Exclusive: Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul PFL update as Dan Hardy reveals PPV series timeframe

Ngannou made history last October when he lost a controversial split decision against heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in his very first professional boxing bout.

It remains unclear whether the 37-year-old plans to have another bout in the squared circle before turning his focus back to MMA and his much-anticipated debut for the PFL.

Ngannou’s last outing in the octagon took place in January 2022 when he defeated Ciryl Gane to defend his UFC heavyweight championship.

Following a dispute with Dana White and the organisation, Ngannou snubbed a contract extension and allowed his deal to expire before turning to the PFL.

The Cameroonian-French fighter has been announced as one of the names for the PFL’s Super Fight Division which also includes the likes of Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields.

When asked whether the likes of Ngannou and Paul will feature for the organisation in 2024, Hardy told Planet Sport: “Absolutely.

“When the PPV series launches which will probably be in the first quarter of next year, we’re going to see some very interesting match-ups.

“Of course, we now have all the Bellator champions, and we can match them with PFL champions. I was looking at the rosters the other day and we’ve got 200 plus Bellator fighters, we’ve got a really strong 150 plus PFL roster.

“We’ve got so many options for big fights, that’s going to be the game changer for next year, along with the leagues that we’re opening up in the Middle East and elsewhere.

“We’ve got a lot coming. We’re going to have six regional leagues very soon, by 2026. That’s how we’re going to get our champions who will move into the global roster.”

Last week, PFL supremo Donn Davis was also asked about the upcoming plans for Paul and Ngannou.

Speaking during a press conference, Davis confirmed that both men will be in action at varying parts of the new year.

He said: “We’ve been pretty consistent, Jake Paul is quarter four of 2024. He needs a full year of training, he started training about a month ago.

“There’s two to three really interesting fights that we’re working on with Nakisa [Bidarian] and Jake, but I think that is October to December of next year.”

On Ngannou, Davis added: “We’ve got bigger plans for Francis we’re trying to put together.

“Two possibilities. Early or late [2024]. And that’s opponent driven. We don’t want to force him early to have a worse opponent. But I think it will be March timeframe or October timeframe. But both will fight in 2024 in PFL, it’s just what is the right opponent, we don’t want to force it.”