Jake Paul seems adamant about crossing over into MMA, and Bellator CEO Scott Coker says he’s willing to make that happen.
Jake Paul made the headlines this week because of his recent back-and-forth with UFC president Dana White. “The Problem Child” was verbally trying to strike a one-fight deal, which White essentially scoffed at using so many words.
With the UFC door (seemingly) closed, another one has opened for the 24-year-old internet sensation. Bellator head honcho Scott Coker recently spoke to MMA Junkie, saying he “would gladly” welcome Paul into mixed martial arts.
“If you want to come into MMA, we would gladly do it,” he said. “Think about this: He’s not saying, ‘I’m going to go train here. I’m going to go train there.’ He’s going to come to one of the best gyms in the planet, where Khabib is, where Daniel Cormier is still training, where Cain Velasquez is teaching there now, and he’s going to go into an environment that he is going to flourish, and he has a wrestling background already.
“He has great striking, obviously. You’ve seen it, and so this guy is just going to get better and better and better. The days of him fighting basketball players or whatever, those days are over.”
Coker even says he’s willing to wait on Paul, who apparently plans to take on more boxing fights before his supposed MMA move.
“He wants to do it. The only thing I will say is, my understanding is he wants to get 10 fights into boxing, and then after that come over to mixed martial arts,” Coker said.
“I know certain people feel a certain way, but I tell you, don’t underestimate these guys because when they have their minds made up, it just seems like that they’re able to fulfill their destiny, and so to me, it’s something that if they want to make it happen, we would love to do something with them and put them in some big fights and really test them out.”
Paul is now 5-0 as a professional boxer. His most noteworthy win to date happened two and a half weeks ago when he knocked out former UFC champion Tyron Woodley in their rematch.