YouTube star Jake Paul is making a name for himself elsewhere than the streaming video platform, pursuing a boxing career that has actually already paid off for him. He won his first professional boxing match in the first round in early 2020, and recently defeated former NBA star Nate Robinson in two rounds. Now, Paul has set his sights even higher: UFC champion Conor McGregor. Paul apparently wasn't kidding when he started trash talking McGregor after soundly defeating Robinson!
While the prospect of a YouTube star going up against a UFC champ may have sounded outlandish a year ago, Jake Paul has generated a lot of buzz for his performances in the boxing ring. Already a divisive figure, his victory against Nate Robinson was the talk of Twitter after the second round TKO. Speaking with ESPN, Paul confirmed that his comments about facing off against Conor McGregor were sincere, saying:
I am dedicating my life to beating Conor McGregor. Financially, it already makes sense. Financially, I'm already one of the biggest prizefighters and there's only a couple more bosses to check off and to beat and to conquer.
Jake Paul "dedicating" his life to beating Conor McGregor seemingly has more to do with how financially lucrative the fight could be than any real point of boxing pride, but he definitely seems to think that defeating McGregor is in his future. While it's a big boast to call himself one of the "biggest prizefighters" after only two professional matches, there's no denying that he's among the most-talked about.
The amount of buzz that Jake Paul's fights generate isn't altogether surprising. He packs more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube, 14 million followers on Instagram, and 3.7 million followers on Twitter. He even makes the news whenever his polarizing brother Logan Paul gets people talking, which is often for a controversial reason. Still, Jake Paul is seemingly not confident that he's already prepared to fight Conor McGregor. Paul said:
I want to fight a couple more people, I think, first. We're figuring that out. I want to prove to the world that, 'Yo, I'm gonna knock out all these fighters.' Conor McGregor can maybe be the final boss. If we were playing a video game, he could be the final boss. And then I'll probably retire after I beat McGregor.
Jake Paul doesn't see Conor McGregor as the next opponent to face in the boxing ring, but apparently more as the endgame boss in a video game. Although Paul didn't name a complete list of fighters he wants to go up against before taking on McGregor, he has so far mentioned UFC stars Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren as well as McGregor, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Dillon Danis. He also shared that he truly believes that he "will become the biggest prizefighter in the world and the highest-paid prizefighter in the world."
Let it not be said that Jake Paul doesn't have ambition! For now, fans can only wait and see who Paul officially lands as his next professional opponent. It's possible that more will be looking to take a swing at him after he knocked out Nate Robinson, but only time will tell. For some viewing options that don't involve boxing, be sure to check out our 2021 winter and spring premiere schedule.
