{"id":560742,"date":"2026-03-24T08:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560742\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T08:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:41:11","slug":"francis-ngannou-praises-jake-pauls-rise-still-wants-to-beat-him-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560742\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou Praises Jake Paul\u2019s Rise, Still Wants To Beat Him Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francis Ngannou
\n Respects Jake Paul’s Come Up …
\n Still Wanna Slap Him Silly!<\/p>\n

\n Published
\n March 24, 2026
\n 12:30 AM PDT\n <\/p>\n

Play video content<\/p>\n

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TMZSports.com<\/p>\n

Francis Ngannou<\/a> isn\u2019t just back in the cage, he\u2019s in business with Jake Paul<\/a> \u2026 and while there\u2019s respect there, don\u2019t get it twisted — \u201cThe Predator\u201d still wants to smack around the YouTuber-turned-boxing star!<\/p>\n

The former UFC heavyweight champ is set to return to MMA on Most Valuable Promotions\u2019 massive debut card May 16 — a lineup stacked with names like Ronda Rousey<\/a>, Gina Carano<\/a> and Nate Diaz<\/a> — and Ngannou tells TMZ Sports<\/a> it might be the best card of the year.<\/p>\n

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\"Francis-Ngannou-getty-1\"<\/p>\n

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In fact, Francis didn\u2019t hesitate when we brought up comparisons to the UFC\u2019s Freedom 250 card at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo argument,\u201d Ngannou said. \u201cAs we\u2019re speaking right now, this is the best card.\u201d<\/p>\n

But things heated up when we asked about Jake.<\/p>\n

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Ngannou gave Paul his credit, saying he respects him not just as a businessman, but as a legit fighter who\u2019s completely changed the narrative.<\/p>\n

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\"jake<\/p>\n

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Ngannou even admits he used to see Paul as \u201cjust some YouTube guy\u201d jumping into boxing — but that\u2019s not the case anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about Jake Paul, they talk about him like a boxer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Respect doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s worried, though.<\/p>\n

Ngannou made it clear Paul\u2019s been talking plenty — even throwing out ducking claims<\/a> — and that\u2019s rubbed him the wrong way. The two stars were linked together last November, but Francis turned down the fight, and Jake ended up fighting Anthony Joshua<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"jake-paul-anthony-joshua-sub-getty-1\"<\/p>\n

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\u201cI just feel like I need to give him some slaps,\u201d Ngannou told us. “That’s just how I feel, you know, like slapping him off.”<\/p>\n

As for an actual fight, Francis says it really doesn\u2019t matter where it happens — a boxing ring or MMA cage — the outcome\u2019s the same: a bad night for Jake.<\/p>\n

Ngannou also made it clear he has zero regrets passing on the Paul fight last year … saying at the time, he didn\u2019t even think Paul was serious.<\/p>\n

Play video content<\/p>\n

\"031026_-francis_ngannou_kal\"<\/p>\n

TMZSports.com<\/p>\n

We also asked Francis if there could be a Jake callout should he be victorious in May … and while he didn’t rule anything out, it’s clear his focus is on his scrap against Philipe Lins.<\/p>\n

Check out the clip!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou Respects Jake Paul’s Come Up … Still Wanna Slap Him Silly! Published March 24, 2026 12:30…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,44,85,635,26898],"class_list":["post-560742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-tmz-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560742","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=560742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}