Jake Paul can cross yet another name off his list of potential replacements for Gervonta Davis. After Davis faced a lawsuit from his ex-girlfriend and Paul’s MVP canceled the November 14 bout on Netflix, several names were floated as a last-minute replacement to host the fight in December. One of them was former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. But it turns out, the Cameroonian powerhouse wasn’t impressed with the offer he received.

Now, UFC fighter Chael Sonnen has some thoughts about that. “I would have really liked if that match [had] gotten booked,” he said in his latest video on YouTube. “I think that would just solve so many problems from a storyline perspective.”

He also referred to Ngannou’s bout against Tyson Fury. Sonnen pointed out that when Fury agreed to face Ngannou, the latter was no longer the UFC champion. And Anthony Joshua went on to fight Ngannou despite his previous loss to Fury. So, Sonnen believes that it made little sense for Ngannou to refuse a fight against Paul.

“I don’t understand how Jake would be asking more from Francis than Francis asked of Tyson Fury. I don’t know how Jake would be asking more of Francis, more of a favor than Francis asked of Joshua, I wanted to understand that.”

Labeling Ngannou’s previous boxing bouts as cash-grab fights, Sonnen asked if those “made perfect sense. What part about fighting Jake doesn’t?”

Well, Ngannou, while rejecting the fight, said that the very idea of facing Paul was disrespectful. There were other reasons, too. For instance, he wondered how MVP went from Gervonta Davis to him, considering the disparity in weight. But Ngannou’s negative response to Paul’s team later led to more back-and-forth on social media.

Paul and Ngannou called each other out, and so, it looks like there is no productive conversation going on.

Sonnen then reminded Ngannou, “If you’re a prize fighter, you got to fight to get the prize. It would seem to me, if you had an opponent with a promoter on the phone whose checkbook is flush, it would seem to me it makes perfect sense.

“If you turn down fights that you don’t think are hard, or you turn down fights for any reason, it really doesn’t make you a courageous and noble man. It makes you unemployed,” Sonnen concluded in his YouTube video.

Having said that, Jake Paul is now left with just three potential opponents who were reportedly approached to replace Gervonta Davis: Ryan Garcia, Terence Crawford, and Nate Diaz.

However, in reality, two of those three names are already out of the running.

Consider Ryan Garcia and Nate Diaz out

Former interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan Garcia has long spoken about fighting Jake Paul. However, reports broke the news that when Paul’s team approached Garcia, his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, clarified that the fight was impossible. Why?

Well, it’s because Garcia fights for DAZN, and Paul is fighting for Netflix. So, Garcia is out!

Nate Diaz, on the other hand, who lost a unanimous decision to Paul in August 2023, was among the first names to quickly agree to replace Davis. However, the fight’s still not happening. Commenting under one of Most Valuable Promotions’ Instagram posts on the Davis fight cancellation, ‘The Problem Child’ stated:

“Nate Diaz is a f—ing G,” Paul wrote. “It isn’t meant to be, but respect for willing to step up on two weeks notice. So many p—ies at the top of this sport with excuses.”

This leaves Terence Crawford as a potential replacement for Gervonta Davis. He is the only one left whose refusal hasn’t been reported yet. However, this doesn’t mean the fight’s happening. Only time will tell who Jake Paul will end up fighting. Who do you think Paul will fight?