‘He just simply outboxed him’

Contrary to the opinions of many pundits, Sean O’Malley, the UFC bantamweight champion, believes the judges made the right call in scoring the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou fight.

In their crossover boxing match last Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight champion, lost to Fury in a close split decision. Despite the loss, Ngannou held his own against Fury and even managed to score the only knockdown of the fight in Round 3.

O’Malley admits that his judgment might be biased, but apart from the knockdown, he believes Fury won most of the fight.

“Personally, I was rooting for Tyson the whole time because, you know, I like to watch the show,” O’Malley said on his “TimboSugarShow” podcast. “I thought he won the fight. He did get dropped, obviously… I might be a little biased, so I need to rewatch it. But I thought he outboxed Ngannou. There was one 10-8 round when Ngannou got dropped, but I believe Fury won the majority of the rounds.”

O’Malley isn’t surprised that Ngannou put up such a good fight considering his power.

“It’s crazy when you’re that big and you have knockout power in both hands. His left hook is what dropped Ngannou,” O’Malley said. “He’s naturally gifted, 100 percent. He’s massive and hits harder than anyone. I wasn’t expecting him to be anything less. He had ample time to prepare and he’s just an incredible athlete.”

For more on the matchup, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Fury vs. Ngannou.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie