“Is the UFC a Mickey Mouse situation” - Tyson Fury’s promoter hits back at former Chelsea star for hurling Disney insult at Francis Ngannou

Tyson Fury finally has a fight scheduled. After several back and forth, and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations with the likes of Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, 'The Gypsy King' has settled on a man he called into the ring after scoring a spectacular knockout over Dillian Whyte last year.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is now booked to cross swords with the all-time great heavyweight boxer. While the Cameroonian knockout artist has long expressed interest in the bout, not everyone has welcomed the announcement with a positive reception.

Recently, Andy Townsend had a contentious conversation with Frank Warren, Tyson Fury's promoter, on talkSPORT. The interviewer characterized the bout as a 'Mickey Mouse' situation, implying it to be a circus or gimmick of sorts. Warren, however, took issue with that.

Townsend's words, which sparked the clash, were as follows:

"The credibility of your fighter is also very, very important. He's the world champion, he's someone that we all absolutely love to see up in proper fights, not Mickey Mouse stuff on the other side of the world in the middle of the night."

This, in turn, caused Warren to defend Fury by saying the following:

"We made serious offers to what you call proper people. So what you're saying, Ngannou's not a proper athlete? I don't understand what you meant. Is he not a warrior? Is he not a fighter? What, is the UFC a Mickey Mouse situation?"

Andy Townsend's sentiments are similar to Dana White's past dismissal of Francis Ngannou's prospects in boxing. The UFC president labeled it a gimmick fight, yet recently expressed interest in an MMA fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which drew heated criticism from the boxing world.

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When are Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou boxing each other?

Francis Ngannou's lifelong dream of securing a high-profile boxing match has finally been realized. 'The Predator' will face reigning WBC heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury in an exhibition bout later this year on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It's a fight that's been in the rumor mill since 2022. Unfortunately, despite mutual interest from both parties at the time, the UFC was not interested in allowing their then heavyweight champion to have a crossover fight in boxing. Only Conor McGregor has been afforded such an opportunity.