Ilia Topuria wants to get into boxing, and he may already have his first big opponent lined up. Sort of.
On Thursday, Topuria was on Adin Ross’ Kick stream when Jake Paul called in to stir things up with the UFC lightweight champion. The conversation started cordially, with both men offering respect to each other, but quickly turned antagonistic after Paul called for them to spar.
“I respect you, bro,” Paul said. “I think that you’re awesome. I just think that if you think that I’m a bad boxer, then we should spar.”
“Yeah, whenever you want,” Topuria replied. “I’m open to it. Your jaw is OK, already?”
“Yeah, no, it will be good. But every UFC fighter says this, and then I offer to get them a private jet. Paddy Pimblett wanted to spar, and I offered to send him my jet and $1 million, and he wouldn’t do it. So, we should actually do it,” Paul said.
The conversation could have ended there, but as things got more contentious, with Paul interrupting Topuria, “El Matador” fired some shots at “The Problem Child.”
“Something I respect about you is your attitude,” Topuria said. “You have a great attitude, and you always show up, and you love the challenges. Actually, if I put you in a group of streamers, YouTubers, and all that, I think you are the best boxer in there. But if we are talking about the greatest, and really boxers, I would never put you in that list. …
“I have my personal opinion, and I’m saying that as a boxer, you suck. Because I don’t think you have good boxing. You’re just an average level of boxer, which is respect, for me. I respect it.”
“Let’s spar. And when I beat your ass in sparring, what will you say then?” Paul replied.
“Whenever you get your jaw healed, let’s do it,” Topuria offered. “But just get ready, because you’re going to need another period of time to recover.”
“I don’t need the jaw to be healed, because you’re not going to touch me, bro,” Paul said. “You MMA fighters are all trash. I beat all of the best in your sport. That’s actually a fact.”
Paul is still suffering from a severely broken jaw he received after Anthony Joshua brutally stopped him in their boxing match in December. The jaw was broken in two places and required teeth to be removed and multiple surgeries. But while Topuria was trying to look out for Paul’s health, Paul was fired up and ready to go immediately, leading to Topuria’s most incendiary comments of the interaction.
“I’ll spar you with no headgear,” Paul said. “You’re a little guy. You’re 5’6”. You can’t even ride rollercoasters, brother.”
“OK, maybe the best thing that I have is not my height,” Topuria retorted. “Maybe I’m not the [tallest] guy in the room, but I’m going to … give you a combo that I put you at the height of my balls. I’m going to *pow* and you’re going to be at the height of my knees.”
“Once it happens and we spar, the talking will be over, and that’s great,” Paul said.
The back-and-forth continued between the two for some time, with Paul noting that he beat Anderson Silva in a boxing match, prompting Topuria to address that aspect of Paul’s career.
“You gave me a name that I respect a lot,” Topuria said. “He’s a legend in the sport and did amazing things. The moment when you fought him, he was 45 or 46 years old. It’s not the same. The spirit of someone 29 years old is not the same of someone 46 years old.”
“Yeah, and that was year three for me in the sport,” Paul responded. “I could say the same thing, that he had been doing it 10 times longer and come up with excuses if I lost. But at the end of the day, it was a matchup, and I beat his ass.”
The two then bickered back and forth about how much money Topuria makes in the UFC, before concluding with tentative plans to settle this all with a legitimate sparring session.
“Whatever I’m saying online, I would tell you face-to-face, and not in a bad way, because I don’t disrespect you,” Topuria said. “But, for me, if we’re talking about sport and skills and technique and all that, I don’t think that you are great. I wouldn’t put you in a list of the greatest boxers or fighters or whatever. You said something right, that I don’t dictate those lists, but this is my personal opinion.”
“And you’re entitled to it, but when people say that, I’ve been waiting for the moment where a big UFC fighter is actually down to spar after talking shit, because it’s going to be funny when people see what happens,” Paul responded.
“I would love to fight you,” Topuria concluded. “I swear. Let’s fight. Let’s do it. Let’s spar. Whatever. I spar every week. I do it. That’s my life.”
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