Francis Ngannou ‘just desired to slap’ Jake Paul when pair faced off at Netflix press conference

Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul’s beef almost got physical when the pair met backstage at a press conference in LA earlier this yr.

Former UFC and PFL heavyweight champion Ngannou is ready to tackle Philipe Lins next month on the primary ever Most Invaluable Promotions MMA show on Netflix. The show is promoted by Paul and his business partner Nakisa Bidarian, who were each in attendance for the launch event in March.

Give us your prediction for Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins ⬇️

There had been talk of Ngannou stepping in for Gervonta Davis when Paul needed an opponent last yr, but Anthony Joshua got the task as a substitute. So things got awkward when the YouTuber met his potential opponent backstage at Intuit Dome.

Francis Ngannou desired to slap Jake Paul during press conference meeting

While everyone got to see the interaction between Jake Paul and Francis Ngannou on stage at their press conference in Los Angeles, a video shared to social media showed a little-known initial meeting. The pair got here together backstage in a much friendlier interaction.

Nevertheless, in an interview with The Schmo, Ngannou claimed that despite the niceties from each side, he was trying his best to not get physical with the abrasive boxer. “I just wanted to provide him a slap,” Ngannou said, before qualifying it with a ‘type of’.

He also noted that after Paul had his jaw broken by their mutual opponent Anthony Joshua, he could have opted to maneuver back to cruiserweight permanently. “He’s talking loads of crap,” Ngannou added. “I feel and I believed after his first heavyweight fight he would understand, but he’s persistent.”