Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul is not as thrilled to join the MMA family as he calls the sport boring.
Jake Paul is slated to appear in the cage under the PFL banner but has some reservations towards MMA. Despite Paul’s opinion on the sport, many fighters and combat sports fans believe boxing is on its last leg, and MMA may be the most relevant at the moment. UFC CEO Dana White agreed with this reasoning and has on numerous occasions called out to boxing promotions to save the sport.
Nonetheless, many MMA fighters seem to be trooping into the ring and trying their hand at the sport. Some, like Francis Ngannou, have gone up against boxing stars like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, but many boxers have found it hard transitioning to MMA however, Paul plans on making this shift. The boxer recently made waves in the combat sports world when he faced boxing legend Mike Tyson, but he beat the champion via unanimous decision. Paul has been in the gym training at Jiu-jitsu, but “The Problem Child” says MMA is not as entertaining as boxing.
During an interview on All The Smoke. Paul said MMA has some flaws in it, and he believes boxing has more likelihood of withstanding the test of time.
“MMA is not what it was. That’s the truth of the matter,” Paul told All The Smoke Fight. “Boxing is bigger than ever. The biggest sporting event of the year, of 2024, was boxing, whereas MMA is becoming a shittier version of boxing, essentially. It’s kickboxing. Because everyone is getting good takedown defense and everyone is a black belt in jiu-jitsu. So there’s no more submissions really, there’s not a lot of takedowns and even if there is it’s f*cking boring, but everyone is good at takedown defense. So it’s literally kickboxing.
“Guess who the biggest star of the sport is in MMA? Alex Pereira, who is a kickboxer. Because he’s knocking everyone out, blah, blah, blah. And he’s the best one because no one can take him down, no one can submit him so he’s just knocking everyone out.
“The UFC has less significant strikes per rounds, and that’s with five-minute rounds. So boxing is going to stand the test of time because it has. It’s been [around] since the 1500s. 500, 600 years of boxing. I don’t think MMA — I’m not long on MMA, because it’s becoming boxing.”
Although Paul has announced his possible transition to MMA, the fighter is still very much active in the boxing scene. He recently released an online poster displaying a faceoff with his brother Logan Paul. There has been no confirmation in when this fight will occur but reports shows that it might be a publicity stunt to promote their new reality show.
