MMA star Khabib has revealed he's open to talks with Jake Paul - but it's not what you might think.
The Russian fighter has been touted as a potential opponent for the YouTuber-turned-boxer, who has spoken a couple of times about the potential for him to swap the ring for the Octagon, but until recently Khabib has kept quiet on his views of the Paul brothers.
That changed during a recent appearance by the fighter on the Full Send podcast, when he was asked whether he'd ever be up for taking on Paul.
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Khabib visited the podcast to talk about Eagle FC - the UFC rival established by Khabib in 2020. During the conversation, after claiming he had no plans to fight himself in Eagle FC, talk turned to the exploits of the Paul brothers, with one of the hosts asking him 'Were you guys trying to get Jake Paul on there? I read it like a day ago in the news'
'Yeah. It’s like if you want to fight in MMA—because he never fought in the MMA, he doesn’t have experience—we can give him a chance. We can sign him,' Khabib replied, suggesting he'd be willing to discuss the prospect of working with Paul if he wanted to break into the work of mixed martial arts.
But the Russian seemed less interested in the prospect of actually fighting Paul, responding to claims that the YouTuber had said he only wanted to join Eagle FC if he could get in the Octagon with Khabib by saying 'With me? C’mon, c’mon. I don’t think so.'
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When pushed to explain why he wouldn't take on Paul, Khabib explained that he had no real MMA experience, saying that based on the clips he'd seen of him training, his skills needed some work.
In response to one of the hosts claiming that Khabib should do it just to give everyone the satisfaction of seeing Paul get knocked out, the fighter laughed, before offering some qualified praise for Paul, saying that although 'anyone can box,' he thought the YouTuber's talents in the ring were pretty good.
Khabib's comments will come as a bit of a knock back to Paul, who per Mirror Online recently claimed he'd only be willing to fight MMA if he was offered Khabib, saying any promotion would need to put down '$25- $35million to even begin a conversation with me.'
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Hannah Smith