Claim: A Facebook user has posted a picture of a man on a hospital bed, which he claimed was British boxer Tyson Fury after he clashed with the former UFC star, Francis Ngannou.
Verdict: False. Reverse image tools such as Google Reverse Image Search and Tineye have revealed that the man on the hospital bed was the President of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White, and not Tyson Fury as claimed.
Full Text
A Facebook user shared a picture of a man on a hospital bed wearing an oxygen mask, which he claimed was British boxer Tyson Fury after he clashed with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
“Even if they pay Tyson 200 millionaire to fight Francis Ngannou or any black man, he will not accept again. Look at him in the hospital now,” the Facebook user wrote.
Statistics on the social media platform showed the post made on Oct. 29, 2023, has been liked 4,500 times, received 826 comments, and shared 561 times.
The heavyweight world boxing champion, Tyson Fury, won a controversial split decision against former UFC star Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 28, 2023.
Two judges scored the bout 96-93 and 95-94, while the third awarded Ngannou 95-94.
Barely a day after the controversial clash, a Facebook user claims Fury has been hospitalised because of the injury he suffered during the fight.
DUBAWA decided to probe the claim as part of its campaign against misinformation and disinformation in Ghana.
Verification
A Google reverse image search conducted by DUBAWA showed the image of the man on the hospital bed was UFC’s Dana White, and not Tyson Fury.
The search traced the image to an article published by Prommanow with the exact picture of Dana on a hospital bed.
The lead of the story posted by Prommanow on Jan. 22, 2013, reads,
“UFC President Dana White recently went under the knife for Meniere’s Disease. They had to completely remove his ear during the surgery, and you can watch the whole thing right here (hear).”
A further search on the reverse image search engine, Tineye, showed the image had been in circulation ten years before the bout between Fury and Ngannou.
Dana underwent extensive ear surgery in 2013 after battling Meniere’s disease for over a year, a report by MMA Fighting has said.
According to MayoClinic.org, Meniere’s disease is a “disorder of the inner ear that causes spontaneous episodes of vertigo – a sensation of a spinning motion – along with fluctuating hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and sometimes a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ear.”
MMA Fighting reported the 54-year-old started to feel the effects of the disease at the end of 2011, which forced him to miss his “first UFC event in 11 years when the disease prevented him from flying to Fairfax, Va., for UFC.”
Speaking of the surgery in October 2013, according to MMA Fighting, Dana said:
“This is a different procedure. They’re going to try where they go in and cut the back of my ear open, and they go in through there. They insert a tube, and it’s supposed to give me a 70 per cent chance of not having an attack.”
Also, in a video posted on YouTube by SportMeme-ories starting from minutes 0:03, the UFC boss, Dana, is seen wearing an oxygen mask while in a hospital bed.
The Gypsy King was not hospitalised after his fight with Ngannou, although he suffered bruises in the face following his controversial victory in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
DUBAWA later contacted the Facebook user about the false image he used about Fury. However, he has not responded to the message as of the time this report was filled.
The image shared on Facebook is, therefore, not Fury after his fight with Ngannou as claimed, but rather UFC’s Dana after his ear surgery in Oct. 2013.
Conclusion
Fury was not hospitalised after his fight with Ngannou, despite having his face battered and bruised. The man on the hospital bed is the UFC President, Dana White.
