A former UFC champ wants to battle Jake Paul in MMA after giving The Problem Child “credibility” as a boxer.
Jake Paul has bested some elite talent from the combat sports world so far in his career, picking up victories against Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva and recently KO’ing professional boxer Andre August.
While Jake Paul has proven his worth in ring, he has yet to show if he has what it takes to compete in the octagon – and a long-time rival wants another shot at the influencer.
During an interview on Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel, Tyron Woodley, a former UFC Welterweight Champion, expressed his desire to take on Jake Paul again after losing to him twice in a row.
Jake Paul challenged to MMA debut by former UFC champ
According to Tyron Woodley, he is the one who gave Jake Paul “credibility” as a boxer – not any of his other opponents.
“I’m the one who had the big press conference with him, I did the most numbers,” The Chosen One explained. “I’m the only who really had the ability to hurt him, so by him beating me and coming back and knocking me out, after we had a close fight that most people thought I won, that gave him credibility.”
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Later on, Tyron was asked about potentially facing Jake Paul again and expressed how a fight could happen in the Professional Fighters League – an org that Jake has committed to making his MMA debut in.
For Woodley, it’s him who deserves a chance to take on Jake Paul in the case after their history where he insisted he won the first fight and was winning their rematch until hitting the canvas.
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“I feel like, if anybody is going to fight him, you’re making too much money to kind of get catered to and walked up. You’ve got to jump in the motherf**king fire,” he added. “There’s no fire in the PFL like that right now. There are a lot of people talent-wise, but they don’t have the name. And MMA, now come on over to my world. Let’s see what it is where I can slam your ass.”
So far, Jake Paul hasn’t responded to Woodley’s demands for a re-rematch, but it could very well happen down the line. PFL boss Peter Murray says The Problem Child will indeed make his MMA debut later this year and has “multiple opponents” lining up to take him on.