Georges St-Pierre happy Francis Ngannou gets to box Tyson Fury, cautions ‘the odds will not favor him’

Georges St-Pierre is cautiously optimistic for Francis Ngannou.

On Tuesday, news broke that lineal MMA heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will face lineal boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a crossover boxing match on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia. It’s a bout Ngannou had to leave the UFC to make happen, a decision for which many mocked the former heavyweight champion. Now that Ngannou has finally secured the fight he sought, St-Pierre couldn’t be happier.

“I’m glad for Francis, because he’s going to make a lot of money,” St-Pierre told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “Probably a lot more than all his fights in UFC. But on the other hand — my heart is with Francis, but he’s going to take on the champion, the best boxer in his sport.

“So he’s the one who is going into another sport, so the odds will not favor him. But we never know. You never know. A big punch coming from out of nowhere could seal the deal. But even though the odds are not in his favor, my heart is with him.”

While the financial details of the matchup are not yet know, Ngannou’s manager did claim that “The Predator” is set to make substantially more than he ever made when he was UFC heavyweight champion. That being said, that price comes at a cost. While the full details of the matchup are still being determined, this bout will be contested under boxing rules, something that heavily favors Fury. Oddsmakers certainly seem to think so, opening Fury as a -1000 betting favorite over Ngannou, but St-Pierre said Ngannou doesn’t necessarily need to win the fight to still be a winner overall. If Ngannou can simply give a good accounting of himself, St-Pierre says that will be good enough.

“If he goes out there — everybody wants to win,” St-Pierre said. “I really hope for him that he wins this fight. But I believe if he goes out there and he performs well and he showcases some good skills, and he looks good against the champion, even if he loses, but he looks good and doesn’t take too much brain damage, I think it could be good. He’s going to make a lot of money, it could be good for him. The question is, is that how it’s going to happen? I don’t know. Tyson Fury is very good, and boxing is a very limited and specialized combat sport.”

And if Ngannou can’t put up a good fight and instead gets soundly demolished by the best heavyweight boxer in the world? Well, St-Pierre said that’s not the worst thing ever. After all, if the situation were reversed, “GSP” believes that Fury would be in a much worse position than Ngannou is now.

“If you would do that same fight in MMA, I would give Francis one round,” St-Pierre said. “Maybe not even one round. Three minutes, and it will be over. Even probably less than three minutes. In boxing, I know for a fact that Francis can last much longer in boxing against Tyson Fury than Fury would last against Francis in MMA.”