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Jake Paul and legitimate UFC legend Daniel Cormier are continuing a war of words following their altercation at UFC 261.
Cormier said on the DC & Helwani show that if he has to fight Paul — I don’t know why he’d ever have to — he’ll only do it in mixed martial arts, and isn’t interested in boxing him.
“I don’t want to fight Jake Paul,” Cormier said. “But I’m not gonna let Jake Paul disrespect me. Let me tell you one thing about Jake Paul and I’ll refer back to the Conor McGregor deal. Conor went to fight Floyd, made a ton of money, because he had to. Floyd Mayweather is the greatest boxer of all time, so you go play on his playing field. Why would I go and box Jake Paul? Who I am doesn’t make me chase anything. I made my money as the heavyweight champion of the world. I don’t have to chase a payday.
“This kid wants to fight, OK, I’ll fight him. But it will be a mixed martial arts competition. If he wants to actually fight with me, fight me in mixed martial arts and then I’ll fight him all the way down at 205. I’m living fat and happy and healthy, I’ll go all the way down to 205 to fight this kid in mixed martial arts. If you really want to fight me, like seriously fight me, fight me in mixed martial arts.
“This is not going to be fun. I’m telling you right now, at 42 years old, bad back and everything, I’m going to torture him and I’m going to hurt him. I don’t want to box him, I don’t want to fight in a limited skill set of rules. If you want to fight me, you really want to fight me, fight me in a mixed martial arts competition. I’ll go all the way back to 205 and I’m going to smash him and I’m going to hurt him and then he can go back to fighting these YouTube kids.
“But don’t think for a second that I would ever chase a payday in boxing because I don’t need it. I’m good. I made my money as the champion of the world. If you want to really fight me, you got an issue with me, fight me in mixed martial arts and I’m going to torture you and I’m going to rip his face apart and I’m gonna hurt the kid. I will teach these kids not to continue to do this with people like me, athletes. I will hurt the kid.”
Cormier stresses that he’s not actually interested in fighting Paul at all, but he also made clear that he refuses to let Paul use his name on social media and all that for more attention. Of course, Paul is pretty clearly succeeding in using Cormier’s name on social media and all that for more attention, but, well, here we are.
Objectively, it is kind of funny watching 24-year-old YouTube guy Jake Paul troll an entire industry. Realistically, no, Jake Paul does not want to get anywhere near a cage with Daniel Cormier in it. And unless the kid loses his mind in the fantasy of his fighting career, he will not.
Still, I can’t help but think Cormier is kind of playing himself here. He is a bona fide, 100 percent legitimate MMA legend, and I am a big Daniel Cormier fan, but I don’t know that this ends well for him, because it will not get in the cage where he can beat up a weirdo. It’s going to end where it has started: The internet, and Jake Paul is extremely good at the internet.