Sam Alvey has called out YouTube star Jake Paul for his next fight after being released from the UFC following his nine-fight winless run.
Alvey, 36, fought out of his UFC contract last weekend when he was knocked out by Michal Oleksiejczuk in the first round.
'Smiling Sam' was told he would not be re-signed by the promotion after his latest fight having lost eight of his past nine bouts. During that run, Alvey has been knocked out and submitted twice.
Now able to fight elsewhere, Alvey explained why he thinks a fight with YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul makes sense for him. “Every MMA fighter wants it, but now it kind of makes sense. I like to joke that I haven’t won in a while which is the kind of guys he likes to fight, so that makes sense," he said on The MMA Hour.
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"I’m the same size as him, which will be a little different for him — he tends to like fighting people that are smaller than him, so he’ll have to make a little exception for that. I’m the first guy that he would have fought that is a knockout guy. I am a guy that has always been a striker and I would be the first non-wrestler.
"I’m not quite a boxer. I’ve never boxed. I’ve kickboxed, 7-1 professional kickboxing, but I’ve never boxed. I am a striker. So it might be the way he sees himself fighting next. I think it makes sense. There’s a chance. We’re reaching out to [Showtime], we’re seeing what happens.”
Alvey revealed that he sparred with Jake's brother Logan five years ago and almost broke the YouTube star's jaw. The UFC veteran was supposed to spar Jake as well, but he claims that Jake wouldn't get in the ring with him after watching Alvey come close to leaving his brother with a serious injury.
“He was a douche," Alvey said of Jake. "I’m 'Smiling Sam', I’m not supposed to be saying that, but he was a douche. Logan seemed OK. Logan, I actually almost broke his jaw in the sparring session. I was supposed to spar his brother too, but Jake wouldn’t do it afterward. I said, ‘Jake, I’ll take it easy, I’ll give you whatever work you want.’ Jake wouldn’t spar me that day and then I was never invited back.”
