{"id":298627,"date":"2023-05-19T21:13:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T21:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=298627"},"modified":"2023-05-20T13:59:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T13:59:07","slug":"aussie-mma-champ-calls-out-ex-ufc-behemoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=298627","title":{"rendered":"Aussie MMA champ calls out ex-UFC behemoth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia's Rob Wilkinson has singled out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou after the self-proclaimed "baddest man on the planet" announced he'll join the PFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cameroon fighter's signing to the PFL<\/a> is arguably the most significant in its short history and is a big blow for the UFC, whose CEO Dana White<\/a> failed to secure Ngannou.<\/p>\n

'The Predator' will make his first competitive PFL appearance in 2024 in the league's all-new Super Fight Division.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2023 Professional Fighters League, featuring Australian champion Rob Wilkinson.<\/strong><\/em> Streaming ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As yet, an opponent for the Las Vegas-based fighter has not been confirmed, but Wilkinson wants to be first in line.<\/p>\n

\"Then-UFC<\/p>\n

Wilkinson won last year's PFL light heavyweight title, beating Omari Akhmedov in a second-round knockout, and sees Ngannou as an enticing challenge.<\/p>\n

"The match-up with myself and Francis is very interesting," Wilkinson told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"He gets a lot of knockouts, uses his size, speed and strength very well, he's explosive and powerful, but he hasn't looked the most technical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> NRL Round 12 Friday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Radley in hot water over mid-brawl 'headbutt' on Dragon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dragons end nightmare week with fairytale finish<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

"That's kind of where I pride myself, I am technical and I think I have the best boxing in the PFL and I am also one of the most explosive guys and can use my speed and strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Where I beat Francis is my grappling as well, I'm a very good wrestler and I have won a lot of fights with submission and ground and pound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"So yeah, I think the match-up is very interesting."<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

There is one hurdle Wilkinson would have to overcome.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old would have to shift weight divisions between seasons.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson weighs in at 205 lbs while Ngannou last year revealed he was close to 300 lbs, but floated around the 260 lb marker in his UFC era.<\/p>\n

Although Ngannou's numbers are daunting, Wilkinson sees it only as a positive for him.<\/p>\n

"There is an obvious size difference, I'm pretty sure I have seen that he walks around at 300lbs, that's about 30kgs more than I walk around at," Wilkson said.<\/p>\n

\"Tasmanian<\/p>\n

"But I like the challenge, it's always interesting fighting bigger guys, never anyone like Francis before, but I've often sparred with bigger guys and I usually have the speed advantage and I am very strong for my size anyway so I'm usually stronger than the bigger guys regardless and feel like I am a lot quicker than those guys.<\/p>\n

"I love challenges, who wouldn't want the opportunity to fight someone like Francis and then also get to be considered the baddest man on the planet, I couldn't turn down an opportunity like that. I'd be very confident with this fight and a full training camp focused on Francis."<\/p>\n

Ngannou's "baddest man of the planet" remark drew a hilarious response from Jon Jones, who took to Twitter to fire a grenade.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonnyBones\/status\/1658549019235475457<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/francis_ngannou\/status\/1658556798826352641<\/a><\/p>\n

The PFL season continues with PFL 4 on June 8 where Wilkinson will face Ty Flores \u2013 coverage live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson defeated Thiago Santos by unanimous decision in PFL 1. He sits third equal in the standings with Ty Flores and Will Fleury.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia's Rob Wilkinson has singled out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou after the self-proclaimed "baddest man on the planet" announced he'll join the PFL. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=298627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298633,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298627\/revisions\/298633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/298629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=298627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=298627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=298627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}