Jake Paul could fight Leon Edwards one day, but he has to go through someone like me: Former UFC fighter
Jake Paul recently announced a multi-year deal with the PFL, where he'll also be making his MMA debut. 'The Problem Child' will fight in and help promote their newly founded super fight division.
Former UFC fighter Kevin Lee considers himself a prime potential opponent for Paul's MMA debut. According to 'The Motown Phenom,' Paul would establish himself as a legitimate MMA fighter by taking on someone like him.
Lee believes 'The Problem Child' might even be viewed as a potential opponent for UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards if he can survive even a single round. The 30-year-old recently told ESPN's Brett Okamoto:
"If Jake Paul is serious about fighting MMA, for one, I'm gonna give him respect even if he just steps into the cage. It's totally different than the boxing arena. But if he wants real respect out of people who really understand fighting, he's gonna have to fight somebody like me. I mean I'm in the prime of my career, a hell of a wrestler, I've fought six different world champions...so even if he could make it to the distance with me or even make it past one bell, people can look at him and say, 'Okay this guy could fight Leon Edwards one day.'"
Catch Lee's comments on Jake Paul below:
Leon Edwards was backing Anderson Silva to hand Jake Paul his first loss
Jake Paul will seemingly venture into MMA with a perfect 6-0 professional boxing record. Having started his career against fellow YouTubers, Paul went on to defeat former MMA world champions Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, and Anderson Silva inside the boxing ring.
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, amongst several others, was rooting for 'Spider' to hand Paul his first loss. Hailing Silva as his all-time favorite fighter, 'Rocky' told talkSPORT:
"Anderson was my favourite fighter of all time. I’d love for him to go out there and get it done.I know he’s quite old now, he’s in his 40s, but I’ll be watching it closely. I think he should be able to do it. I think this will be the first guy that’s the same size as Jake. It will be a sick fight I think, definitely.”
Paul dropped 'Spider' in the eighth round en route to a unanimous decision win.