Jake Paul’s team still puzzled by Francis Ngannou turning down fight

Jake Paul’s team at Most Valuable Promotions continues to be baffled over Francis Ngannou turning down a fight with “El Gallo.”

When Paul and MVP pulled Gervonta “Tank” Davis from a previously planned bout due to a civil suit, “The Problem Child” looked for a new opponent. One of the potential names that surfaced was Ngannou, who publicly trashed the opportunity. Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua stepped up and he knocked Paul out in the sixth round.

During the Paul vs Joshua post-fight press conference, MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian admitted he still doesn’t understand why Ngannou was as harsh on the offer as he was (via MMAFighting).

“The whole situation with Francis was very confusing to me,” Bidarian said. “He’s done a couple of interviews back and forth on terms of how he thought about our conversation.

“I think Francis is a revolutionary when it comes to fight sports. He stood up against the UFC. Showed what kind of man he is. This process, again, was just a little bit confusing for me given who I know who he is as a human being.”

Some wonder if Paul vs Ngannou could be on the table in the future. For now, Paul will need some time to recover after suffering from a broken jaw. During his post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, Paul said that he plans to continue boxing but he will be taking time to heal and rest.

Paul has been using his own fights to build his MVP brand. MVP has become a relevant boxing promotion, particularly with marquee female boxing matches. In addition to booking Anderson Silva vs Tyron Woodley for the Paul vs Joshua undercard, there were four female title fights with three of them taking place on the prelims.

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