Logan Paul unwilling to fight ‘f****** dog’ Khamzat Chimaev in MMA, but ‘I’d be more than happy to box him’

Logan Paul is still interested in making his MMA debut, but he’s not foolish enough to want any problems with Khamzat Chimaev.

Paul is a YouTube celebrity and podcaster who has become a fixture in the combat sports world thanks to his forays into boxing and professional wrestling. But for the past few months, the elder Paul brother has hinted at an interest in trying his luck at MMA. He even recently discussed the matter with UFC President Dana White, who said he was not opposed to the idea. As a result, one of the UFC’s most promising young stars raised his hand.

But Paul knows better than to go picking a fight with Khamzat Chimaev. Paul briefly trained at Chimaev’s home gym in 2019 while he was preparing for his professional boxing debut against fellow YouTuber KSI. Paul said he was in Sweden recording some music and showed up to Allstars, where he first ran into Chimaev.

“I’m very familiar with his work,” Paul told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I went to Sweden to train for a couple weeks, and I went to this gym, and I looked over and there was this guy kind of staring at me. Big beard, looked like a badass. It was where Gustafsson trained, [Allstars MMA] and months later, this guy named Khamzat Chimaev is making an incredible UFC run and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that was the guy that was mean mugging me in that one gym in the middle of Sweden!’”

Paul said that while the two never actually trained together, he knows how dangerous of a fighter Chimaev is, and how foolish it would be to fight him in the UFC. However, he would be willing to box him, if the UFC would allow.

“I just showed up at the gym and sparred a couple of their guys,” Paul said. “They didn’t let me spar Khamzat. Yeah, no, he’s a f****** dog. I’m not doing MMA with him. I’d box him for sure. I’d be more than happy to box him, but that’s the problem, all these UFC guys are locked up. They’re locked up. So it’s hard to get a fight with any of them.”

Chimaev has also offered to box Paul, saying he’d beat both Logan and his brother Jake in the same night. However, Chimaev currently has other things to occupy him. This Saturday, “Borz” will face the toughest test of his MMA career when he fights Gilbert Burns in a featured welterweight bout at UFC 273.