Joe Rogan says Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou was fixed and has theory as to why: "It was close enough that they could pull it off"
Joe Rogan recently shared his thoughts on the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou boxing match and theorized that the fight was fixed beforehand. Rogan stated that he thought Ngannou deserved to get his hand raised, and the "fix" could have been related to Fury's undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk later.
Fury and Ngannou went up against each other in the squared circle last October. The bout notably marked the Cameroonian's boxing debut. While most expected the Englishman to breeze past Ngannou, the former UFC star surprisingly put on an impressive performance and pushed his opponent to his limits.
After ten rounds of action, Fury was declared the winner via split decision. While some agreed it was a fair result, many fans complained about unfair scoring and opined that Ngannou was cheated out of a win.
During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (JRE MMA Show #159), the UFC commentator echoed the same sentiments. Speculating that the fight was fixed in Fury's favor, he said:
"I thought he [Ngannou] won that fight. But, you know, they were setting up that [Oleksandr] Usyk fight. They were not gonna let, yeah, it just seemed like the fix was in a little bit. It was close enough that they could pull it off. You could go, ‘Okay, maybe. Maybe you could see him winning that,’ but I don’t think so. I thought Francis won it. A lot of people thought Francis won it." [H/T BJPenn.com]
Watch the full JRE MMA Show #159 episode below:
Joe Rogan on Tyson Fury's undisputed title loss against Oleksandr Usyk
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk went up against each other in an epic undisputed heavyweight title showdown in May. After twelve rounds of intense action, Usyk was declared the winner by a split decision and was crowned the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
In the aftermath, Joe Rogan shared his thoughts on the closely contested fight and called for an immediate rematch. In an Instagram post, the veteran UFC commentator wrote:
"What a fight! Congratulations to @usykaa for winning the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the world! And huge props to @tysonfury for not just surviving the 9th round but coming back strong. No one recovers from being rocked like Fury. He’s truly got the heart of a champion. I can’t wait for the rematch!”