Outspoken professional boxer, Jake Paul appears to believe he has found a fan of his in the form of former two-weight UFC champion, Conor McGregor – after the latter questioning the pay-per-view drawing capacity of the Ohio native over the weekend.
Paul, who improved to 5-0 professionally back in December, landed a second career win over former UFC welterweight titleholder, Tyron Woodley – stopping the St. Louis veteran with a spectacular sixth round knockout in Miami, Florida.
Jake Paul also holds a professional boxing knockout win over UFC welterweight alum, Ben Askren
Prior and post-fight, Paul called for a slew of potential opponents next, including the UFC trio of Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, as well as McGregor – in a bid to entice the Dubliner to accept a boxing match against him.
Yet to come to fruition at the time of publication, Paul has yet to secure his sixth professional opponent, amid a failed December matchup with fellow boxer, Tommy Fury – leading to his impromptu rematch with Woodley.
For McGregor, the 33-year-old appeared at Bellator 275 in his native Dublin on Friday last, speaking with the Daily Mirror regarding the drawing power of Paul, claiming his pay-per-view numbers for his re-run with Woodley were less than impressive.
“I didn’t see the (Tyron) Woodley fight (with Jake Paul0, it only did a couple thousand buys I saw online,” Conor McGregor said backstage at the 3Arena. “I didn’t hear the diss track on Dana (White). I don’t pay attention to all that.”
However, despite McGregor’s thoughts on the pulling power of Paul, he remained coy when discussing a potential fight with the 25-year-old in the future. “Who knows?” Conor McGregor said when discussing a fight with Jake Paul. “Never say never.”
In a rather straightforward reply aimed at McGregor, Paul simply posted, “I love my fans” – implying the former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion was a fan of his.
For McGregor, the Crumlin native has been sidelined since July of last year at UFC 264 – suffering a fractured left tibia, resulting in a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to former interim lightweight gold holder in the pair’s rubber match trilogy.