Jake Paul had made a regular habit of making enemies with his mouth.
The YouTube star turned boxing sensation has been in a war of words with notable combat sports stars Jorge Masvidal, Conor McGregor, Tommy Fury, and Dana White. Now you can add Kamaru Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz to that list.
Abdelaziz took to Twitter and criticized the lack of star power of Canelo Alvarez’s opponent Dmitry Bivol in their WBA light heavyweight title fight. While speaking to FightHub TV during a media session for the Taylor-Serrano women’s title bout, Paul called Abdelaziz a “rat” and a “scumbag criminal” in response.
Abdelaziz did not take the insult lightly, snapping back at Jake Paul with strong words and seemingly, the threat of retaliation.
Jake Paul is “A Little Prostitute” According to Abdelaziz
“I just tweeted something because I feel nobody know his (Canelo’s) opponent,” Abdelaziz said while speaking to MMA Junkie. “His opponent is great and he (Bivol) beat him, but realistically, this business is about making money and he tried to dismiss Kamaru, but this fight week nobody know who Canelo is fighting. We shined light on him when Kamaru actually spoke. I’m nobody.”
“You see Eddie Hearn talking sh*t. You this little punk, what’s his name, Jake Paul and his people. I’m going to deal with him too because he said some things. It’s funny because Jake Paul never said some things about me. But suddenly, he starts saying some things about me and I know where this is coming from. I’m going to tell you something, somebody is going to have to pay for what he said.”
Abdelaziz further questioned why he was targeted by Paul, but ultimately believes it was a tactic to put more eyes on himself. Similar to how Paul has targeted certain MMA stars on social media to garner mainstream media attention since transitioning to professional boxing.
“He’s pimped, he’s a little prostitute,” Abdelaziz said about Paul. “At the end of the day, they have to bring in MMA, they have to bring in UFC because they don’t get enough attention and they have to speak about us. And honestly, I’m flattered. The whole press conference in Madison Square Garden, Eddie Hern talked about me, Jake talked about me – good or bad, they still talked about me.
“And most importantly, they talked about Kamaru … This little b*tch Jake Paul, he has something coming from me. I promise. Him and who told him to talk about me.”
Abdelaziz’s admitted respect for both Jake Paul and his brother prior to the comments caused further confusion for the CEO of Dominance MMA Management.
“I was shocked because I always praised the kid,” Abdelaziz said. “I said I wanted him to make money, that it’s great for the sport bringing a lot of attention to boxing and I don’t know. I understand where this comes from, I know who told him to say that and they’re going to pay because I was shocked, very shocked.
“Honestly, it upset me a little bit because I have nothing (to say), but great things about him and his brother. I like his brother and I like him. So why talk about me? I never said nothing about him. That’s it.”