When YouTuber Jake Paul knocked out former NBA star Nate Robinson on Saturday night, he celebrated by saying that he wants to remain in boxing for a long time. He also called out UFC fighter Conor McGregor and said that he wants to knock out the Irishman. Now Paul says that he is engaged in talks with McGregor’s camp.
Paul spoke to TMZ Sports and said that he is negotiating a boxing match with McGregor’s camp. He proclaimed that he is “going in there to f— Conor McGregor up.” Paul didn’t provide many other details about his negotiations, whether the fight will occur or a potential timeline. “My team is talking to his manager, but that’s all I’ll say,” he said before adding in some smack talk.
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“No other fighter with this big of a platform is calling out McGregor,” Paul continued. “My dogs have more followers than the guy he’s fighting in January.” The YouTuber’s comment about social media clout referenced Dustin Poirier, a lightweight MMA fighter with a record of 26-6. The former interim champion has 1.7 million followers on Instagram, while Paul’s dogs have 1.6 million.
To show that he is serious about the fight, Paul said that this fight will be “legendary” and that it’s a matter of “when” it will take place. He also clarified that he wouldn’t enter the ring just to say that he had faced off with McGregor. His goal was to dedicate his life to winning that fight.
Paul has confidence in his ability to knock out opponents after securing the victory over Robinson. He took control of the fight early and landed eight punches overall while Robinson landed 10 of his own. Paul knocked Robinson down twice during the first two rounds and then set up the third punch, the match-winner. Paul then hit Robinson with his right mitt and knocked him out cold while Snoop Dogg provided his style of commentary. He won the bout with little more than one minute remaining in the second of the scheduled six rounds.
“It was an overhand right [that finished the fight,] but he was better than I expected,” Paul said to reporters after the fight. “[Robinson] was athletic and super strong. I just want to say thank you to Nate. He was the one who originally called him out and I respect him. His basketball career was great and I don’t want to take anything away from him. He stepped into the ring and it takes a lot of balls to do that.”
