{"id":529184,"date":"2026-03-09T16:57:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529184\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T16:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:57:26","slug":"jake-paul-changes-tone-on-francis-ngannou-after-low-key-soft-dig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529184\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Paul changes tone on Francis Ngannou after \u2018low-key soft\u2019 dig"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jake Paul has hinted at a U-turn on Francis Ngannou after confirming the former UFC heavyweight champion will compete on the first MMA event promoted by Most Valuable Promotions on Netflix.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The card, scheduled for 16 May, will be headlined by Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano and is being promoted as the first MMA event broadcast live on the streaming platform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ngannou has been added to the event in a heavyweight bout against Philipe Lins, marking a high-profile return to MMA after a period of uncertainty about his future in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Jake Paul changes stance on Francis Ngannou ahead of Netflix card<img alt=\"Photo by Richard Pelham\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"502\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/800e49acd1f53e1c075e839019565303.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Richard Pelham\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Paul\u2019s latest comments represent a notable shift from remarks he made in December 2025 following his boxing match with Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking on the Impaulsive podcast at the time, the YouTuber-turned-boxer questioned Ngannou\u2019s ability to take damage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI told everyone, though, that I would do better than Francis and that Francis kind of got no chin. Francis is low-key soft,\u201d said \u2018The Problem Child\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, this Monday, Paul struck a very different tone this week while promoting the upcoming event on social media, calling \u2018The Predator\u2019 one of the \u2018baddest\u2019 heavyweights in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He published: \u201cThe two baddest MMA heavyweight champions in the world are Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones. 1 of them is now fighting on Saturday May 16th live on Netflix.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Francis Ngannou\u2019s most recent MMA fight was in 2024<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ngannou\u2019s most recent MMA appearance came in October 2024 when he faced Renan Ferreira in the PFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Cameroonian heavyweight won the bout by knockout, marking a successful return to mixed martial arts after focusing on high-profile boxing fights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Despite the victory, the fight ultimately became his only appearance for the promotion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The PFL confirmed last week that the organisation had parted ways with Ngannou, making the former UFC champion a free agent once again before his return on the Netflix card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Paul has hinted at a U-turn on Francis Ngannou after confirming the former UFC heavyweight champion will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,29825,262933,9225,785,435,85],"class_list":["post-529184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-francis-ngannou","tag-heavyweight-bout","tag-jake-paul","tag-mma","tag-netflix","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}