Francis Ngannou ‘just wanted 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 year.

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

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

Francis Ngannou wanted 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 came together backstage in a much friendlier interaction.