MMA star Colby Covington has called out YouTube boxer Jake Paul, saying he’s interested in a fight with the Problem Child despite the influencer’s lack of “honor.”
YouTube group ‘the NELK Boys’ sat down with American mixed martial artist Colby Covington to bend his ear on his time in the UFC — as well as his opinions on the world of influencer boxing.
This interview was recorded before Covington’s restaurant scrap with fellow UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal weeks after their UFC 272 bout on March 5, where Covington notably took home the win.
Covington later pressed charges against Masvidal, stating he’d suffered a broken tooth, an abrasion on his wrist, and $15,000 of damages to his $90k Rolex wristwatch as a result of the scuffle.
ARREST: MBPD Detectives have arrested and charged Jorge Masvidal with:– Aggravated Battery w/Mask– Felony Criminal Mischief
See reports and booking photo below for more details. pic.twitter.com/OkW6LbZQHn
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) March 24, 2022
Jake Paul compared the incident to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. As of yet, Rock has not pressed charges against Will for the on-screen assault.
“Chris Rock didn’t press charges but Colby Covington did lol,” he wrote in a scathing Tweet. “Just shows how much of a p**sy Colby is. Make Fighters Not Soft Again.”
Chris Rock didn’t press charges but Colby Covington did lol.
Just shows how much of a pussy Colby is.
Make Fighters Not Soft Again.
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) March 28, 2022
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Colby Covington claims Jake Paul “has no honor.”
However, it looks like Covington was interested in taking on the Problem Child before he aired his opinion to social media, as told in his interview with the NELK Boys recorded prior to the March 28 tweet.
“He wouldn’t want to fight me,” Covington said. “He doesn’t want to fight a real fighter. He wants to look for guys that are washed up and past their time. He doesn’t want to fight a young, hungry lion like me. …I’d be interested (in fighting Paul), but he’s not gonna be interested.”
That’s not all; Covington even claimed that Paul had, at one point, tried to train with him before Jake changed his tune to spar with Jorge, instead.
“He was trying to play buddy-buddy with me,” he added. “He was hitting me up in the DMs after I beat Woodley, and he was like, ‘Oh, yo bro, we should train sometime in Miami, blah, blah, blah.’ ”
“But then he started training with Jorge and you saw how that got sour, and he kinda turned his back and kinda threw him under the bus… The guy has no integrity. He has no honor. I can’t respect someone like that.”
Thus far, Paul has yet to respond to Covington’s interests in a possible bout — but Jake recently announced another fight sometime on the horizon, and with an opponent as yet unannounced, anything is possible.