World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed that he told Dewey Cooper, trainer of MMA veteran Francis Ngannou, that his fighter will receive a top ten ranking from the WBC.

On Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Ngannou made his professional boxing debut against the man many viewed as the top heavyweight of the weight class, WBC world champion Tyson Fury.

Their fight was a non-title affair, because Ngannou was not ranked by the sanctioning body.

Ngannou exceeded all expectations by dropping Fury in the third round and fighting him on even terms for most of the contest. 

In the end, Fury was awarded a close split decision victory. One judge scored it 95-94 for Ngannou, but he was overruled by tallies of 95-94 and 96-93 for Fury.

“Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, said he’s going to rank him in the top 10 because he’s better than most of the heavyweights in the top 10. He said that in the ring,” Cooper said to MMA Junkie.

Sulaiman was very impressed by what he witnessed from Ngannou and plans to make a recommendation for him to get ranked by his organization.

"What I personally witnessed last night is a solid boxer, who deserves to be ranked by the WBC and I will make such recommendations to the ratings committee," Sulaiman said.

Ngannou is planning to continue in boxing, but also intends to return to MMA in 2024.

Fury is now heading to a full undisputed showdown with IBO, IBF, WBA, WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk. The fight was set down for December 23 in Saudi Arabia, but now it might get pushed back to a late date. Fury took more punishment than expected in the bout with Ngannou and, according to promoter Frank Warren, will need more recovery time.