YouTuber Jake Paul and former UFC star Daniel Cormier almost got into it last Saturday night at UFC 261 when the former two-division belt-holder ran up on the 24-year-old Jake in the stands.
It looked like Cormier was intent on giving Jake a piece of his mind after the two had exchanged words on social media in the last week.
Jake recently destroyed former UFC fighter Ben Askren in one round on April 17th on Triller PPV in Atlanta, and many MMA fighters weren’t happy at the sight of one of their own being shown up.
Does Cormier want to avenge Askren’s loss?
When one of their own gets beaten in the way that the 36-year-old Askren was by Jake, it reflects on all of them, showing that they can’t fight in a traditional stand-up manner.
What was interesting is that Jake was loudly booed last Saturday night as he walked into the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida for the UFC 261 event.
The MMA fans clearly saw Jake Paul as a villain for what he’d done to one of their own with the way he smoked Askren in one brutal round. Really, Jake didn’t do much other than throwing a right hand, and Asken fell over as if he’d been shot.
Once Cormier saw Jake in the stands, he beat feet over to confront him, giving him a piece of his mind. You can make a strong argument that the 42-year-old Cormier might want to get a fight against Jake.
With the $500,000 that Askren got for his one round of action against Jake, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cormier is trying to get a piece of the action.
If Cormier is interested in fighting Jake Paul, he’s going to need to lose that potbelly he’s carrying around. I mean, we saw what Jake did to the blubber-bellied Ben Asken. You’d had to see him do the same thing against the out-of-shape-looking Cormier as well
“I just saw Jake Paul. I pointed at him and said, ‘Don’t play with me,'” Cormier said. “Because I’ll smack him in the face.”
Cormier doesn’t have the striking ability to beat a fighter like Jake in a stand-up fight, so it’s kind of hard to take him seriously. He’s an old wrestler like a lot of MMA guys, and he would be looking to take Jake to the ground and pin him.
Okay fat boy. So me vs you & J vs. T.?? https://t.co/MDhyPTVpIN
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 18, 2021
Ben Askren was happy to be paid says Prograis
“Bro, MMA and Boxing, it’s no comparison because of the money boxers get,” said Prograis to Fighthub when told that Ben Askren got over $500,000 to fight Jake Paul, whereas the highest-paid fighter in last Saturday’s UFC 261 event made a little over $100,000.
“Even without the Triller event, the money boxers get is no comparison to MMA, you know? For me, I think that’s the wrong thing to do. Ben Askren, I can’t say he came in to lose, but he was happy.
“He got paid the most he ever got paid and stuff like that. All these people came in [to Triller], and they got these big a** checks and s***. I think everybody is happy because Triller is doing this, and hopefully we can keep doing big events like this.
“Right, and that’s what happened,” said Prograis when reminded that he’d said that being teamed up with Jake Paul, he can use him for publicity and he can use Prograis for boxing.
“We’ll see about the pay-per-views and who watched and stuff like that, but I think so. We [Jake Paul] can kind of use each other.
“Me for boxing and him for his popularity in the YouTube world. There’s always going to be hate when things are new,” said Prograis about the hate that Jake Paul receives.
“But listen, if he can bring new eyes to the sport, why can you hate on this man if he’s bringing new eyes to the sport? I’m all for it.
“Bring new eyes to the sport. I saw [Mike] Tyson talk about it, and he was all for it. Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns. They were like, ‘I think this is a good thing. He’s [Jake Paul] bringing different eyes to the sport. I mean, I’m all for it,” said Prograis about Jake.
“Adrien Broner, that’s the fight, me and him, that’s the fight to make next. I think that’ll be a huge fight. Me and him can come back here on Triller. I like the platform, and I think me and Adrien Broner, that should be the fight that’s next.