Following his sixth-round demolition of Mike Perry, Jake Paul called out UFC light heavyweight champion Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira.
Whilst you may assume that such a callout would be immediately dismissed by the UFC champion, a behind-the-scenes video posted online hints that ‘Poatan’ might actually be open to the idea of facing ‘The Problem Child’ in the boxing ring.
Jake Paul knocks out Mike Perry in the sixth round of their grudge match
After a heated build-up, Jake Paul certainly turned up the heat tenfold in his boxing grudge match with Mike Perry last night, dropping the former UFC star on multiple occasions en route to a dominant sixth-round stoppage.
Despite most of the criticism levied against Paul being that he’s fighting retired MMA fighters over professional boxers, with Perry being the fifth former UFC star to fall by the wayside, it’s tough to argue that it’s not a winning strategy for the divisive American.
Now, it’s time to take things one step further: his next callout wasn’t just any old UFC fighter, but arguably the most dangerous athlete in the entire sport.
UFC champion Alex Pereira responds to Jake Paul’s boxing callout
Following his sixth-round demolition of Mike Perry in Florida, Jake Paul got on the microphone to first call out boxing legend Mike Tyson to “sign the contract” for their controversial fight later this year.
“Mike Tyson, you’re next big boy – sign the contract! November 15 on Netflix, I’m excited for that one, imma go home and prepare for that [next].”
Yet ‘The Problem Child’ was far from done writing his own headlines as he also called out former UFC middleweight champion and current light heavyweight king, Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira.
“And Alex Pereira! Alex Pereira, you said that you want to box – I’m the king of this, I’m the king of this, come over. We can make it happen, I want you, Alex Pereira!
“I just beat the BKFC champion, I’ve beat multiple UFC champions and he said that he wants to box so Alex Pereira, after Mike Tyson, let’s make it happen.”
Less than one minute after Paul issued the callout of Pereira, the Brazilian superstar would actually end up Facetiming the American sensation to give his immediate reaction.
Whilst the conversation wasn’t picked up by the broadcast, a BTS video from Pereira’s perspective quickly made its way online – with the conversation between the two combat sports stars going as follows.
Jake Paul: “Let’s run it!”
Alex Pereira: “Let’s go, let’s go my brother.”
Jake Paul: “Will Dana [White] let you out [of your UFC contract]?”
Alex Pereira: “Yes.”
Jake Paul: “Tell Dana, the bigger they are, the harder they fall – [you are] light work.”
The call then dropped as Pereira burst into laughter, perhaps signaling that the UFC champion might be simply jesting with Paul – or at least going along with the callout in the moment as to not get embroiled in the drama that typically follows a Jake Paul victory.
A reminder that Paul vs Perry took place at 200lbs, with Pereira currently the champion of the 205lb division in the UFC – Paul also stands at 6’1”, with Poatan at 6’4”.
‘The Problem Child’ would go on to double-down on his callout of Poatan at the post-fight press conference as he vowed to take the head of the two-time UFC champion.
“I want everybody, I love this sport and he’s tweeted about wanting to go into boxing. We got him on a Facetime right there in the ring and I said ‘Yo, can you get out of your contract?’
“If he can get out of his contract then let’s run it so when I asked him that, he had a pause – he looked at his manager, [because] you know these guys aren’t their own bosses.”
Despite claiming that he wants “all the smoke”, Paul doesn’t believe that Dana White would actually allow one of his biggest superstars out of his current UFC contract in order to face him in the boxing ring.
“That’s too big of a risk if I can embarrass his Number 1 praised fighter right now. But I want all the smoke, I want all the MMA guys, and I’ve beaten all of them – who’s next? He’s the king right now of the UFC so I want him, I’m going to decapitate him and dethrone him.”
Jake Paul’s manager, Nikasa Bidarian also looked to clarify that such a massive callout wasn’t without its merit, nor was it a conversation that Paul had started himself.
“Let’s be clear, it was Anthony Joshua that said Pereira should enter the boxing ring. Pereira said, ‘I’m honored, I’d love to- who should I fight?’ He [Jake] said ‘Hey, he should fight me’, that was the basis of that discussion.”
Whilst it’s highly unlikely that the UFC would allow Pereira out of his current contract to face Paul, the Brazilian superstar recently celebrated his 37th birthday; once Poatan hangs up the MMA gloves, he’ll at least be in the same age-bracket of Paul’s previous opponents.