Jake Paul gets some advice from Michael Bisping if the world wants to take him "seriously" - "Do you not see the lunacy of this?"
MMA legend Michael Bisping has called on Jake Paul to adjust his next-fight hitlist if he wants to be taken seriously as a boxer. Paul recently appeared on THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas podcast and revealed a six-man hitlist of potential opponents for his next professional boxing bout.
The names on Paul’s list were boxing legends Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, MMA greats Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping, rising boxing star Tommy Fury, and rugby player-turned-boxer Sonny Bill Williams.
On his YouTube channel, Bisping criticized Paul for continually calling out fighters who are much smaller and older than him and haven’t competed in several years. The former UFC middleweight champion indicated that Paul outsized both Mayweather and De La Hoya.
😂😂😂 come on @jakepaul you do know I’m about your size? Surely that excludes me from your “hit list” https://t.co/S9OGPCe920
Additionally, ‘The Count’ spoke about himself and Silva, noting that although they’re around the same size as Paul, they’re not in their athletic prime anymore. He said that Paul should fight Tommy Fury, a cruiserweight boxer who’s around the same size and age as ‘The Problem Child.’
Bisping claimed that Paul’s unlikely to fight Williams because the latter’s a heavyweight boxer, is much bigger than the YouTuber turned boxer, and is relatively young. Furthermore, Bisping specifically lambasted Paul for challenging De La Hoya and stated:
“He’s calling out a guy [De La Hoya] that’s been retired for 14 f**king years. Oh, my God! Do you not see the lunacy of this? Jake, please, for the love of God, we’ve spoken once. I’ve got nothing against you."
"Listen, you wanna fight me; all good, couldn’t care less. But I’m just giving you a bit of advice as a man, as a boxer, as a fighter; more importantly as a man – If you wanna get taken seriously, man, pick on people your own size and not people that have been retired for 14 f**king years. That’s hilarious.”
Watch Michael Bisping sound off on Jake Paul in the video below:
Is a Jake Paul vs. Michael Bisping fight on the cards?
While Michael Bisping has consistently maintained that he’s unafraid of fighting Jake Paul, the fact remains that the loss of vision in the right eye after his injury is a significant hurdle. It’s believed that most athletic commissions won’t grant him medical clearance to compete in a professional combat sports contest.
Bisping insinuated that most commissions in the US won’t let him box Paul. He added, however, that certain regions/countries are comparatively lenient and might let them fight.
Regardless, the consensus is that a Paul-Bisping matchup is unlikely to materialize. Bisping hasn’t competed in a professional combat sports contest since November 2017. Meanwhile, Paul last fought in December 2021 and is targeting a return to the boxing ring this August.