Tony Ferguson Draws Olympic Wrestler as Replacement for Misfits Boxing Title Defense
Former UFC interim champ will now defend his Misfits middleweight belt against Egyptian Olympian Mahmoud Sebie on four days' notice.
Tony Ferguson's Misfits Boxing middleweight title defense just got a curveball. Original opponent Kenzo Biyong, the former soccer player, was forced to withdraw due to travel complications, and Misfits has replaced him with Mahmoud Fawzy Sebie, a former Egyptian Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler, on just four days' notice, per MMA Mania.
The fight goes ahead this Saturday, September 26, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami.
Sebie represented Egypt in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He later attempted to transition to competing for Team USA but retired from wrestling when the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to COVID-19, per Yahoo Sports. His combat sports resume since then includes a loss to Zahid Valencia by technical fall at RAF 6 in February.
Ferguson, 42, has carved out a strange second act since leaving the UFC. The former interim lightweight champion won the Misfits interim middleweight title in August 2025 by stopping Salt Papi at Misfits 22, then picked up the full belt by defeating Warren Spencer via unanimous decision in December 2025, per MMA Sucka. He has also dabbled in freestyle wrestling, losing to Arman Tsarukyan by technical fall at RAF 10 in June.
The irony of a former MMA fighter defending a boxing title against an Olympic wrestler on a Misfits card is peak 2026 combat sports. Ferguson's unorthodox style has always been difficult to prepare for, and doing it on four days' notice against a man who built his career on the mat makes this one of the more unpredictable fights on the weekend's combat sports calendar.
Tony Ferguson defending a Misfits boxing belt against an Egyptian Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler on four days' notice. If you told me that sentence in 2016 I would have asked what you were drinking. But here we are, and I am not even mad about it.
On paper this is a mismatch in Tony's favor. Sebie is a wrestler who lost by technical fall at RAF 6 and has no real boxing resume. Tony has actually won boxing fights, stopped Salt Papi and outpointed Warren Spencer. A Greco guy is not going to out-box Tony Ferguson, even at 42.
The wildcard is Tony himself. He does weird things, he takes weird shots, and short-notice replacements sometimes come in with nothing to lose. I still think Tony wins comfortably, but the fact that I have to think about it at all is a perfect summary of where Tony's career has landed. Peak 2026 combat sports, exactly like the story says.
