Eddie Hall explains U-turn on Francis Ngannou from X-rated rejection to ‘final fight’ proposal

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Eddie Hall once bluntly turned down a fight with Francis Ngannou, but now he seems to be welcoming the idea.

Since beginning his training in 2022, Hall has stepped into the ring only twice – a loss to Hafthor Bjornsson and a knockout win over Mariusz Pudzianowski in KSW. But even with that limited experience, his popularity hasn’t taken a hit. There’s still plenty of interest around him.

His next fight is set for June 13 against Tommy Fury under the Misfits Boxing banner. But it’s MMA where he hopes to make his mark long-term, with Ngannou as the ultimate goal.

Why Eddie Hall has changed his mind about facing Francis Ngannou

Back in 2023, Eddie Hall made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with Francis Ngannou, famously saying he’d “rather get f—ed in the a– by the Devil than fight him.” But a lot has changed since then. He’s now named Ngannou as his ideal opponent to end his MMA journey.

“I don’t think a lot has happened, really,” Hall told Bloody Elbow. “I guess I want to have a few more fights and it’s the exciting fights that do it for me. I want to fight the Mariusz Pudzianowskis of the world, the controversial people like Dillon Danis.

“I want to offer people out and be double the size because I don’t mind being the Goliath in a David vs Goliath, it excites me and there’s always going to be a place for world title fights in boxing and in MMA or whatever.

Hall went on: “But they need excitement and Jake Paul has thrown a lot of excitement into the sport and helped the viewership of the sport in general massively so these YouTube fights, I’m all for them. This is why I’ve taken the Tommy fight because it leads on to bigger and better fights.

“I guess the last kind of s— or bust, the very last fight for me would be to fight someone like Francis Ngannou. Win, draw, lose, that would be my last one, let’s see if I can beat a world champion there.”