Donald Cerrone is looking at life after his retirement from UFC. Recently, Donald Cerrone revealed that he felt Jake Paul was a legit boxer and he would consider boxing against the social media personality.
After his loss at UFC 276 in July 2022, “Cowboy” Cerrone called it quits during the octagon interview.
By then, Cerrone was on a 6 bout-losing streak with his last victory coming against Al Iaquinta in 2019.
In an interview with Thiccc Boy Studio, Cerrone said:
“Would I like to fight him? Of course, how could I say no to millions of dollars?”
“I would definitely go out there and do it but I’m not sitting over here saying, ‘Jake, you’re a f**king YouTuber, ain’t worth a f**k, blah, blah, blah.’ My man, you’re making money, make the money. If you want to throw some money my way, I’m with ya.”.
UFC veteran believes that Jake Paul is a viable contender.
Jake Paul was quite convincing in his September 2022 victory against Anderson Silva. He has previous boxing wins against Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley.
However, there are constant rumors that these boxing bouts are rigged to Paul’s dismay. The rumors may have originated with Dillon Danis and one time teammate Shane Mosley but they persist to date any time there’s a major Paul event.
Donald Cerrone doesn’t believe this is the case.
“The Jake Paul phenomenon is kinda crazy. He’s got everybody calling him out, kinda like the big Conor push.”
“That’s what I feel like is happening with Jake Paul. It’s one right hand and I don’t see why they wouldn’t because that’s a big money fight. But you can’t take away like everyone’s saying those are rigged fights. I think he’s hitting hard.“
“I really do think those are legitimate shots and strikes. He’s been practicing boxing and he’s whipping their a**es. I don’t think there’s any mis-hype. I think he’s got something going on there.”
Cerrone might be vying for a major payday but a contest between the two is unlikely. For one, Cerrone competed most of his career in the lightweight division and is believed to be walking around around 170lbs. In fairness to Cerrone, he has bulked up considerably since his retirement from the USADA pool.
Another factor that makes it unlikely is Cerrone’s confession that he is on PEDs. This makes Paul all the less likely to accept a match up.
Paul competes around 190lbs to 200lbs but has been repeatedly criticized over not having faced an actual boxer for the first 6 professional boxing outings.