Jake Paul has suggested he would knock out Conor McGregor in the first round if the pair were to fight – even in a mixed martial arts bout.
Paul is 5-0 as a professional boxer, having knocked out two former UFC stars in Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren. Woodley held the promotion’s welterweight title, while Askren reigned in the same weight class in other companies.
Paul, 25, has teased a venture into MMA and has long called out McGregor, who previously held the UFC featherweight and lightweight belts simultaneously as the first ever dual-weight champion in the history of the promotion.
“Conor is on a downhill spiral,” Paul told TMZ. “His limbs are all broken. So, stand-up game, I’m knocking him out – first round.”
The American was referencing the broken leg that McGregor sustained in his last fight, a defeat by Dustin Poirier. That bout in July followed the Irishman’s first loss to Poirier, who knocked out his old rival last January to avenge his own knockout defeat by McGregor from 2014.
Paul continued: “If I win, then Dana [White, UFC president] has to increase the minimum of fighter pay. If I lose, then they can take all of the money and whatever, and so be it.
“But I know I can beat Conor.”
McGregor, who crossed into professional boxing in 2017 to fight Floyd Mayweather, has not competed since his second loss to Poirier.
The 33-year-old, who was stopped by Mayweather in the 10th round of their clash, is targeting a late summer return to mixed martial arts action.
McGregor is keen on a fight against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a bid to become the company’s first ever three-weight title holder, though Usman is expected to defend the belt against Leon Edwards in July.
McGregor was arrested last week in Dublin on a dangerous driving charge.