UFC lightweight contender and fan favourite personality, Paddy Pimblett (19-3), has verbally agreed to spar with YouTuber-turned-professional boxer Jake Paul (6-0) for five three-minute boxing rounds with $1 million up for grabs if the Scouser manages to beat the American.
It all started when The Baddy questioned the legitimacy of Paul’s professional boxing bouts during his appearance on MOLA TV’s Pub Talk podcast.
“I’ll give Jake Paul his due now, he’s training that much he probably could beat professional boxers. He’s got unlimited funds and he hasn’t got to do anything else. He hasn’t got to go do a job, all he’s got to do is box,” Paddy Pimblett prefaced his criticisms.
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“He gets the best coaches in, the best nutritionists in and stuff like that. Jake Paul is actually not that bad now, even though I think his fights are fixed.”
When asked to elaborate on his fight-fixing accusations, Pimblett pointed to Paul’s most recent unanimous decision victory over former UFC middleweight champion and MMA icon Anderson Silva.
“I don’t think the Tyron Woodley knockout was fixed because when you get knocked out like that and you land face first, if you’re not unconscious you’re [going to put your arms out]. You can’t help it, that’s a human reaction.”
“But I seen an angle of a punch he hit Anderson Silva with the other day when he sat down, he didn’t even hit him.”
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As you can imagine, Jake Paul didn’t take too kindly to any of this.
“Poor Paddy Pimblett, man. I was really wanting to like you. I really was. You’ve got a cute little thing going for you, man, but then you come out and say my fight against Anderson Silva was rigged,” The Problem Child opened his Twitter response with a sigh.
“I’m sick and tired of this narrative. It’s pathetic. It’s stupid. You’re disrespecting the GOAT of your own sport. You’re saying Anderson Silva is a criminal. You’re saying he’s a fraud. You’re saying that Viacom, one of the biggest media companies in the world, is doing criminal stuff.”
Appealing to Pimblett’s integrity and apparent refusal to take a dive, that’s when Paul threw down the gauntlet: a five-round sparring session, three minutes a pop, with a cash prize should the boxer fall to the mixed martial artist.
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“Fly to Puerto Rico, I’ll get you a private jet… if you win, I’ll give you $1 million dollars. Which is what you deserve to get paid, Paddy. You know it. But the UFC’s not paying you that. You deserve to get paid more,” Paul continued, reigniting his longstanding pay dispute beef with UFC President Dana White.
“But if I win, you have to join United Fighters Association and help me sign up all the fighters in the UK. So let’s spar. Since you wouldn’t rig a fight, fly you out, a million for you. Put your money where your mouth is.”
Paddy Pimblett responded to Jake Paul soon after via TMZ Sports.
“Of course [I’m interested], but I’m under contract by the UFC and he said this knowing full well I’m fighting next week, know what I mean?” Pimblett told the show’s host Michael Babcock.
“As if he does not know I’m fighting next week and he’s like, ‘I’ll fly you to Puerto Rico.’ Come to the [UFC Performance Institute] next week and bring $1 million in a bag and I will spar with you.”
“I’m in the PI in Vegas on Thursday, I land on Thursday, so even though I’m low on calories and I’m only about 170, he likes picking on smaller people anyway.
“But, if he wants to wait until after my fight, until the Monday, because I’m still in Vegas ’til the Tuesday, but I’m about 185, 190 pounds, I’m game!”
“Tell him not to worry, he can come to PI and we can get in the cage. Simple as.”
While Paddy Pimblett is predominantly known for his grappling prowess as opposed to being a feared striker, he’d certainly represent the first active UFC athlete Jake Paul has faced, the latter having famously padded his CV with retirees: wrestler Ben Asken (coming off a sedentary year of recovering from back surgery), yet another wrestler in Tyron Woodley (gunshy as all hell and beyond his prime), and as previously mentioned, 47-year-old fight veteran Anderson Silva.
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Additionally, despite walking around at a heavier natural weight, Pimblett fights in the UFC lightweight division (155-pound limit) whereas Paul is a boxing cruiserweight (200-pound limit); if this were to go ahead, The Baddy would be sacrificing a whole lot of size. And it might actually shape up to be closer than we’re comfortable with admitting. In any case, this whole shitshow has definitely piqued our interest.
Paddy Pimblett’s next fight is scheduled to go down later this month at UFC 282 in a co-main bout against Jared Gordon (19-5). Jake Paul’s next fight, on the other hand, has yet to be announced, although he has apparently sent out offers to three opponents with the mindset of returning to the ring come February 2023.
