PFL heavyweight Francis Ngannou wants a boxing match with Deontay Wilder.

‘The Predator’ hasn’t been seen in the cage since a clash with Renan Ferreira in October. Back for the first time since being flattened by Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngannou met ‘Problema’. While some felt the hard-hitting Brazilian could pose the former champion some issues in his PFL debut, he instead scored a first-round knockout win.

Following the bout, Francis Ngannou revealed plans to return in the spring. However, the PFL heavyweight won’t be fighting in the cage next. Speaking in a recent interview with SportsbookReview, ‘The Predator’ confirmed that his next bout will take place in the boxing ring. Furthermore, he’s already got an opponent picked out.

Speaking with SportsbookReview, Francis Ngannou called for a boxing match against Deontay Wilder. For his part, ‘The Bronze Bomber’ hasn’t been seen in the ring since a knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang last June. While some called for Wilder to retire following that loss, he’s instead revealed plans to fight on.

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(via PFL MMA)

Francis Ngannou calls for fight against Deontay Wilder in boxing return

In the interview, Francis Ngannou revealed that he’s already spoken with Turki Alalshikh about making the matchup. While the bout is far from confirmed, ‘The Predator’ wants to prove that he’s the hardest puncher on the planet. In order to do that, he must go through Deontay Wilder.

“I will do boxing next,” Francis Ngannou stated in the interview. “I want to. I’m not done with boxing. It’s not that MMA is easy – it’s the sport that I understand better and I have more experience in – but I say go for boxing ]I’m passionate about fighting Deontay Wilder] because there’s an 80% chance that somebody will go to sleep. It will be one or the other.” (h/t Sportsbook Review)

He continued “Maybe not in his past two fights, but Deontay Wilder is known as a guy that knocks everybody out or tries to knock you out. I’m going against that guy, and I myself can knock someone out. Deep inside me there is a little bit of ego, like I know I hit harder. I’m saying from my experience that we will have that ego that we both want to prove ‘no, it’s me [who hits harder]. Who is the biggest hitter between you and Deontay? Those sorts of conversations are popping around a little bit and even though you think you don’t care about it, it sticks somewhere in your mind.”

What do you make of these comments from the PFL heavyweight? Do you want to see Francis Ngannou vs. Deontay Wilder?