Conor McGregor - Jake Paul beef: The most entertaining exchanges between the duo over the years
Conor McGregor has been getting called out by Jake Paul for years, almost since the YouTuber and Disney star began his wild boxing career back in early 2020. Here's some of the best interactions between the two over the past few years.
McGregor is a seasoned trash talker who understands intimately how fight hype gets built up. That's probably why he hasn't paid much attention to Paul or made many public comments about him. UFC president Dana White did the opposite, and it generated endless headlines.
When Jake Paul released his first big social media callout of McGregor in December 2020, it largely flopped because 'The Notorious' just ignored it. Paul kicked off his video by referencing McGregor's punch-up with an elderly man in a bar and then called the Irishman's wife "a four."
"My team sent you a $50 million offer this morning. $50 million cash, proof of funds, the biggest offer you've ever been offered but you're scared to fight me, Conor. You're scared to lose to a f***ing YouTuber. You're 0-1 as a boxer, I'm 2-0 as a boxer. I just came off the 8th biggest pay-per-view event in history. But you want to fight Dustin Probert [sic] who has less followers on Instagram than my dog - that's a fact. Conor: you're scared. Dana: you're scared. Sign the f***ing contract you idiots. Irish b****."
There was complete silence from Conor McGregor on the topic of Jake Paul until he did an interview with Bloomberg. Asked if he thought YouTubers like Jake Paul were making a mockery of boxing, McGregor said:
“If they are fighting well then it can’t make a mockery of fighting. They’re getting in and competing. I am not so much against it. What I will say though is the numbers that that show calculated was a Mike Tyson fight. You had an icon fighting as well as Roy Jones Jnr, two GOATs of combat sports. And then you had the YouTube kid and NBA star competing underneath that. So they done good business."
Conor McGregor was pretty complimentary of Paul's accomplishments, saying:
“As they say, if it makes dollars, it makes sense. I know Dana and the UFC are not really into it, but I’m not so against it."
You'll notice McGregor didn't even touch the idea of fighting Paul at all, though.
Jake Paul's next attempt at drawing a response out of Conor McGregor came in a verse on his Dana White diss track, released in January 2022. Paul rapped:
"McGregor I ain't seen you win in five years / you rich little weirdo, ugly ass veneers / Took so many losses wound up at VMAs / trying to fight with MGK / Lamborghini boat but your career is sinking / makes me wonder what Dee is thinking / I ain't even dissing now, I'm really speaking / wound up in jail too many times with all the liquor drinking."
Watch Jake Paul rap about Conor McGregor below:
A month and a half later, Mirror Fighting caught Conor McGregor at a Bellator event in Ireland and asked him if Jake Paul was a possible opponent. McGregor made a dismissive face but then said:
"Who knows? Never say never."
Fast forward to a year later to March 2022. Conor McGregor was finally back on his feet after a nasty leg break injury suffered against Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He posted a video working the pads with boxing gloves, eliciting criticism from Paul, who wrote:
"This is embarassing, Conor McGregor. Your chin wide open with no head movement for the PRBLM CHILD right hand of god."
McGregor directly responded to Paul for the first time, shadow boxing into the camera before declaring:
"Jacka**!"
That brings things to July 2022, and an appearance from Jake Paul on The MMA Hour. 'The Problem Child' was a lot less bombastic in this interview, and when asked what he thought the chances of a Conor McGregor fight were, he said:
“It’s got to happen. Why not? He’s a businessman, I’m a businessman, and that’s $75 to $100 million for both of us."
Conor McGregor shot down the idea on Twitter, declaring:
"You've 2 fights and done 70k buys ... You are a flop, kid. A nobody."
The response only emboldened Jake Paul, who went into full attack mode.
"You're more active on Twitter than you are in the octagon. Stop taking Trembalone and start taking fights. You're more actively cheating on your wife than you are in the octagon. Your priorities are mixed up. Put down the bottle and get back to fighting."
"In your eighteenth fight, you made $150,000. In my fifth fight, I made $15 million. You want to talk about pay-per-view buys? Nate Robinson, 1.8 million. Ben Askren, 500,000. Tyron Woodley 1, 500,000. Tyron Woodley 2, no one even wanted to see that fight and we got 200,000 pay-per-view buys. In the last five years, you've had zero pay-per-view buys because you don't f***ing fight."
There's no sign of the feud between Conor McGregor and Jake Paul ending. Rather, it seems like it's just getting started.