Kamaru Usman is serious about boxing Jake Paul, but the check would have to have ‘eight zeroes’ in it.
LLC Kamaru Usman is interviewed by Joe Rogan in the aftermath of his KO victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261.UFC president Dana White would never allow the fight to happen, but that hasn’t stopped ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ from going back-and-forth with Paul on social media or teasing of the matchup in various interviews.
In his latest with ESPN, Usman explained his beef with Paul and laid out his terms and conditions to the YouTube star-turned-boxer.
“We thought this YouTube fighter running his mouth now, saying that he wants to box, he wants to test himself…I think that’s a guy that I could go out and knock out really quickly and make it home for dinner,” Usman said (h/t MMA News). “So I think that’s also an interesting one as well.”
“I don’t necessarily care for the fight. I don’t care for it. I don’t really entertain it, honestly,” he added. “But there’s a lot of work that I’ve put into my sport to get to the position that I’m in. And then when you see these guys come in and just, ‘Oh, I wanna challenge him. I want to challenge that guy, that guy, it’s almost disrespectful. It’s almost disrespectful to the point where, like I said earlier, I’m also the judge. And sometimes you might want to go out and send them a clear message and give them a harsh punishment.”
“I think the check would have to have eight zeroes in it. If there’s eight zeroes in front of the check, then for sure, we’ll consider it. For sure.”
Usman is fresh off a second-round knockout of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 and could soon surpass Georges St-Pierre as the greatest welterweight champion of all time. Although it’s fun to speculate, there’s no way Dana White and Co would allow one of their most prized assets to make the switch to boxing for a one-off fight against a YouTube celebrity.
Usman will likely return to the Octagon to defend his welterweight title against Colby Covington later this year.
