Aspinall Reveals All On Fury-Ngannou, Jose Favela’s Cancer Battle And More

Tom Aspinall has opened up about Tyson Fury’s upcoming fight with Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia. 

The duo are set to square off on October 28th, 2023, in what will be Ngannou’s first-ever boxing match.

Although that may be the case, the former UFC heavyweight champion has been doing all that he can in order to get ready for such a bout.

This has included enlisting the help of former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who will work as his trainer and cornerman. Meanwhile, Aspinall has been brought in for sparring Fury. 

The former is one of the leading UFC heavyweights, having targeted a future bout with Jon Jones.

And given that Aspinall will provide the unpredictability that Ngannou will bring, he had a lot to say about the latter’s chances of causing an upset. 

Aspinall On Ngannou

“When you throw somebody in like a Deontay Wilder, like a Francis Ngannou who’s throwing looping shots and uppercuts and doing all kinds of unorthodox stuff, the boxers aren’t as used to it as they would like – for example, if Tyson Fury boxed Anthony Joshua, it would be the easiest fight ever for him.

“Easiest fight ever, ‘cause he’s so basic… It’s gonna be much harder for a traditional boxer to fight someone more unorthodox. So I can see Francis bringing a few more problems than somebody like an Anthony Joshua would to Tyson Fury,” Aspinall 

Despite this being the case, the chances of Ngannou pulling off a win are next to none. Previous MMA fighters have shown this to be true.

Both Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz showed that their attempts at boxing failed. McGregor lasted ten rounds with Mayweather.

Meanwhile, Date went the distance with Paul on his boxing debut in a fight he was put on the canvas in the fifth round. 

Outside of that, Aspinall drew comparisons with Ngannou and Fury’s boxing skills. The star has managed to be in the ring with both when it comes to sparring.

And given that both fighters are heavy handed, it could prove an intriguing match-up. However, due to the fact that Ngannou won’t have access to four-ounce gloves, his punching power is likely to be reduced. 

And yet, Aspinall was not drawing too many differences. 

Aspinall On Fury

“Well, if you want an inside breakdown from sparring. See, someone like Tyson who’s been boxing all their life, or any boxer who’s been boxing most of their life, a lot of boxers fight very similar… It’s not too dissimilar, especially you come through the amateur circuit and you go the Olympic route and all that kind of stuff. A lot of these guys have very, very similar styles,” Ngannou

Maria Jose Favela’s Cancer Battle

On a much better note, Maria Jose Favela (the former Invicta FC fighter) has given her fans an update on her cancer battle. 

Her current record stands at 3-2 after having competed in the bantamweight division. Although that may be the case, outside of her career, her cancer story has been making more waves.

She had been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. This has the impact of damaging the cells, which has had a debilitating impact on her career.

While it is too early to say whether or not Favela can make a comeback, she did have a positive outcome for her fans. 

“I have to tell you, I just finished with the hematologist and the result was good. There is no more metabolic activity, so I don’t have cancer anymore. But we still have to finish the treatments, so we still have 6 more chemotherapies, more than anything so that the cancer does not return. So I still can’t ring the bell that is out here to celebrate, but there is no cancer in my body. It is only preventive, what we are missing,” Favela

Grigoriy Ponomarev’s Horrific Injury

In contrast, Russian heavyweight Grigoriy Ponomarev suffered a brutal injury to the knees and leg after just 32-seconds at the ACA 161 against Mukhumat Vakhaev.

In that round, Ponomarev connected on his opponent’s left foot. And yet, this had the impact of causing his leg to snap to the side.

Ponomarev immediately fell to the ground in agony, while Vakhaev attempted to follow up with more punches. Thereafter, the referee intervened to stop the fight. 

And in the aftermath, fans had a lot to say due to Ponomarev’s alleged NAZI tattoos. 

“The guy who got his leg destroyed in ACA has multiple very obvious neo-Nazi tattoos. Here you can see a Sonnenrad and a Tyr rune, both very common neo-Nazi/far-right symbols, especially in the white supremacist MMA scene. You can also see that his leg is backwards (lol, lmao),” one fan wrote

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