By Matt Lieberman: In an odd interview, former UFC champion Daniel Cormier said the only way he would agree to fight Jake Paul is if it takes place under MMA rules inside the octagon rather than inside of a boxing ring.
It appears that Cormier has lost his nerve, and decided that he doesn’t fancy his chances in a boxing match against the young gun Jake Paul.
The way that Cormier was quick to rule out a fight with Jake inside the ring, hints that he doesn’t believe he would win the match. Looking at it from a logical perspective, wouldn’t Cormier jump at the chance to fight Jake if he thought he could win under the rules of boxing?
If you knew you were going to make $500,000 to $1 million for a fight with Jake, and your net worth was $6 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, wouldn’t you take the fight if you were Cormier? Heck, he might even make more than $1M for a fight with Jake. It’s hard to believe Cormier would walk away from a $2 million payday against Jake.
That kind of money isn’t huge for boxing, but it’s awfully good for UFC fighters.
“If you want to really fight me, you got an issue with me, fight me in mixed martial arts and I’m going to torture you and I’m going to rip his face apart and I’m going to hurt the kid,” Cormier said to ESPN in letting fans know he wants no part of a fight with Jake inside a boxing ring.
“I will teach these kids not to continue to do this with people like me, athletes. I will hurt the kid,” said Cormier.
With Jake’s one-punch power, Cormier might not last long inside the squared circle. It would obviously be a bitter pill for Cormier to swallow being seen getting knocked out in the first round by Jake, a fighter with a limited boxing background. How do you live something like that down if you’re Cormier? I know the answer.
You concentrate on all the green that you’d be getting for the fight with Jake and forget about the embarrassment of the loss.
Cormier could cry all the way to the bank afterward. In that respect, Cormier would be in the same boat as fellow UFC fighter Ben Askren, who found out the hard way what it’s like to share the ring with Jake Paul.
Daniel Cormier online
“Imma Smack Jake Paul when I see him”Daniel Cormier in person… 🤔 pic.twitter.com/zHnssneYBV
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 25, 2021
Cormier, 42, says he’s not looking to fight the 24-year-old YouTuber Jake (3-0, 3 KOs), but if they do battle, it’ll be under the rules of the Mixed Martial Artist because he doesn’t need the money.
However, Jake would be the A-side in a fight between them, and it’s just not feasible for that to happen.
Either Cormier intentionally pretends he’s the A-side to bluff his way into getting Jake to agree to fight him in the octagon foolishly, or he’s truly clueless about him occupying the B-side position against the popular YouTuber.
If Cormier doesn’t come to his senses quickly, the Jake Paul ship will have passed him, and he’ll lose out on this opportunity. Cormier has to know there’s a legion of UFC fighters that Jake can get to fight him inside a boxing ring, and many of them more popular than him.
Try to imagine for a second the amount of interest there would be in a fight between Jake Paul and Khabib in a boxing match? It would smother the interest fans would have in a Jake-Cormier fight.