{"id":635522,"date":"2026-04-29T03:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635522\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T03:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:26:09","slug":"jake-paul-downplays-ilia-topuria-fight-as-a-warm-up-in-rare-hit-against-ufc-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635522\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Paul downplays Ilia Topuria fight as a &#8216;warm up&#8217; in rare hit against UFC champ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Polarizing boxing star Jake Paul doesn\u2019t see UFC superstar Ilia Topuria as a potential threat inside the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Jake Paul has dismantled several UFC legends during his boxing career, including Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva, and Tyron Woodley. He\u2019s repeatedly targeted former UFC standouts to face him in the boxing ring and shares a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/jake-paul\/jake-paul-slams-dana-white-as-not-smart-enough-to-fix-ufcs-perceived-dying-brand\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cold relationship with UFC CEO Dana White<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As Paul prepares to potentially return to the ring later this year, he\u2019s entertaining opponents. He\u2019s looking to get back into the win column after a brutal TKO loss to former heavyweight boxing champ Anthony Joshua last year, which was just the second defeat of his career overall.<\/p>\n<p>The UFC\u2019s current roster is filled with standout boxers, including UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria. Topuria\u2019s recent knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira make him one of the most dangerous fighters in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Topuria\u2019s accomplishments, Paul doesn\u2019t see Topuria presenting any issues for him inside the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Jake Paul slams \u2018tiny\u2019 Ilia Topuria as he teases potential crossover fight<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xNs2fP-HvN0?si=2SG_RznPz3dFqzlQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Complex<\/a>, Paul was asked about Topuria\u2019s boxing and a potential fight in the future.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be the same with Topuria. They have to publicly, when they\u2019re on the live streams, say \u2018I\u2019ll do it right now! Let\u2019s do it!\u2019. Then when it goes to happen, it doesn\u2019t come to fruition,\u201d Paul said of Topuria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll see! I have respect for him. But in a boxing match? That\u2019s honestly a warm up for me. All jokes aside, if we did MMA, he would probably win. But you just have to know the truth that I think these fighters try to boast too much and act like they\u2019re better than they are to the world. But let\u2019s find out the truth; that\u2019s what\u2019s great about the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be like playing with a little toy,\u201d Paul continued. \u201cHe\u2019s like 5\u20195\u2033, can\u2019t even ride a roller coaster. The guy is tiny!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paul publicly challenged Topuria earlier this year, which the UFC lightweight champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ilia-topuria\/ufc-champ-ilia-topuria-accepts-challenge-from-jake-paul-i-would-love-to\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appeared to accept in response<\/a>. Topuria will fight at UFC Freedom 250 this summer against Justin Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p>Who wins in a potential Jake Paul vs. Ilia Topuria boxing match? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polarizing boxing star Jake Paul doesn\u2019t see UFC superstar Ilia Topuria as a potential threat inside the ring.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,3262,5277,638,82,640],"class_list":["post-635522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ilia-topuria","tag-jake-paul","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}