV Super Fight Division."

The 34-year-old Serrano's decorated boxing career includes a 44-2-1 record with 30 wins by knockout. She most recently beat Erika Cruz in February via unanimous decision in a featherweight title fight.

Serrano has some professional MMA experience with a 2-0-1 record. She most recently beat Valentina García by first-round submission in June 2021.

Now she'll make the big move to the PFL PPV Super Fight Division, which already includes some big names. PFL provided more information.

"Serrano joins Francis Ngannou, Jake Paul and Kayla Harrison in the PFL PPV Super Fight Division, which was launched to forge true economic partnerships with MMA's top superstars to compete in global mega events," the statement read.

"Her debut in the PFL SmartCage and opponent will be announced at a future date. DAZN is a partner of PFL's Super Fight Division and will distribute events on its PPV platform in Europe and other priority international markets."

The PFL is in Serrano's future, but for now, she's set to defend her featherweight belts again versus Heather Hardy on Saturday.