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Anyone watched the Fury-Ngannou fight? Spoilers below.
As an MMA fan: what the fuck? We're kinda used to the unreasonable effectiveness of Francis Ngannou (Rozenstruik is a tenured kickboxer, for context. So was Overeem) and he has a general reputation as a very fast learner but this is kind of ridiculous.
Before the fight, even fans of his were mainly glad he was going to get a boxing style payday, despite the likely KO.
I almost suspect Saudi shenanigans but they're having Fury-Usyk so it wouldn't be in their interests. I guess Fury's used to tiring people in the clinch and Francis' famous strength + greater experience clinching turned the tables. It was absurd how he threw him around at some points. But Francis looked good even outside that.
Ngannou went into MMA because the skill level was seen as much more favorable for a late starter. But, as a latecomer, he beat multiple strikers, submitted wrestlers, adapted so much to his one serious loss that Stipe Miocic looked like he had nothing for him, wrestlefucked Gane...him going straight into boxing or being discovered as a teen is the biggest what-if in combat sports.
I'm a boxing fan, not an MMA fan, and I didn't watch it but I get the impression that Fury figured this was just going to be a warm-up and didn't take it as seriously as he probably should have, especially since it wasn't a sanctioned event and didn't count for everything. The other part of it is that boxers these days aren't as athletic overall as MMA guys so the clinching strategy doesn't work as well. Like you said, MMA guys have more experience in the clinch so they aren't tired out as easily, but they're also better able to avoid the clinch, though I don't know if this was really part of it in this match since I didn't see it. Most boxing since Tyson has just been big, lumbering guys who try to overpower each other and hope the other guy gets tired out. This is in contrast to boxers from, say, the 60s, who were actually able to bob and weave and land punches due to skill and not due to simply tiring the other guy out. It seems like every time I watch a boxing match, no matter the level, they all end in TKOs after one guy gets ground down to the point that he can no longer defend himself.
Yep, heavy hands podcast and Jack Slack have the same analysis of it. Had fury just outboxed him instead of trying to get him out early, he would have won easily.
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