- Title: Fury wants MMA fight this year, warns Wilder and Joshua
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOXER, TYSON FURY, SAYING HIS THE REACTION OF HIS MANAGEMENT TEAM TO HIS WRESTLING BOUT AND HOW THEY WEREN'T AWARE OF IT: "Yeah, everyone's a bit excited and bit afraid and it's not something that everyone advised me to do. No-one advised me to do it because no-one had time to advise me because it was done in two minutes. It wasn't like, oh, we spoke about it for ages. It was done Wednesday night and flew Thursday morning. So, nobody knew about anything." REPORTER: "And are they aware of this MMA fight?" FURY: "No, but they will be after this won't they?"
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 17:41
- Keywords: boxing Anthony Joshua Deontay Wilder Braun Strowman Andy Ruiz Conor McGregor wrestling MMA Tyson Fury WWE
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, USA / MOSCOW, RUSSIA / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, USA / MOSCOW, RUSSIA / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Boxing,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA00BB2LGW8V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is stepping into the showy world of professional wrestling for a bout in Saudi Arabia, but he also claims he is expanding his talents to mixed martial arts before the end of 2019.
Fury, who is due to fight professional wrestler Braun Strowman at the WWE's Crown Jewel event in Saudi, told Reuters on Friday (October 25) in London that his management team are not aware of his MMA ambitions and that he does not yet know who his opponent might be. Although, he did mention he would like to find out what the former MMA champion Conor McGregor is up to.
With Fury's journey into pro wrestling, which has seen him get into a number of in-ring brawls with the so-called 'Monster Among Men' Strowman, his boxing opponent Deontay Wilder was reported to have said he thinks Fury will get an injury in his Saudi match and find a way to avoid a rematch with him.
Fury seemed unaffected by Wilder's words and warned the U.S. boxing champion to focus on his upcoming bout with Luis Ortiz.
If Wilder wins his match, he is tipped to fight a rematch in February with Fury with whom he fought to a controversial draw last December.
Fury claimed he has been offered a 'mammoth' amount of money to stage the Wilder rematch in Saudi Arabia, but said the fight is more likely to take place in the U.S..
Another British heavyweight, Anthony Joshua, will be competing in Saudi in his rematch with Andy Ruiz on December 7. The American shockingly defeated the then undefeated Joshua in New York in June to win the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles.
Fury said he is 'intrigued' by the upcoming Joshua v Ruiz match as both fighters have lost weight and could have different physiques. But Fury warned his fellow Brit that the man who gets knocked out in the first match usually goes on to suffer the same fate in the second bout.
The 31 year-old from Manchester, England, said his management team were unaware of his agreement to compete in professional wrestling and no-one advised him to do it. But he has enjoyed the 'amazing' experience of working with global wrestling stars like Triple H and warned Strowman he is 'coming' for him in Saudi.
The Crown Jewel event is due to take place on October 31 in Riyadh.
(Production: Francis Maguire) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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