Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal trained together leading up to Paul’s knockout win over Ben Askren earlier this year. Masvidal went as far as endorsing his skill leading up to the highlight finish that many felt wouldn’t happen.
But the positive relationship between the two has appeared to have fizzled out after Paul did not respond in kind to Masvidal’s prediction that Tyron Woodley will knock him out in his next challenge in the boxing ring.
Paul is just days away from his highly-anticipated boxing matchup with the former UFC welterweight champion Woodley, who will make his boxing debut after a long career in MMA. This will easily be Paul’s toughest test to date after knockouts over wrestling specialist Askren, former NBA player Nate Robinson, and YouTube rival AnEsonGib.
During a recent interview with Combat Culture, Paul reacted to Masvidal’s prediction with fighting words of his own.
“He’s going to eat those words very quickly,” Paul said. “This is coming from a guy who just got knocked out cold in an embarrassing way. Maybe he doesn’t know that much about fighting.”
“I think Jorge has done a lot for this sport. I think he’s a good guy, but, unfortunately, my friend it’s a new era. Of course, he’s going to side with his boy. Maybe Jorge’s next.”
Paul will fight in his native Cleveland, OH at Rocket Mortgage Arena. His brother, Logan has also taken the boxing world by storm and most recently fought against boxing Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather in Miami.
Despite coming off of four-straight losses in the UFC octagon, Woodley still has tremendous knockout power and has even trained with Mayweather leading up to his fight with Paul.
The Paul vs. Woodley fight is widely expected to be a massive pay-per-view success, which might make a Masvidal vs. Paul fight very possible down the line.
What is your prediction for Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley?