Jake Paul has been told that he won't ever fight long-time rival Jorge Masvidal after losing his unbeaten record to Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia last month.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer was once friends with UFC star Masvidal, but their relationship turned sour and they have since gone back-and-forth on a potential fight. However, the two-time UFC welterweight title contender has now squashed talks of a potential meeting, insisting that his rival has lost his lustre since his defeat to Fury.
Masvidal, one of the biggest names in MMA, is on a losing streak of his own, not picking up a victory since November of 2019 when he defeated Nate Diaz. He has lost three in a row since, losing dominant decisions to Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington either side of a vicious knockout to Usman in their world title rematch.
“Right now there’s nobody that I could really think of to call out,” Masvidal told MMA Junkie Radio. “But they already burst that bubble just because I always thought it would be a great fight for me, and that I could knock him out and make a lot of easy money while doing it, would have been Jake Paul. But that ship has sailed now that he lost that 0.
"Maybe he comes back and gets a couple of wins and stuff, but that’s probably the only dude because he’s easy money. I don’t think I was going to generate a huge pay-per-view sell with him, because he doesn’t bring those types of pay-per-views. But me being involved in boxing, who knows? Maybe I could have done well for myself and gotten some good pay-per-views.”
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Paul and Masvidal began as friends, even training together and teaming up to make fun of Ben Askren when the YouTuber was facing him in early 2021. But through various comments in the media the pair's relationship turned and they are now often touted as prospective opponents for one another.
However, the UFC star believes that pay-per-view numbers for Paul's fights have been below projections, and reckons that the bout wouldn't even be a big financial draw. Masvidal is currently preparing for an April 8 showdown in Miami with Gilbert Burns that could return him to world title contention in the MMA promotion, but is keen to have a boxing fight before he retires.
“When he fought Woodley, when he fought Ben Askren, he hasn’t hit those marks that he thinks or that his people think he’s going to hit,” Masvidal added. “So he’s not the draw, definitely. He’d be like the C-side. I’m like the A+-side if we’re talking about selling pay-per-views.”
