The day after UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic said he is interested in a boxing match with lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, the “Gypsy King” said bring it on.
“Stipe says he wants to box me, that would be a good fight for sure,” Fury said through management company MTK Global on Tuesday. “After I get [Deontay] Wilder out of the way I’ll fight Stipe in a boxing match if he wants it. It would be a big crossover fight like [Floyd] Mayweather and [Conor] McGregor. I’m open to that fight, so he should come and see me. It would be the same outcome for any of them. They’ll all get smashed.”
In August 2017, UFC star McGregor moved over to boxing for one fight and squared off with Mayweather, then boxing’s pound-for-pound king, who knocked him out in the 10th round. The massively hyped fight was the second-largest grossing event in combat sports history — some $600 million in revenue and 4.3 million domestic pay-per-view buys — behind only Mayweather’s decision win over Manny Pacquiao to unify welterweight world titles in their long-awaited mega fight in 2015.
On Monday, Miocic said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that he was far more interested in pursuing a boxing match with Fury than a third fight with UFC rival Daniel Cormier, with whom he has split two bouts. Most recently Miocic scored a fourth-round knockout win over Cormier in their rematch to regain the title in the main event of UFC 241 on Aug. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
“Tyson Fury is coming in the mix now, I hear,” Miocic said. “I like a new challenge. I’d love to box him. He’s a great fighter. He’s a good dude, and I think we’d put on a good show.”
Before a potential Fury-Miocic could happen, Fury is contractually obligated to face world titlist Wilder. They fought to a disputed split draw last December and have a deal in place for two more fights with each other. The first is penciled in for Feb. 22 on a joint ESPN/Fox Sports pay-per-view, provided Wilder retains his title in a rematch with top contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz on Nov. 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While Fury is committed to upcoming boxing matches, he has spent recent months performing in WWE, and MTK Global also released a video of him training in MMA with MTK Global stablemate and UFC fighter Darren Till.
“It was exciting training with Darren Till and we get on like a house on fire,” Fury said. “He put me through a hard training session and it was really good.”