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It appears Jake Paul is moving on from his rivalry with Tyron Woodley.
Following a split decision win over the former UFC welterweight champion, Paul entertained a possible rematch under the condition that Woodley follow through on a pre-fight bet that the loser from the fight would get the winner’s name tattooed on them.
While he initially agreed to the wager, Woodley then balked at actually getting the ink done unless Paul agreed to the rematch after believing he deserved a win in their boxing match. Woodley then added that he wouldn’t get the tattoo until paperwork was signed and the rematch with Paul was officially happening.
All that added up to Paul losing interest in the rematch — and now he’s putting Woodley in his rear-view mirror as he moves forward with his career.
“I’m like, ‘Where’s the tattoo?’ Now he’s saying you have to sign the contract and then I’ll get the tattoo,” Paul told the Full Send podcast. “The tattoo was a bet before this fight. It was the loser had to get the tattoo. So now he’s trying to change it to make it for the rematch. It doesn’t make sense [to fight him again]. If he would have gotten the tattoo now and that clip goes viral and everyone’s like ‘Jake do it,’ I’d be like, ‘I kind of have to do this.’ But he f*cked up.
“He’s saying, ‘Oh, I’ll get it once you sign the contract.’ No, you f*cked up. Just get the tattoo and let me decide from there. But I think it’s on to bigger and better things. I want to fight a real boxer. We’ll see what the cards have in store.”
With Woodley likely out of the picture, Paul is now targeting a potential showdown with Tommy Fury, who competed on the undercard to his recent Showtime pay-per-view.
The fighters actually had a confrontation in Cleveland after Paul made comments about Fury’s reality show girlfriend sending him direct messages on social media. Beyond that incident, Paul wants the chance to face off with a real boxer and Fury currently sports a perfect 7-0 pro record.
“I think Tommy Fury’s probably at the top of that list,” Paul said when asked who was next for him. “He’s skilled. He’s undefeated. He’s [Tyson Fury’s brother] and he’s a real boxer. He has like four million followers on Instagram, good engagement. He has the fans from the relationship thing, like they fell in love on a show or some sh*t like that.”
According to Paul, his method for picking and choosing opponents comes down to a variety of factors but none bigger than an ability to serve as an actual threat in the ring while also bringing enough eyeballs to an event that would sell.
After being favored to win in all four of his previous bouts, Paul says he’s no longer interested in matchups that are just about hype or attention, which is why he’s not interested in facing another social influencer or even a mixed martial artist like Dillon Danis.
“I can go in and fight the infamous jiu-jitsu guy [Danis] who doesn’t shut the f*ck up on social media, but it’s a hard sell,” Paul explained. “This guy [Paul] just beat a UFC Hall of Fame legendary striker, we’re not going to put him up against a jiu-jitsu guy in a boxing match. Now after each fight, we go back to the drawing board and we’re like who makes the most sense? Can they actually sell pay-per-views? Can we actually sell this fight as in people are like, ‘Yeah, this is a tough fight for Jake.’ ‘Cause that’s what I want.
“I almost want to go into a fight where it’s like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to do this.’ I just want to continue to prove people wrong.”
There are definitely still MMA fighters Paul would face, including former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor, as well as a potential showdown with former training partner-turned-rival Jorge Masvidal.
The only problem with the latter fight is Masvidal being under contract already and Paul knows without a doubt that UFC President Dana White would never allow him to cross over into boxing.
“He started acting like a ho,” Paul said of Masvidal. “He just had a bad loss, which is like his first bad loss ever. He has the same managers as Tyron. So of course, I sign the deal with Tyron and then boom he’s instantly like, ‘F*ck Jake Paul, Tyron’s going to beat this guy’s ass.’ Weren’t you the one asking me to hang out and do your little YouTube videos and sh*t?
“He was a nice guy, he’s been nothing but nice to me, but as soon as you act like a friend and then switch up with no explanation — he just acted weird and it all went downhill. Now, that’s actually a perfect fight for me. ‘He’s an amazing striker, he’s the gangster of the UFC, baddest motherf*cker award’ and he has the same managers as Tyron, so we know how to do business with them. But Dana [White] won’t let him out.”
Paul added that there’s no timeline yet for his next fight, but after several days of celebration following his win over Woodley, he’s already plotting a return to Puerto Rico to begin training again for his return to the ring.