"Pause the egos and rhetoric" - MMA legend Randy Couture blasts Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou judging, showers praise on fighters
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has called for accountability from boxing judges following the result between Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou.
Fury and Ngannou went head-to-head last weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The bout was expected to be a routine victory for 'The Gypsy King' as Ngannou was making his first appearance in a boxing ring.
However, 'The Predator' had read a different script and silenced all his doubters by going toe-to-toe with Fury across the 10 rounds, dropping the lineal heavyweight champion in the third.
Despite having one of boxing's greatest ever debuts, controversy came when the scorecards were read aloud to reveal Francis Ngannou had lost via split decision to Fury (95-94, 93-96,94-95).
Weighing in on the fight was Randy Couture, who had been invited out to Saudi Arabia to watch the fight.
Couture, who helps train the Cameroonian at Xtreme Couture MMA, penned a long message on social media, calling out the judges and praising both Fury and Ngannou for the show they put on. He wrote:
"I think one judge was definitely watching a different fight and that is a problem in both our sports! MMA and Boxing have no accountability these judges and any of the decisions they put on paper."
Couture added:
"I believe we should all pause the egos and rhetoric, step back and just admire these Warriors and their amazing performances."
Check out Couture's full post here:
Tyson Fury breaks silence on 'clear' victory over Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia
Tyson Fury believes any arguments that Francis Ngannou won the fight are unjust, after claiming that the Cameroonian only won two rounds.
The two heavyweight stars faced off in the squared circle last weekend to kick off Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia.
Ngannou was quite impressive, showing little signs of a lack of experience as he traded with Tyson Fury and dropped him once before the result was left up to the judges.
Following the fight, Fury spoke with iFL TV to give his take on the split-decision victory. 'The Gypsy King' maintained that he felt comfortable at all times throughout the fight and believes he won at least eight of the rounds:
“He [Francis Ngannou] won the 10-8 [knockdown] round and maybe one other round, but other than that I was just boxing and he couldn’t close the distance down on me, so, at points it was tough but not so much the other way. I’m not a judge, but I can clearly see he didn’t win the fight by the punch stats. And if he would have won the fight, did they give it to him on the night? It wasn’t my own show, was it? We’re both away fighters and um, whatever.”
Catch Fury's comments here (3:10):