Reports are starting to emerge that Conor McGregor's fight with Logan Paul was originally intended for his brother.
Since 2020, Jake Paul has been pushing for a fight with McGregor, making aggressive callouts and defeating a number of UFC champions on his way to boxing stardom. However, these calls always fall on deaf ears, with the Irishman regularly dismissing his star power and his victories.
Now it looks like McGregor will take the money offered and head to India to meet Jake's older brother Logan Paul. He announced earlier this week that he has signed a tentative agreement for the fight and is continuing to promote it on social media.
Jake Paul says he refused to negotiate Conor McGregor fight without UFC involvement
After Conor McGregor made the announcement earlier this week that he had agreed to face Logan Paul in a boxing fight next year, fans were left scratching their heads. Jake is the more famous boxer of the pair, and the smaller of the two, making him an overall more suitable figure for such a match.
However, Jake came out and stated that he and his Most Valuable Promotions team, including UFC CFO Nakisa Bidarian, would only negotiate if the MMA supremo was at the table. McGregor is famously under contract with two fights remaining and has pushed for an octagonal return.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for Triller
“Now it all makes sense why Conor McGregor and his management team have been desperately trying to get MVP to negotiate a fight between us,” the younger Paul brother wrote on X after McGregor's announcement.
“As we told them privately and I'm saying it publicly now… The only way we are willing to explore me versus Conor in a professional boxing/MMA fight is if Dana White/UFC is directly at the table or makes it clear they are okay with discussions. Conor is being washed. Needs the Paul. Logan does it the way he wants.”
Ariel Helwani says the Conor McGregor fight was for Jake Paul, not Logan
Since the initial tweet, McGregor has continued to take to social media to make his feelings clear about the fight. He has played the UFC vs. WWE aspect of the fight and noted that Paul is one of the best known stars in the wrestling world right now.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Ariel Helwani said on his show on the Uncrowned network that talks are still in their early stages. He noted that India's billionaire Ambani family initially came up with the idea to recreate the success of Jake Paul's clash with Mike Tyson last month, which broke streaming records.
However, as the younger Paul has stated, they hit a stumbling block when he refused to negotiate without Dana White at the table. Instead, Helwani says, they went with the next best option: Logan, who has a larger social media following but isn't as well known for his boxing.
Jake is 11-1 as a professional and fights regularly, while Logan has been in the ring four times and won just one of those DQ attempts against Dillon Danis last year. He drew and lost to YouTube rival KSI in their series of fights, and went the distance in an unscored exhibition with Floyd Mayweather in 2021.
Jake and Logan Paul Have a History of 'Stealing Fights'
This isn't the first time Jake and Logan Paul have found themselves in the middle of each other's arguments. Jake faced Nate Diaz last year after a lengthy build-up, but his brother felt like he was heading into that fight and had it taken away from him.
Jake disputed this, which led to an awkward verbal altercation on the older sibling's podcast Impaulsive and the episode eventually being removed. “How did you get the fight with Nate Diaz because I thought I had it locked?” Logan asked Jake in a heated segment.
“I thought for sure I had it locked, how did you get that fight?” Jake replied coolly, telling his brother, “You never had it locked.” Logan responded by adding: “He told us we did. He played me. He played me hard.”
Jake then explained that he is seen as a more serious opponent in the fighting world given his winning record. “I told you so,” he continued. “I told you he plays both sides… Actually, some of the people he worked with don't know what he does. Like, he does and he doesn't.
“But just throwing money at someone doesn't make them want to do it. In the end, honestly, it came down to the fact that he thought the world would view our struggle as much more legitimate than you would. Fighting you was a money grab for him because you 'didn't beat anyone.'
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