Skip to main content

Chael Sonnen rips scoring in Francis Ngannou's loss to Tyson Fury: 'Boxing is not a real sport'

You can add Chael Sonnen to the list of MMA fighters who aren’t happy with the ruling in the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou crossover boxing match.

“Boxing is not a real sport,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “That hurts me. That hurts me to say, but there’s no way to deny that.”

Sonnen, a former UFC title challenger, made those comments after he saw Ngannou lose to Fury with a split decision in a fight in which he scored the only knockdown and, to many, did enough in subsequent rounds to get his hand raised.

“A man’s body of work deserves to be recognized, and it deserves to be recognized accurately,” Sonnen said. “That is disgusting, what they just did to him. Anybody would’ve been wise to predict that that was going to happen. There was no chance that boxing was going to allow him to come in and get that win if it went to a decision.”

But on top of the criticism in the scoring of the fight, Sonnen was surprised to see Ngannou, who was making his boxing debut, stay competitive with Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion and one of the best pound-for-pound boxers today – and arguably beat him.

Sonnen also noted Ngannou’s lack of experience, lack of inactivity due to injury.

“This is a heartbreaking thing for me, not because of whatever weirdness I’ve got going on with Francis. It’s a heartbreaking thing for me because my entire life, I have respected boxing,” Sonnen said. “And to find out that boxing is fake, I don’t mean the decision was corrupted, you cannot be a real sport. You cannot be by any means be a real sport.

“This is the second time I’ve seen the best in the world in boxing – the absolute best, in their prime, in boxing – get beaten up by a guy with zero experience. One of them was a drunk cokehead and still beat the hell out of the greatest boxer that never lost before or after. And then you get a gentleman who’s at least 37 years old, who has never done the sport and trains full time in an MMA gym.”

For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/eBmxwp8
via IFTTT

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

Henry Cejudo: 'I still don't see Sean O'Malley as the best in the world' ahead of UFC 299

Henry Cejudo is not sold on Sean O'Malley as UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) knocked out Aljamain Sterling to become 135-pound champion at UFC 292, whereas Cejudo is coming off a close title loss to Sterling at UFC 288 . O’Malley will make his first title defense against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9, and Cejudo is still adamant that “Chito” beats O’Malley again – despite being a sizable underdog. “I still don’t see Sean O’Malley as the best in the world,” Cejudo said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel . “I don’t. I do believe ‘Chito’ Vera is going to beat him. You have good defense, you walk that dude down, you kick his freaking legs – he still has that wide leg – you kick his legs, you just bring the fight to him and grit. “This is what Sean O’Malley will do: He’ll look at the clock because he throws a lot of power. He is precise, but he throws a lot of it. I would bet the house on ‘Chito.’ Once I beat Merab (Dvalishvili), I’m goi...
Read more

Jim Miller had no problem accepting short-notice replacement Jared Gordon: 'Business as usual'

LAS VEGAS – With over 50 professional MMA fights, Jim Miller has been through it all, which has brought a level of comfort few have in this sport. That’s why when the UFC called with Jared Gordon as a replacement opponent for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 45, Miller (35-17 MMA, 24-16 UFC) had no problem saying yes. At this point, there’s little the UFC lightweight veteran hasn’t seen, and he expects to be ready Saturday. “(It’s) business as usual,” Miller told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 45 news conference. “That’s three in a row that opponents drop out like two weeks or less for the event. And I think it’s a total of nine times in my career with the UFC, so more like 25 percent. But yeah, business as usual. “I train to be the best fighter that I can be every out. At this point I’ve fought everybody from the top lanky 6’4” lefties, to guys my height, and righties and grapplers. So I just appreciated when guys are willing to step up because there are a lot of fighters that say...
Read more