Jorge Masvidal has appeared to pivot on his stance regarding Jake Paul’s boxing skills following his knockout of Tyron Woodley.
Masvidal has been a target of Paul’s on social media, after their falling out stemming from a brief training session ahead of Paul’s match with Ben Askren. Things took a tense turn after Masvidal picked Woodley to hand Paul his first defeat in the boxing ring not just once, but twice.
Masvidal was one of Paul’s callouts following his most recent win over Woodley last December. During a recent interview on the IMPAULSIVE podcast, Masvidal gave Paul credit for his performance against Woodley.
“The best thing I saw from him is he got cracked numerous times in his last fight, and I think even suffered a little headbutt,” Masvidal said. “And I saw his face in that one round where he was like ‘holy shit, it’s fucking real fight’. And the next round he was still out of belief but eventually, he came back and started fighting harder and better.
“That’s the best thing I’ve seen about him, is when he had real adversity against Woodley, Woodley caught him with two good shots and kept his composure and fought through. So I definitely think he’s improved, but Woodley’s also a very good fighter for him to fight. He fights in spots, he’s not crazy aggressive.”
Masvidal went on to address the chances of a potential fight with Paul happening down the line.
“Man, I love money,” Masvidal admitted. “If it made me money, like a ton of it, why the fuck not? No matter what, I feel like the chips are stacked on my side because he just got into this life. Combat, for however long he’s been doing it, five-six years. I’ve been doing this since a kid. So even though it’s not what I have my Ph.D. in, it’s a form of combat that I have way more time than him doing it. So of course, I feel like the chips are on my side. Big money and I would bet on myself that I would win that fight.”
Masvidal is expected to return to the Octagon later this year after losing to Colby Covington at UFC 272. He has lost three in a row, including back-to-back defeats to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Paul is also planning on a return to the boxing ring against a to-be-determined opponent. He’s recently flirted with the idea of boxing former UFC champion Michael Bisping next.
Despite Masvidal seeming reluctant to leave the UFC to box Paul, it appears that he may be having second thoughts about a blockbuster fight eventually happening.
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