“We are not playing” - Turki Alalshikh’s stirring reaction to questions of Tyson Fury’s injury authenticity on Ariel Helwani’s show

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has shut down allegations about Tyson Fury faking an injury or intentionally postponing his fight against Oleksandr Usyk.

On Feb. 17, Fury was scheduled to fight Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight boxing throne. Unfortunately, ‘The Gypsy King’ suffered a gruesome cut in training, leading to the highly-anticipated boxing match being postponed until May 18.

Since the matchup was postponed, some fans have accused Fury of lying about his injury despite the photo showing his cut. Earlier today, Alalshikh joined ‘The Gypsy King’ for a special edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, where he had this to say:

“We are not playing. If I had 1% thought [Fury] is cheating, I would not seat here. I know this guy from inside, and I know Usyk from his heart. They both want this fight and want the fans to see it. It happened, it happened before and maybe happy in the future. For that, we guarantee on the 18th of May, and this is the important thing, to have big fight.”

Watch His Excellency talk about Fury and Hrgovic below:

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Turki Alalshikh names potential opponents for Filip Hrgovic to fight on March 8

Turki Alalshikh discussed several other topics while being interviewed by Ariel Helwani. When asked about undefeated heavyweight Filip Hrgovic potentially fighting Oleksandr Usyk to replace Tyson Fury, Alalshikh revealed he offered the Croatian heavyweight six options for a fight on March 8:

“What about [Filip] Hrgovic? I give him options to play in the undercard of 8th of March. Now I call him for six names, choose one of them, if they both accept, we want them in the 8th of March. Hrgovic [vs. Daniel] Dubois, Hrgovic [vs. Martin] Bakole, Hrgovic [vs. Frank] Sanchez, Hrgovic [vs. Jarrell] Miller, Hrgovic [vs. Agit] Kabayel, Hrgovic [vs.] Jared Anderson.”

Hrgovic holds a professional boxing record of 17-0, with 14 wins by KO/TKO. The 31-year-old last fought in Dec. 2023, defeating Mark De Mori by first-round TKO at Day of Reckoning. Hrgovic now looks to receive a step up in competition and prove he belongs against the top heavyweight boxers on the planet.