5 reasons why Logan Paul can defeat Conor McGregor in an MMA fight
Logan Paul was recently seen in an uneventful exhibition fight against the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. According to the stipulations, the fight had no winner and no judges scoring.
Hence, although the fight has ended, it is not clear who won it. However, both Paul and Mayweather had a clear financial victory.
Also read: Logan Paul vs Floyd Mayweather pay-per-view buys: How many PPV buys did the event generate?
Logan Paul will want to continue getting into more of these outrageously paired fights as long as they fetch over six-figure sums for him. A fight between him and an MMA star may not be too far away.
Former no.1 middleweight contender Paulo Costa and Paul had previously trained together at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. In an interview conducted by MMAfighting.com, Costa spoke about his training session with Logan Paul:
"He’s very good, he surprised me. He has good skills in boxing and very skilled in wrestling — he’s very good. I think he trained a lot of wrestling in college, and he’s very good — he surprised me a lot. Maybe he will make some MMA fights in the future."
Costa also believes that MMA would suit Logan Paul's skill-set more than boxing. He said:
"I think MMA will be better for him [than boxing] because he has good wrestling fundamentals. His college, he comes from wrestling, so I think wrestling is his primary martial art."
Watch the interview with Paulo Costa below:
Conor McGregor is the perfect MMA star that fits the bill to be Paul's next opponent. The Irishman has an affinity for big paydays, given that he is one of the inventors of big-money crossover fights after making his way to a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017. McGregor, who already had a high net worth, quadrupled it after taking the fight. The fight received the second-highest PPV buy rate in the history of boxing.
If McGregor somehow lures Paul to fight inside the octagon instead of a boxing ring, there are plenty of factors that could favor 'The Maverick.' Here are five reasons why Logan Paul can defeat Conor McGregor in an MMA fight.
Also read: "Send me contract" - Dillon Danis wants to welcome Logan Paul to Bellator
#5 - Logan Paul's size
To put it simply, Logan Paul looks like a hulking figure when compared to Conor McGregor. He stands at 6 feet 2 inches, while McGregor is just 5 feet 8 inches tall. He will pack more power in every move that he makes against McGregor, be it while striking, clinching, or scrambling.
Here's how little Mayweather, a man of the same height as McGregor, looked in front of the taller and meatier Logan Paul in the face-off at their fight's weigh-ins.
To have a chance at winning against Paul, McGregor will have to gain a lot of weight and make it a welterweight fight. The Irishman will also need to make sure that Paul cuts his weight.
#4 - Longer reach
A six-inch height advantage over McGregor naturally gives Logan Paul a reach advantage. Although McGregor has a 74-inch reach, which is unusually long for his height, Logan Paul has a more extended reach of 76 inches.
It would be a rare spectacle to see Conor McGregor defending from strikes against a fighter with a longer reach than himself. The only time the Irishman defended himself from that long a distance was in his fights against Nate Diaz. However, the difference between defending Nate Diaz and Logan Paul is that 'The Maverick' will pack a lot more power in his strikes. He holds the potential to overwhelm Conor McGregor or even knock him out from a distance.
#3 - Logan Paul's wrestling background
Logan Paul may be famous for being a YouTube star, but he was a talented wrestler in his high school and college days. Ranked fifth at the Ohio State Athletic Championships in 2013, Paul later qualified for the Ohio Athletic Association Division 1 Individual Championships the same year.
However, he dropped out of college after his freshman year, which also spelled the end of his short-lived wrestling career.
While training with Paulo Costa at the UFC Performance Institute, the two also wrestled with each other.
Check out the encounter below:
After their wrestling session, Costa said to Paul:
"Ninety percent of guys who go to train MMA have good technique, but not hard spirit, not big heart, you know?” Costa told Paul. “You have both."
'The Maverick' is confident in his abilities. Last year, Logan Paul tweeted a call out to other social media influencers, implying that he would give $10,000 if they beat him in a wrestling match.
Check out the tweet below:
It would be safe to say that if Paul's striking fails against McGregor, he could rely on wrestling to win the fight. The Irishman has been notorious for his lack of takedown defense and for struggling against wrestlers.
Also read: Who lasted longer against Mayweather - Conor McGregor or Logan Paul?
#2 - Logan Paul's BJJ
Paulo Costa and Logan Paul also had a no-gi grappling session against each other.
In the short footage of the session available online, Costa was seen starting in side control position, trying to establish a full mount.
With some difficulty, the Brazilian muscled his way into mount position while bypassing half guard. To Costa's surprise, Paul escaped his mount. He over-hooked Costa's right arm, then trapped his right leg and lifted the Brazilian's weight with his hips to escape.
While not much could be said about Logan Paul's skills in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from this video, that escape is undoubtedly not a beginner move, especially against someone as bulky as Paulo Costa.
'Borrachinha' is known for the unnatural weight cuts he makes to fight at middleweight while walking around as a heavyweight. In the video, Paul also does not look as bulky as he was in his fight against Mayweather. His weight in the exhibition boxing bout was 189.5 lbs, just a couple of pounds above the UFC middleweight category's upper limit.
Hence it could be said that Paul escaped a heavyweight's mount while being a middleweight/welterweight himself.
Also read: Former UFC star Dan Hardy proposes titanic showdown between Logan Paul and Bellator legend
#1 - Logan Paul is in his prime
Logan Paul is just 26, regarded by some as the prime age for competing in combat sports. Conor McGregor, on the other hand, is entering his mid-thirties. This makes all the difference as the Irishman may not be the hungry fighter he used to be.
Fans could speculate that McGregor's riches have gotten to his head. The Irishman is now a business tycoon, which gives the impression that he's not as hungry as he used to be. Controversies and allegations related to him don't help to prove otherwise.
Also read: Conor McGregor Arrested: Every time 'The Notorious' got into trouble with the law
However, the Irishman has continued to fight despite making all the money he needs. He now has cordial and friendly behavior before fights, making fans believe that McGregor is tired of engaging in trash talk.
His recent loss to Poirier was also disappointing for fans. To make it worse, he used inactivity as a result of the pandemic as an excuse for his lackluster performance, a shocking excuse by the Irishman's lofty standards.
Logan Paul can take full advantage of McGregor's lack of motivation and make some easy money in an MMA fight against the Irishman.
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