Joe Rogan gave his assessment of the recently announced boxing match between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that YouTuber and 3-0 celebrity boxer Jake Paul has booked his next opponent; former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley comes into this one looking to avenge his friend and training partner Ben Askren, who Paul humiliated with a first round KO in April.
Woodley, a recent free agent, fought out his UFC contract on the back of four straight losses versus Kamaru Usman, Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington and Vicente Luque. Seven of Woodley’s 19 wins in MMA have come via TKO/KO.
Like many, longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan is unsure how this fight will go down. On a recent episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan Experience, he spoke about the fight at length and showed a great deal of deference for the Paul brothers.
“They got famous first and then turns out they can fight!” Rogan said (ht MMA Fighting). “Especially Jake. That kid can knock people the f*** out. He knows how to punch…
“He’s only got a couple of fights. Here’s how you have to look at him. Look at him like any other guy whose only got a couple of fights. If you saw a guy who was coming up and he didn’t have an amateur career and he’s only got a couple of fights, you’d go, ‘Man, he’s got some promise.’”
Despite being keen on Paul’s boxing future, Rogan said that he’s certain that Paul’s next opponent is no walk-over.
“I know [Woodley] can punch,” he said. “He punches really hard but he doesn’t punch like a boxer. He throws big bombs and sets up takedowns but he can crack though. With one shot he can fuck anybody up. But the thing is, the way he throws shots, he’ll throw like a bomb and then set up a takedown or set up a clinch. He’s not a guy that’s going out there peek-a-boo style, throwing jabs and hooks to the body, that’s not his style. He’s never been a guy who has boxed. He’s been a guy who uses boxing in MMA but he uses everything.
“We won’t know until they get in there but the thing about it is he’ll be the most dangerous guy Jake Paul has ever fought, for sure. Not even close. No one more dangerous than Tyron Woodley. Tyron’s not just an MMA fighter, he’s a UFC world champion and one of the best welterweights of all time. If you looked at all the UFC welterweights of all time, he’s top-three. He’s fucking phenomenal.”
“He punches really fucking hard,” continued Rogan. “And when he doesn’t have to worry about wrestling, doesn’t have to worry about getting as tired, and can pick his shots, he’ll be the most dangerous guy Jake Paul has ever fought, for sure.
“But, it doesn’t necessarily means that he wins. I think Jake Paul can fucking box. If you look at that Nate Robinson fight, I know Nate Robinson didn’t know what he was doing, but the way he landed those punches; he cracked him and knocked him out moving backwards. He can move backwards and then plant. He doesn’t have big wind up movements. His brother has more wind up shots. His brother was throwing more windmill-y type arm-punches. Jake throws things straight and hard. They’re much more dangerous.”
Paul vs. Woodley is currently set for August 28 in Miami, FL. The fight is the first of multiple fights planned to feature Paul on Showtime PPV.