UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping responded to social media star Jake Paul's recent callout of him, where he challenged the former UFC middleweight champion to a boxing match.
Bisping addressed Paul's challenge via a video posted to his official YouTube account and explained why he doesn't view the 25-year-old as much of a threat, also revealing how previous negotiations with Paul's team fell apart. The YouTube star is 5-0 since becoming a pro boxer in January 2020 and is coming off of a sixth-round KO victory over former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley, in their rematch last December. Bisping meanwhile hasn't competed since November 2017 when he was knocked out by Kelvin Gastelum in the first round at UFC Fight Night 122.
“So, do I want to fight Jake Paul?” Bisping said (h/t MMA Fighting). “Listen, here’s the thing, I had a great career. I’m very happy with what I accomplished. I’m happily retired. I’m very, very happily retired. But I do miss the thrill of competition — and I don’t see Jake Paul as necessarily a threat. I retired from fighting because I only had one eye and I didn’t want to risk my other eye. In boxing, bigger gloves, against Jake Paul, I don’t really see him as a threat. So Jake Paul, beating you up sounds like fun. Of course, you are a big star, and God bless you, well done to you. I’m not hating. Well done to you, you’ve done great things, all jokes aside, because I am kind of joking. You’ve done great, you’re earning a lot of money, you’re a big star, you’re getting a lot of pay-per-views and stuff like that. So for that reason, I probably would. I probably would, but we’ve been here before. He sent an email to [Bisping’s manager] Audie Attar, Paradigm Sports management, or his manager did, asking if I would fight him, offering $500,000. I said double it, add pay-per-view, and we’ll see where we go. Never even got a response. So he’s doing the same thing again here. This fight is never gonna happen, but I’ll tell you what, Jake, if you want to throw down, if you want to step in the squared circle with me, I’ll oblige. I’ll do it. It sounds like fun. It gives me a reason to train, to get in shape — give me a few months [to] lose a couple of pounds, and let’s go, baby! No problem. The only thing is, I won’t get sanctioned. I doubt one of the athletic commissions would let me right now because I used to lie about my eye, but now the secret’s out. The cat’s out of the bag. But there’s lots of places where they will not care, lots of places where they don’t give a s***. What about Dubai? Dubai seems to be hosting a lot of fights. Let’s go to Dubai. What about an Indian Reservation? No problem there. Lots of countries in Europe, Africa, China — the world is our oyster. There’s not athletic commissions everywhere. I’m pretty sure we could find a place that would allow us to throw down.”
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