- Ali Abdelaziz was “very shocked” after Jake Paul threw shade at him
- The Dominance MMA boss claims Paul and his people still need the star power of UFC fighters, primarily Kamaru Usman
Jake Paul has regularly been in a war of words with a number of people in combat sports and he has added another name to that list by calling Kamaru Usman’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz a “rat” and a “scumbag criminal” during a recent media session. As expected, Abdelaziz did not let it slide and hit back.
An unexpected blow
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Abdelaziz admitted that he did not expect such comments from the YouTuber-turned-boxing star as he has always had nothing but respect to what he and his brother, Logan have been doing for the sport.
“You see Eddie Hearn talking sh*t. You this little punk, what’s his name, Jake Paul and his people. I’m going to deal with him too because he said some things,” Abdelaziz exclaimed. “It’s funny because Jake Paul never said some things about me. But suddenly, he starts saying some things about me and I know where this is coming from. I’m going to tell you something, somebody is going to have to pay for what he said.”
“I was shocked because I always praised the kid,” he admitted. “I said I wanted him to make money, that it’s great for the sport bringing a lot of attention to boxing and I don’t know. I understand where this comes from, I know who told him to say that and they’re going to pay because I was shocked, very shocked. Honestly, it upset me a little bit because I have nothing (to say), but great things about him and his brother. I like his brother and I like him. So why talk about me? I never said nothing about him. That’s it.”
They need MMA
Abdelaziz further blasted “The Problem Child” for being “pimped” by veteran boxing promoter and Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn. The outspoken Dominance MMA boss called Paul a “little prostitute” and reckoned that the fact of the matter is that they are still dependent on UFC stars such as Usman in their hooplas. Otherwise, it won’t generate tremendous media mileage.
“He’s pimped, he’s a little prostitute,” Abdelaziz said of Paul. “At the end of the day, they have to bring in MMA, they have to bring in UFC because they don’t get enough attention and they have to speak about us …. And honestly, I’m flattered. The whole press conference in Madison Square Garden, Eddie Hern talked about me, Jake talked about me – good or bad, they still talked about me.”
“And most importantly, they talked about Kamaru,” he pointed out. “This little bitch Jake Paul, he has something coming from me. I promise. Him and who told him to talk about me.”
Earlier this month, Abdelaziz talked about the possibility of an Usman vs. Paul fight and predicted that it could draw “3 or 4 million PPV buys.”
