Eric Nicksick reveals unconventional way MMA could help Francis Ngannou 'shock the world' against Tyson Fury

01/10/2023 18:00

Francis Ngannou has always dreamed about crossing over to boxing, and he'll jump right in the deep end for his debut when he faces heavyweight king Tyson Fury on Oct. 28.

The matchup sees Ngannou attempting to pull off arguably the biggest upset in combat sports since perhaps James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson back in 1990. But even as unlikely as that result was at the time, Douglas was still a professional boxer with over 30 fights on his résumé before he set foot in the ring to face Tyson.

Meanwhile, Ngannou is arguably the best heavyweight combatant in the world, but MMA is not boxing, and now he'll attempt to beat Fury, a fighter with a perfect record including 33 wins and 24 knockouts along the way.

"It's the hardest task," Ngannou's head coach Eric Nicksick told MMA Fighting. "Because obviously the two that I can relate to is putting game plan together for Jon Jones and putting a game plan together against Stipe [Miocic], arguably the two best ever to do it and now in the same division. That was a tall task, and now you're saying we're going to move over to boxing where you don't have the ability to take someone down, you don't have the ability to chop a calf kick and neutralize some movement and those things.

"We're jumping into somebody else's territory and trying to figure out how to beat the best to ever to do it in the heavyweight division. It is going to be tough. I'm going to tell Francis to sneak in a single-leg [takedown] every once in a while, take this guy down. Maybe we get one single-leg for free."

All jokes aside, Nicksick does believe that Ngannou's experience in MMA could pay dividends in the Fury fight, because this won't likely turn into a contest between two technical boxers looking to jab each other to death.

Instead, Nicksick points out how somebody like Deontay Wilder was able to catch Fury off guard during their first encounter after "The Gypsy King" ate a devastating right hook followed by a left behind it that nearly ended the fight. To his credit, Fury somehow got back to his feet and the fight ended in a draw, and then he subsequently dominated Wilder in a pair of rematches.

Still, it's a moment like that with an unconventional fighter in Wilder, who much like Ngannou displays otherworldly power in his punches, that gets Nicksick's attention when looking at the matchup against Fury.

"Here's the thing: [Deontay] Wilder might look wild, he might not be as technical as some say, but I think just having a little bit of erratic motion, things that you may not be accustomed to and doesn't look as clean, that's right where I think clean boxers get hit," Nicksick explained. "We call them boogers in the gym. 'This guy's a booger.'

"It's not a term of disrespect. It's just like when you watch two guys who are very, very technical fighters, they just are working on this sharpness of technique back and forth. Whereas, if you put a technical fighter against a booger, he's not used to that erratic motion and stuff coming from different angles and stuff coming from different stances. Doing all this stuff that we do within MMA. I think it's going to be key for us — to not try to outbox Tyson Fury. I think if we get in a situation where it's like, 'Hey, we're going to out-technique this guy,' we're going to be in trouble. It's up to us to come up with creative ways on how to approach this."

Ngannou's highlight reel is filled with fighters who made the ill-fated attempt to stand and trade punches, because it only takes one shot from the ferocious heavyweight to end anybody's night.

Even in practice, Nicksick says he's never experienced anything like Ngannou's power when he's holding pads for the ex-UFC heavyweight champion. It's that X factor that Nicksick believes starts to level the playing field between a boxing novice like Ngannou and a multi-time heavyweight champion such as Fury.

"Francis, when I hold his overhand [punches], I just feel like my whole arm does a rotation circle in my shoulder. That's how hard he hits," Nicksick said.

"The crazy thing is he's actually more technical out of southpaw. His southpaw cross is a lot sharper, it has a lot more speed to it, where his right hand has more of a thud to it. He can strike from both stances. I think that's going to be important to us."

No matter how much power he can generate with a single punch, Ngannou is still a gargantuan underdog heading into the fight, but that's not exactly a new situation for him.

By any measure, Ngannou shouldn't be where he is right now after leaving his home in Cameroon, moving to France without any money or means to survive, and actually living on the street at one point in time. To escape that harrowing situation and eventually become a UFC champion means Ngannou has already scored a victory no one would have expected.

Now "The Predator" has an even bigger mountain to climb against Fury, but if there's one thing Nicksick has learned over the years, he never doubts what Ngannou is capable of.

"Sometimes it's just the right formula," Nicksick said. "This Francis Ngannou story is a goddamn movie. Why not end this movie with knocking out the greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time? It is what it is. This dude never ceases to amaze me and I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to go find the knockout in this fight.

"We've got the tallest task to do, I get all that stuff, but I'm glad we're going to give it a shot. And no matter what happens, I'm proud of him — and go make that money, baby."