Francis Ngannou Shuts Down Jake Paul Fight Talk, No Interest In Replacing Tank

You can cross Francis Ngannou's name off the list of potential replacement opponents for Jake Paul with his bout against Gervonta Davis in jeopardy ... 'cause the former UFC champ tells TMZ Sports no amount of money would entice him to fight El Gallo!

We spoke with 39-year-old Ngannou after his name began floating around this weekend as a fill-in for Tank -- as the boxing star's latest legal trouble has forced Most Valuable Promotions to consider pulling the plug on the November 14th scrap.

Among the replacement names ... Ngannou, Terence Crawford, Ryan Garcia and Nate Diaz.

Francis confirmed Jake's team did indeed reach out ... but says the conversation didn't go very far.

"I'm like, 'no bro, come on,'" Ngannou recounted. "I mean, don't disrespect me like that."

Francis says MVP asked if he would reconsider his position if the payday was right, but the Predator insists it's not about money.

"If it was about the number, I would have tell you," Ngannou said. "I'm just not interested, it makes no sense for me. It's not what I'm looking at right now."

"The fight makes no sense. That's what I think, that's my position."

Of course, a switch from Tank to Francis would've been a dramatic change. Davis fights around 135 lbs., while Ngannou is 6'5" and weighs around ~260 lbs.