UFC fighter Sean Strickland has expressed interest in a boxing match with Jake Paul, but the UFC has rejected the idea, despite former middleweight champion Randy Couture’s suggestion that it could be financially beneficial.
Sean Strickland? Yeah, he’s itching for a chance to square off with Jake Paul in the ring. But let’s be real, that’s probably not gonna happen. Not while he’s still under UFC contract, anyway.
Strickland, a former middleweight champ, got into a bit of a verbal tussle with Paul recently. It all started after a sparring match where Strickland gave a social influencer named Sneako a bit of a thrashing. Paul, an 8-1 boxer, took notice.
Paul, ever the showman, offered a cool million to fly Strickland down to his training camp in Puerto Rico for a fight. But that idea got shot down faster than a lame duck.
Strickland says he asked the UFC for permission to accept the challenge. But UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell wasn’t having any of it. According to Strickland, Campbell told him Paul “sells no fights.”
Randy Couture, a UFC legend who’s had his fair share of disagreements with his former employer, wishes the promotion would at least consider the matchup. But even with potential financial gain on the table, he knows it’s a long shot they’d sign off on the deal.
Couture told MMA Fighting, “Probably not.” But he did add, “If Sean Strickland took the tactic like Conor McGregor did and brought them in to benefit and make money off this endeavor, maybe there’s a negotiation to be had. But yeah, they’re probably never going to let that happen.”
Remember when the UFC co-promoted McGregor’s 2017 fight against Floyd Mayweather? It was one of the biggest boxing pay-per-views of all time. Now, Strickland and Paul probably couldn’t pull those kinds of numbers. But it’s still a fight people would pay to see.
Couture warns Strickland that despite his vast experience in combat sports, Paul’s proven himself a decent boxer in his first nine fights. But if Strickland was allowed to focus solely on boxing during a full training camp, Couture thinks the odds would even out.
“I think Jake has shown he has skills, that he can back up the rhetoric and the talk,” Couture said. “He’s beaten some very, very good guys. Sean Strickland has a strong striking background. Give him time to have a good, full camp in boxing, and I think he would do very well against Jake Paul.”
Couture thinks it’d be an interesting matchup. Jake’s maybe a bit bigger, stronger, but they’re similar in size. He didn’t think Nate Diaz was big enough to match Jake Paul’s power. But Anderson Silva, with his strong striking background, might have fared better.
Couture gives Paul credit for backing up his talk in the ring. Like it or not, Paul’s become one of the most talked-about names in combat sports. That said, Couture would love to see Strickland get the chance to fight Paul — and pocket a hefty seven-figure payday in the process.
“You can’t take away anything from Jake Paul and what he’s doing in the ring,” Couture said. “Strickland has earned his right to be here. I think it would be an interesting matchup and a lot of eyeballs would tune into watching those two get after it.”
Couture also talked about the sparring session between Strickland and the social influencer. It happened in Couture’s gym in Vegas. Paul criticized Strickland for beating up an inexperienced opponent, but also took a shot at the former UFC champ for not scoring a knockdown.
Couture defended Strickland’s decision to spar with the influencer. “This kid that [Strickland] beat up, I don’t even know who this kid was but he talks a lot of smack and that’s something Jake is familiar with,” Couture said. “I thought that was a justified beating in the boxing ring.”
Jake’s criticism was, ‘You couldn’t even knock down a guy that isn’t a fighter.’ But Couture doesn’t think Strickland was trying to knock him down. “If he wanted to knock him out or knock him down, I think he would have. I think he was teaching him a lesson and dragging it out as long as he needed to, to get the point across. That’s how I saw that whole thing.”