"Biggest viewership of Mike's career" - Jake Paul brags as he claims to have had a "bigger gate" than every UFC event in history
Jake Paul is patting himself on the back for his recent boxing match with Mike Tyson. He won via unanimous decision, failing to deliver on his promise to knock the legendary heavyweight out cold. Nevertheless, the event seems to have been a massive financial success.
According to Paul, the event was so successful that he took to X to claim that it netted a bigger gate than every UFC event in history, especially in the wake of UFC 309, which took place a day after and was headlined by Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic for heavyweight gold.
Moreover, he also made another bold claim, stating that it was also the biggest gate of Tyson's career, despite it taking place 19 years after the latter retired.
"Crazy that we did a bigger gate than every UFC event history & that company is 30+ years old. Biggest gate of Mike Tyson's career. Biggest attendance of Mike's career. Biggest viewership of Mike's career. Biggest combat sports gate in US combat sports history outside of Las Vegas. It takes 2 to tango."
Despite all of the praise Paul has awarded himself for fighting Tyson, the match was widely panned for lacking in action. Paul was unable to score his promised knockout and wanted no parts of pocket boxing exchanges with Tyson, spending large stretches trying to create distance between them.
Furthermore, he was heavily criticized for the 31-year age difference between him and Tyson. Furthermore, this was Tyson's first professional boxing match since his retirement in 2005. Many were apprehensive and with good reason.
The fight itself played out as many had feared, with Tyson looking slow, old and immobile, unable to make his peak-a-boo style work without the youthful spring in his legs.
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson was the first fight livestreamed on Netflix
The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson was also notable for being the first combat sports event to be livestreamed on Netflix. Ahead of the event, it was regarded as historic, but come fight night, the entire situation drew a tremendously negative reception.
Netflix's livestream was riddled with technical issues, with many viewers reporting on X/Twitter that they had been logged out randomly or otherwise experienced massive dips in quality and frequent cuts.