1/6/24: Francis Ngannou To Face Anthony Joshua

Francis Ngannou's next pro boxing bout is official

Welcome to the Saturday edition of the Knockdown Daily. We have a few stories from in and around the MMA world to share with you. Let’s get started!

Francis Ngannou To Face Former Heavyweight Boxing Champ Anthony Joshua In March

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou has his next boxing bout scheduled.

After losing a split decision to WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury in October — an appearance where he scored an early knockdown and edged out other rounds in a low-output non-title contest — Ngannou will face another high-profile opponent in Anthony Joshua.

Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority, announced recently that they have booked the fight to take place in the country. Mike Coppinger of ESPN is reporting that the bout will happen on March 9th.

Ngannou’s October appearance against Fury was his first combat sports bout since his sour departure from the UFC roster. During his time as a UFC fighter, Ngannou attained 12 wins through 14 fights. He left the roster after beating Ciryl Gane to defend his heavyweight belt for the first time.

Despite having no professional boxing bouts on his record and being perceived as a massive underdog in the Fall, Ngannou was able to give Fury trouble through the 10 rounds that they competed for. He’ll now face Joshua, who has found success in recent years but also seen himself outside the title picture at heavyweight.

Joshua used to hold numerous belts in boxing’s biggest division. However, since he lost a pair of fights to Oleksandr Usyk from 2021 to 2022, Joshua has not competed for a major title. He earned his third consecutive victory last month, stopping Otto Wallin in the fifth round.

Ngannou’s upcoming boxing match likely delays his expected MMA debut in PFL. The 37-year-old announced a multi-fight deal with the PFL last year, allowing him to compete in non-season bouts for the promotion. However, since Ngannou landed his high-profile match against Fury last year, a greater focus has been put on his newfound boxing career.

Brendan Allen vs. Marvin Vettori To Headline April 6th UFC ‘Fight Night’

Ranked middleweights Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori will headline UFC’s April 6th event.

UFC announced the 185-pound pairing earlier this week. It will headline a card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The event will be UFC’s fourth event of 2024 in their studio location.

Allen will be making his second consecutive main event UFC appearance. His first win came in November 2023, when he secured a third-round rear naked choke submission against Paul Craig.

Allen has put together an impressive record of 11 wins and two losses since joining the UFC roster in 2019. He is currently on a six-fight winning streak, with five of those bouts coming via submission.

Vettori has flipped between winning and losing against other ranked middleweights since 2021. His most recent appearance was a five-round unanimous decision defeat to Jared Cannonier in June of last year. Three months before then, he overcame Roman Dolidze at UFC 286.

ONE Championship Makes Changes To January Main Events

Plans have changed for ONE Championship’s big January cards, resulting in two different main events to change.

ONE 165, which will take place on January 28th from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, has received a significant change in its headlining bout. Former K-1 Champion Takeru Segawa — who will be making his ONE debut — is no longer expected to face Muay Thai champ Rodtang Jitmuangnon, who has withdrawn from the bout after a long-rumoured arm injury turned out to be true. The two were expected to face off in a three-round kickboxing bout.

Takeru is now expected to face ONE Kickboxing Flyweight (135 lbs) Champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 in a title match. Superlek earned his belt in early 2023, scoring a unanimous decision win over Daniel Puertas. He has since appeared in Muay Thai, fighting four times under the ruleset in 2023.

Adding Superlek to ONE 165 affects the promotion’s first “Fight Night” of 2024. He was originally scheduled to appear on January 13th in a kickboxing title fight against Elias Mahmoudi. That bout is now scrapped, and it isn’t known if Mahmoudi will receive a new opponent for that date.

The new main event for ONE Fight Night 18 is now scheduled to be an MMA bout between Shamil Gasanov and Oh Ho Taek. Both fighters are coming off a loss. Gasanov suffered his first pro defeat in July 2023, getting submitted in the second round by Garry Tonon. Oh will be trying to bounce back from a 44-second stoppage loss he suffered against Akbar Abdullaev in March 2023.

Notes On: UFC, ONE Championship & CFFC

• A pair of changes have hit UFC’s February 3rd show from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

  • Themba Gorimbo (11-4) has received a change in opponent at welterweight. He is no longer expected to face Bellator vet Kiefer Crosbie (10-4), per Alex Behunin. He will now meet Pete Rodriguez (5-1), who scored his first UFC win in 2022 against Mike Jackson. Gorimbo will be appearing for the first time since scoring his first UFC victory against Takashi Sato. The new matchup was also first reported by Behunin.

  • William Gomis (13-2) has withdrawn from his featherweight bout against Melsik Baghdasaryan (8-2), per Nolan King of MMA Junkie. It’s not known if Baghdasaryan will get a new opponent for the date.

• A change has also been made to UFC 298’s undercard, which will take place on February 17th from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, USA. Yusaku Kinoshita (6-3), who was fighting for his first win in three promotional appearances, has withdrawn from his booking. Undefeated “Dana White’s Contender Series” alum Danny Barlow (7-0), who is scheduled to make his UFC debut, will now go up against Josh Quinlan (6-1), per Marcel Dorff. Quinlan suffered his first UFC loss in April 2023, dropping a decision to Trey Waters.

• Two fights have recently been announced for UFC’s February 24th “Fight Night” from Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico.

  • Raul Rosas Jr. (8-1) will look for his third UFC win when he takes on Ricky Turcios (12-3). Turcios will be appearing for the first time since late 2022, when he beat Kevin Natividad via split decision.

  • The momentum of Manuel Torres (14-2) and Chris Duncan (11-1) will collide in Mexico. Both fighters have won their two UFC bouts thus far, with Torres finishing his fights in the first round.

• Valter Walker (11-0), an undefeated heavyweight and brother of light heavyweight talent Johnny Walker, is expected to make his UFC debut on April 6th against Lukasz Brzeski (8-4-1). Walker has attained 11 wins since turning pro in 2020, including seven via finish. Brzeski has lost his three UFC bouts since joining the promotion in 2022.

• Luis Pajuelo (8-1) will make his UFC debut on the promotion’s March 23rd card against Fernando Padilla (15-5), per reporter Marcel Dorff. Pajuelo earned a UFC contract on the 2023 season of “Dana White’s Contender Series,” where he scored a first-round stoppage against Robbie Ring. Before then, he strung together wins in Argentina-based regional promotion FFC. Padilla suffered his first UFC loss in September, dropping a decision to Kyle Nelson. His previous fight, his promotional debut, was a quick finish win over Julian Erosa.

• Mark Abelardo (22-10) will face ONE Championship newcomer Ibrahim Dauev (8-1) at the promotion’s January 13th card in Bangkok, Thailand. Dauev is a 22-year-old who has built up eight wins in Russia since his 2019 debut. He’ll face Abelardo, who is coming off a 2023 that saw him score a pair of finish wins.

• MMA promotion CFFC has announced the launch of their offshoot Muay Thai promotion, Cage Fury Muay Thai. Their first event will take place on January 27th from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. They have announced seven bouts for the card thus far.