American Kickboxing Academy head coach, Javier Mendez has claimed that it would not necessarily take an absurd amount of time to bring undefeated professional boxer, Jake Paul to a competent level ahead of a planned transition to professional mixed martial arts.
Paul, boasting an undefeated 5-0 professional record, is slated to make his return to the squared circle at the end of this month in Phoenix, Arizona – drawing the veteran former undisputed UFC middleweight titleholder, Anderson Silva.
The Ohio native saw fights with both Tommy Fury and Hasim Rahman Jr. fall to the wayside earlier this summer, and has been sidelined since a knockout win over former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley in the pair’s rematch last December.
In the build-up to this month’s boxing return, Paul has claimed he had been in discussions with a mixed martial arts promotion to likely make his professional debut in the sport, teasing an eventual transition to the sport.
“I’m working with a big organization right now,” Jake Paul said. “A whole thing in MMA. It also has to do with me fighting and we’re gonna have an announcement soon.”
“Javier Mendez said he would train me,” Jake Paul explained. “So I’ll go to AKA (American Kickboxing Academy). I’ll probably need, like, a year, year and a half to get the kicks down. I already know Jiu-Jitsu… I want to be able to do everything in there. At least checking kicks. I know how to wrestle already.”
Javier Mendez endorses Jake Paul’s potential transition to mixed martial arts
Commenting on Paul’s potential move, the aforenoted, Mendez – former head coach of the unbeaten former UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagoemdov, denied he would be solely training him at AKA, however, insisted the 25-year-old could be trained quite timely.
“Jacob Chavez is a very close friend of mine and he’s an AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) coach,” Javier Mendez told MMA Junkie during a recent interview. “He trained Blagoy Ivanov, that’s how I met him, and he’s with (training) Jake Paul. I don’t really know anything else other than he’s (Jake Paul) training with an AKA coach which is Jacob Chavez, that’s all.”
“If Jake Paul wanted to do MMA, I’m sure he can,” Javier Mendez explained. “He’s a wrestler an now he’s got boxing, and he’s a great athlete. So I think getting him ready wouldn’t take too long, but at the same time too, it depends on the level, you know, where you’re going to put him.”
While Mendez believes a potential transition for Paul could prove successful, he stressed the need to match the social media star correctly, fearing his chances against a proficient grappler or wrestling talent.
“You can’t put him in with someone that’s got great Jiu-Jitsu or great wrestling,” Mendez said. “They can take him down because he’s not going to be able to survive that. So, he’s going to need time.”