Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou will fight in October in Saudi Arabia

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Boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou will fight Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia, promoters announced Tuesday.

The latest high-profile crossover boxing match between a mixed martial artist and a professional boxer will take place in a regulation ring, with three ringside judges using the 10-point scoring system. The fight announcement by promoter Top Rank didn’t specify whether the bout will count on the fighters’ professional boxing records or whether Fury’s WBC heavyweight title will be on the line.

Fury and Ngannou have talked about a potential meeting for more than a year since Ngannou’s acrimonious departure from the UFC. Promotional companies Queensberry, Top Rank and Ngannou’s promotional banner, GIMIK Fight Promotions, partnered with Riyadh Season — Saudi Arabia's state-sponsored entertainment and sports festival — to host the fight in Riyadh.

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WBC heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury poses with his championship belt after the official weigh-in for his fight against Derek Chisora, in London, Friday Dec. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)

The fight is not the first in Saudi Arabia, but certainly among the biggest at a time when the country’s sporting investments have been labeled by some experts as " sportswashing," or using fields of play to change a country’s public image. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was the main topic of a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday in relation to the fund’s proposed deal with the PGA Tour. The men’s and women’s tennis tours have also had talks with the country and the fund has bought