‘He wouldn’t do well’ – Tyson Fury warned not to pursue MMA dream by former UFC heavyweight champ Dos Santos

TYSON FURY has been warned not to try his hand at MMA by former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.

Dos Santos, 38, is a big fan of the Gypsy King and would love to see him take on current champ Francis Ngannou – but in a boxing ring.

Getty

Getty

Former UFC champion Dos Santos wants to box Fury[/caption]

AFP

Dos Santos would be prepared to fight Francis Ngannou as a warm-up for the Gypsy King[/caption]

He respects Fury as a boxer but questions whether his skills would transfer to the octagon as he lacks a ground game.

Speaking to SunSport, Dos Santos said: “It’s hard to say, of course, in boxing he’s great but I don’t think he’d do very well in MMA.

“I challenge him to come to Triad, Triller, to do our style of fighting which is boxing with clinches.

“That’s something different at what he does. I think that would be better for him.

“Because if he goes straight into MMA he doesn’t have many chances because he doesn’t know any ground game or grappling game so it would be very hard for him to succeed.

“But in Triad he has chances because most part of the fight is boxing. As a boxing fan I admire him and I think he’s a great champion.”

Despite Dos Santos’ admiration for the unbeaten fighter, he still feels he could beat Fury.

He would love to fight the Brit and would be prepared to meet Ngannou in the ring to warm up for Fury, such is his confidence that he would beat the current UFC heavyweight champion.

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Asked if he would like to box Ngannou, Dos Santos said: “Yes, one hundred percent.

“Actually when you talk about fighting in boxing boxers are always avoiding fighting the best, but I don’t think it’s Tyson Fury’s style so he’s probably going to accept whether it’s against a boxer or not.

“Yes, I would be very happy to face him, a champion like him, and to tell you the truth I am the guy to fight this guy.

“Like I said if there is someone out there from the MMA world who can represent boxing in a boxing match it’s Junior Dos Santos. That’s one hundred percent. Ngannou has a lot of power but he has no
endurance and not really good boxing skills.

“If Ngannou really wants to, me and him can do a trial type of fight in boxing to see who’s going to fight Tyson Fury.

“One hundred percent I’ll beat Ngannou. He has power and that’s it. If you avoid his power in the first three or four rounds, he’s easily beatable.

“Like we can see him in his last fight against Ciryl Gane he was
so exhausted. No doubt I would do much better than him.”