Francis Ngannou reacts as Jake Paul pitches MVP MMA clash against Rico Verhoeven

Just moments after Rico Verhoeven’s controversial boxing loss, his next outing could have become clear.

This past Saturday, Rico Verhoeven made just his second boxing appearance when he took on Oleksandr Usyk for the Ring Magazine and WBC World Heavyweight titles.

Although he wasn’t being given much of a chance for his fight next to the Pyramids in Giza, the former kickboxing world champion shocked the world throughout the first 10 rounds.

Many fans and pundits had him up at least 7 rounds by the time the 11th round came, when he was controversially stopped after being knocked down, with the referee calling the fight at the very end of the round.

Jake Paul pitches MVP MMA clash for Rico Verhoeven next

With his loss to the consensus greatest heavyweight boxer of all time being extremely controversial, the Dutchman revealed his plan to officially appeal the stoppage.

Footage posted after the fight from ringside shows that the stoppage came after the bell for the end of the round sounded, with several of Usyk’s punches coming after the bell.

After his fight, Verhoeven received the support from a lot of the combat sports world, one of which being former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

However, Ngannou’s show of respect for Verhoeven could quickly turn into what could be a rivalry between the two.

MVP MMA co-owner Jake Paul was extremely vocal with his thoughts that Verhoeven was the biggest winner from the fight and is now the best boxer in the world.

But then he quickly realized he could be the next one to have Verhoeven on one of his shows when he pitched a clash between the Dutch kickboxer and Ngannou.

“Rico vs Francis MVP / MVP MMA,” Paul said in a post on X.

That elicited a response from the lineal MMA heavyweight champion, who responded with an emoji, connoting that he would be interested in that clash.