Jake Paul has not been shy when calling out the UFC roster but admits there’s one fighter he wouldn’t want to face in a boxing match.
Paul, who already holds knockout wins over former MMA champions Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, has expressed interest in boxing the likes of Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
But when asked if he’d box UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Paul, who currently walks around at 195 pounds, said he’d rather not.
“He’s probably the only fighter in the UFC that I wouldn’t fight,” Paul said on “The Timbo Sugar Show” podcast. “He is tall as f*ck, and, bro, his striking – I mean, I think he’s arguably one of the best strikers, top three ever in the history of the sport. There are a lot of UFC fighters (I would fight). I think he is literally the only one who I wouldn’t fight.”
Instead, Paul is hopeful that a fight with Diaz happens in the near future. Diaz will fight out his contract Sept. 10 when he faces Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 279 headliner.
“Yeah, that’s gonna happen within the next two years for sure,” Paul said. “It’s huge, man. It’s getting closer and closer to being real, and finally the UFC got him the fight with Khamzat.”
He continued, “Me versus Nate will probably be at 180 and then it’s like, ‘OK, Jake Paul beats Nate.’ … Then it’s just gets closer and closer to Conor not being able to duck me anymore.”
Paul was scheduled to box Hasim Rahman Jr. on Aug. 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but the fight was canceled when, according to Most Valuable Promotions, Rahman requested multiple times the bout be shifted to a heavier weight class. The YouTube star-turned pro boxer last competed when he knocked out Woodley last December, going up 2-0 on the former UFC welterweight champion.
