Francis Ngannou won't walk away with an official victory over Tyson Fury, but he is certainly the spiritual winner. Ngannou earned the sports world's respect in an inspiring split decision loss to the reigning WBC heavyweight champion. Many believe Ngannou deserved the nod and some of the biggest stars in and out of combat sports expressed such feelings online.
Ngannou has overcome obstacles his entire life, but making his boxing debut against Fury was deemed a project 10 bridges too far. Yet Ngannou knocked down Fury (34-0-1) and fought competitively over the course of 10 rounds. It was Ngannou's first fight since willingly leaving the UFC and vacating his heavyweight title in pursuit of greener pastures.
From NBA stars to UFC champions and beyond, take a look below at how the world is reacting to Fury vs. Ngannou.
Philadelphia 76ers player Joel Embiid called foul play after his fellow Cameroonian lost on the cards.
NO F WAY FRANCIS GOT ROBBED🇨🇲🇨🇲
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 28, 2023
Social media influencer Logan Paul, who has dabbled in celebrity boxing and has a budding career in the WWE, also argued that Ngannou was the deserving winner.
Francis Ngannou won that fight
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) October 28, 2023
Jake Paul, younger brother of Logan Paul, also chimed in. Jake Paul was shocked by the effort put forth by the former UFC champion.
WTF!!! FRANCIS!!
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 28, 2023
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has trained with Ngannou, but he did not believe the fight would be as competitive as it was. Strickland was equally enthusiastic and shocked after Ngannou scored the knockdown.
Man I never thought I'd say this but Francis is in this!!!! LFG!!!! TYSON LOOKS WINDED IN THE 3RD AND HES REACHING.....
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) October 28, 2023
Olympic gold medalist and former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo got a little too excited about Ngannou potentially making history as lineal UFC and WBC heavyweight champion.
The biggest upset in combat sports history!
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) October 28, 2023
Francis Ngannou just became the Lineal World heavyweight BOXING champion #furyvsngannou
Plenty of Ngannou's fellow former UFC champions shared words of encouragement, excitement and respect for Ngannou's admirable performance.
francis got that fight
— Demetrious Johnson (@MightyMouse) October 28, 2023
Proud in the name of all the ufc fighters ! Good job @francis_ngannou !
— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) October 28, 2023
I’m locked into Francis vs Tyson but I don’t know if I have ever seen an event drag this much. This is crazy! Come on! #FuryvsNgannou
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 28, 2023
Francis!!! Super impressive and you can make the argument of him winning this! Conor pioneered the way for this, and Francis Ngannou busted the gates wide open! This is proof that with the right preparation that the MMA guys can more than hang with the best boxers around. FTR I…
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) October 28, 2023
Combat sports are known for corrupt decisions and I’ve been on the end of some terrible ones.
— Dan Henderson (@danhendo) October 28, 2023
It was a close fight but @francis_ngannou seemed to do more damage than Fury. #furyvsngannou #furyngannou
Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis is craving Ngannou vs. Deontay Wilder in a meeting of combat sport's hardest-hitting heavyweights.
Sign me up for Francis Ngannou vs Deontay Wilder
— Anthony Pettis (@Showtimepettis) October 28, 2023