Francis Ngannou, Anthony Joshua Agree to 10-Round Boxing Match in Saudi Arabia

Those that say former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou “fumbled the bag” could not be more wrong.

According to Ariel Helwani on Friday, Ngannou (0-1 Box) will take on Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) at a currently undisclosed date in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This news has been confirmed by Turki Al-Sheikh, the Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment in Saudi Arabia. The two heavyweights will battle it out over the course of 10 professional rounds, and no belts will be on the line. Per MMA Junkie, the match will reportedly be held on March 9.

This will be Ngannou’s second trip to the boxing ring, with his first a razor-close split decision loss to Tyson Fury in October 2023. “The Predator” made shockwaves in the boxing—and MMA—community by knocking Fury down in Round 3, but two of three judges awarded the bout in favor of Fury. Ngannou famously departed the UFC at the beginning of 2023, where he was signed by Professional Fighters League to a non-exclusive deal. Ngannou has yet to compete for PFL, and a date for his MMA debut with the league is still unknown.

Joshua, the former WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight champ surrendered all of those belts to Oleksandr Usyk in back-to-back outings in 2021 and 2022. The power-punching Brit suffered a unanimous decision loss, and then a split decision setback to go on his first losing streak of his career. Since then, Joshua rebounded by rattling off three wins in 2023, including knockouts of Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin—the latter a corner stoppage. As a pro, Joshua’s only decision wins have come over Joseph Parker, Andy Ruiz Jr. in their rematch and Jermaine Franklin, with the remainder of his victories coming before the final bell.