Jake Paul celebrated another victory in the ring this weekend. The YouTuber turned boxer won a decision over former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, and now everyone is wondering who his next opponent might be. The undefeated social media star will likely have his pick of a lot of fighters who would jump at what should be a huge payday, but there’s one name that keeps coming back around: Conor McGregor.
Jake Paul has been fixating on the beloved Irishman for what feels like his entire boxing career. Initially his desire to fight Conor McGregor seemed like a pipe dream, but as the MMA star has piled up a few losses and Paul has turned himself into one of the biggest draws in boxing, the bout is starting to make a lot more sense. The topic, of course, came up in the post-match press conference after the Woodley fight. Here’s what Paul had to say…
I’m five wins in a row; he’s one in three in the past four years so the guy needs to get off of his little vodka or whatever the fuck his brand is and sober up and start getting back in the fucking gym and then we can fucking fight. But to be honest, no way he hits harder than Woodley. He doesn’t weigh as much as Woodley. He’s shorter than Woodley. I said it before the fight. I think Woodley’s a harder fight than him. Especially the way that he’s going. Conor’s going down. I’m going up. Woodley came in-game. We’ll see.
Of course this is far from the first time Jake Paul has talked a little trash to Conor McGregor. The influencer openly mocked him after his last defeat in the UFC and spent $100,000 on a necklace depicting him knocked out. Before that, he even took public shots at his wife. McGregor has mostly stayed away from the conversation to this point, but given how much he likes to run his own mouth, it seems likely he’ll get in on this action, at least now that Paul has been legitimized a bit with his recent wins.
I have no idea if this superfight will ever happen, but if it does, it will generate a ton of pay per view buys. Jake’s brother Logan Paul and Floyd Mayweather reportedly did a million or so buys earlier this summer. It’s hard to imagine a McGregor and Paul fight wouldn't blow right past that. In fact, I’m not sure there’s an opponent either person could fight that would generate as much money as this clash could.
But there are reasons this might not happen. First, McGregor is currently hurt. Second, he’s been open about wanting to get another UFC title shot. This goal would put him further away from that, as training for a boxing match and a UFC fight are not the same thing. Third, it’s possible McGregor may not want to take on the possible downside of losing to Paul.
Following his recent fight against Woodley, Paul has made some statements about stepping away and retiring. I’m not sure anyone is taking them seriously. The question is not if he’ll fight again. The question is who he’ll fight again. Paul clearly wants McGregor, but the jury is out as to whether that’ll actually happen.
