Jake Paul thinks Conor McGregor’s antics following his trilogy-fight loss to Dustin Poirier have gone too far – even by the controversial Irishman’s standards.
Paul (3-0 boxing), who meets Tyron Woodley in a boxing match under the Showtime banner on Aug. 29 in Cleveland, has never been shy to take a shot at former two-division UFC champion McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC).
McGregor has invited criticism in recent weeks, though, from his death threat to Poirier and his wife, Jolie, in the aftermath of suffering a broken leg in his first-round TKO defeat at UFC 264, to making nasty comments about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s deceased father on Twitter before deleting them shortly thereafter.
Paul is not a person who is hesitant to say or do things that may put him in the line of fire in terms of public criticism, but even he feels McGregor is going beyond the scope of what’s reasonable.
“Look, he’s this guy that was the sh*t for so long and the center of attention, and now his career has plummeted,” Paul told MMA Junkie. “He’s falling off. He’s 1-3 in five years and it seems as if people don’t really care. He’s disrespectful. Even to the point where it’s too far. There’s a point in this where it’s like, ‘Cool, yeah. It’s the fight game. I said what I said. Get over it.’ Talk as much sh*t as you want. But there’s a point where you look dumb.”
The way in which McGregor vented as Poirier in the immediate fallout of UFC 264 – while he sat in the cage injured after being declared the loser in a hugely important fight – was excused by some as a heat of the moment action. His subsequent Twitter posts are of a different nature, Paul said, and he views it as a sign of desperation.
Paul truly believes “The Notorious” is at the end of his time as a top-level fighter, and he thinks McGregor is having a tough time coping with that reality.
“It’s not even that he’s being disrespectful, he just looks dumb with the sh*t that he’s saying,” Paul said. “Threatening to kill people and then he’s out partying, back to drinking, hitting the clubs in L.A. I don’t know, man. I think it’s over for him and I don’t think his ego can maybe accept that.”
Paul has been angling for a matchup with McGregor since he entered the combat sports world. He said he can’t view it materializing at the moment, though, because he sees McGregor’s value having dropped off.
Another UFC star Paul has mentioned wanting to fight is Nate Diaz, and although Diaz is coming off a loss of his own to Leon Edwards at UFC 263 in May, Paul sees that as a more attractive matchup at the present moment.
“I think Nate Diaz versus Jake Paul fight is probably more interesting than a Jake Paul vs. drunk Conor McGregor fight,” Paul said.
Jake Paul: ‘Disrespectful’ Conor McGregor lashing out after leg break because ‘it’s over for him’
