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TAMPA – Jake Paul will likely face an opponent with actual boxing experience at some point.
For now, he is having fun tormenting the MMA community.
The entertainment superstar is now 3-0 (2KOs) in a boxing ring versus former UFC fighters, the latest coming in a highlight-reel, sixth-round knockout of former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. The Showtime Pay-Per-View main event—which aired live this past Saturday from AMALIE Arena in Tampa—was a rematch to their August 29 fight, which saw Paul go the distance for the first time in an eight-round, split decision win.
Both bouts preceded a first-round knockout of Ben Askren this past April, leaving Paul with a 2021 campaign spent entirely on beating up such fighters. Accompanying the run is a longstanding feud—through the media—with UFC president Dana White. Saturday’s result could not have presented a more ideal time to fan those flames.
“I just knocked out a five-time UFC champion and embarrassed your whole company,” Paul noted when asked during the post-fight press conference if he had a message for the volatile head of UFC. “Please let me get [UFC welterweight champion] Kamaru Usman. Please let me get Nate Diaz.
“Please let me get [Jorge] Masvidal. Please let me get [Conor] McGregor because I’m gonna embarrass them too. I promise you that, Dana. I promise you.”
The rematch with Woodley (0-2 as a boxer) was made on barely two weeks’ notice, only after England’s Tommy Fury (7-0, 4KOs)—a full-time boxer whose older brother is reigning heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22KOs)—withdrew late into the promotion due to illness and injury. There remains a faction of the entertainment—and even boxing—world that would like to see such a fight make its way back to the schedule.
Paul is not the type to never say never, though he currently holds the Brit in the same regard as he does several of the mentioned UFC fighters.
“Tommy Fury’s a bitch, he backed out the fight,” insisted Paul. “Masvidal and Nate Diaz, you’re some bitches for leaving this arena. I know you don’t want this sh!t. I’ll take on both of y’all next. Just get out of your contract with daddy Dana (White, UFC President). I’mma f— them up too.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox