- Paddy Pimblett accepted Jake Paul’s $1 million sparring challenge
- “The Baddy” also offers a real boxing match if there’s no problem with the UFC
Ahead of his upcoming fight with Jared Gordon at UFC 282, Paddy Pimblett engaged in a verbal war with Jake Paul after he claimed that the YouTube star’s boxing fights were fixed. As expected, Paul hit back and offered a sparring match for $1 million, something “The Baddy” is definitely down with.
Come next week
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Pimblett was asked to reveal his take on Paul’s challenge to spar in Puerto Rico . According to the UFC rising star, he’ll spar “The Problem Child” in a heartbeat but it just so happened that he is currently training for a fight. But if Paul insists, he could travel to Las Vegas, meet him at the UFC Performance Institute on Thursday next week, and bring his $1 million with him.
“Of course [I’m interested in sparring Paul], but I’m under contract by the UFC and [Jake] said this knowing full well I’m fighting next week, know what I mean?” Paddy said. “As if he does not know I’m fighting next week and he’s like, ‘I’ll fly you to Puerto Rico.’ Come to the PI next week. Come to the [UFC Performance Institute] next week and bring $1 million in a bag and I will spar with you.”
“I’m in the PI in Vegas on Thursday, I land on Thursday, so even though I’m low on calories and I’m only about 170, he likes picking on smaller people anyway,” he continued. “But, if he wants to wait until after my fight, until the Monday, because I’m still in Vegas ’til the Tuesday, but I’m about 185, 190 pounds, I’m game! Tell him not to worry, he can come to PI and we can get in the cage. Simple as [that].”
A real boxing match is OK too
Pimblett knows Paul is a boxer but he’s also open to stepping inside the ring with the internet star. The Liverpool native insists that Anderson Silva just let Paul win in their fight and even though “The Problem Child” got better, Pimblett is confident he’ll beat in boxing.
“I’ll box him up,” Pimblett vowed. “I don’t even think he’s a bad boxer. I think he’s a decent boxer now ’cause all he’s done is boxing in the past two years. I think he’d beat Tommy Fury. I know he wouldn’t beat me…I think Anderson Silva just sat down for him. You’ve seen the video, definitely, where the punch doesn’t touch Anderson. Or like it clips on the tiniest bit and he just sits down for him…I’ve seen Anderson Silva take bigger blows than that. And he’s 47!”
“He’s got better, he’s gotten a lot better but lad, I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you mate,” he added. “I’ve got more heart and determination and grit than you, and if we did get the fight done and I just focused on boxing for 3 to 6 months, I’d just punch him around the ring!”
To prove that he’s serious about it, Pimblett said if the UFC agrees to get involved in the boxing match, then it would be much better. “The Baddy” also stressed that he wants Paul to cut down a bit to 180 to 185 if he wants it to happen.
“If the UFC want to co-promote a boxing match with him, I’m game,” Pimblett noted. “I’ll fight him at 180, 185, something like that…He’s used to people coming up at him so we can come down a little bit for me.”
Paul remains unbeaten since his boxing debut in 2020. His last and arguably biggest win took place in October when he beat Silva in an eight-round battle. Pimblett, on the other hand, is also undefeated in his last five MMA fights, three of which were under the UFC banner.
Indeed, a boxing match between the two will be another blockbuster hit but all parties must figure out how to make it possible.
