YouTube-cum-boxer Jake Paul has fought many MMA stars in the boxing ring. But this time he’s taken the step to fight a professional boxer in December. Meanwhile, Paul recently made an appearance on the ‘MMA Hour’ where he revealed the reason behind his decision to box MMA fighters for the last two years.

Jake Paul has done pretty well for himself in the boxing world. After starting off boxing YouTubers, he turned his attention to MMA fighters. ‘The Problem Child’ has defeated stars like Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, and Nate Diaz. Moreover, he recently claimed that there was a strategy behind his choice of fighting these mixed martial artists. Let’s take a look at what Paul had to say.

Jake Paul does not hate MMA or its fighters

‘The Problem Child’ has been fighting MMA fighters in the boxing ring. He has taken multiple shots at these fighters during press conferences and during the build-up to the fights. However, Jake Paul has no hatred for the sport of mixed martial arts.

“I don’t really have a feud with MMA. I guess there’s like bickering and sh*t-talk with fighters such,” said Jake Paul. The 26-year-old also revealed that there was a strategy behind his decision to fight MMA fighters. He wanted the world of combat sports to have a voice, citing his fighters’ union plans with UFC legend Anderson Silva.

“What people don’t really realize is that all of that was strategic but also to grow a bigger voice to help all of combat sports and to still work on this Fighters’ Union behind the scenes, which is still underway with Anderson Silva,” the YouTuber further added.

Jake Paul has also publicly called out many MMA fighters and verbally trashed them on social media or during interviews. One of them is Conor McGregor, whom the YouTuber-boxer has called out on multiple occasions. However, Paul doesn’t hate the sport, and he also claims to like UFC as well, despite having a well-documented beef with Dana White.

He further stated, “I love MMA, I love MMA fighters, I love the sport. I think people think I even hate the UFC, which isn’t true.” Moreover, ‘The Problem Child’ also mentioned the only change he wants to see in MMA. Let’s take a look at that front.

Paul’s wish to see UFC fighters getting paid more

Jake Paul praised the UFC for taking the sport of MMA into the mainstream. For a long time, MMA was deemed too dangerous, and it was banned in several states in the United States. But now, UFC is one of the biggest promotions and MMA is as popular as ever. “I think what they’ve done for the sport is great and they changed the sport forever and made it massive,” Paul stated.

However, there is one change that Jake Paul desperately wants to see. He wants to see fighters get paid more by Dana White and co. This is one of the biggest issues he has with the UFC. “I just want them to pay fighters more and that’s really been the narrative that’s been lost,” ‘The Problem Child’ said to Ariel Helwani.

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Jake Paul will fight Andre August, a professional boxer with a 10-1-1 record, in December. However, earlier this year, he had signed a multi-fight deal with the PFL and will feature in the Super Fight division. This could mean that fans might witness Paul fighting in MMA, but there are still no plans as to who his first opponent will be. We will have to wait and see how things unfold in the days to come.

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