Jake Paul teased he’ll be making his MMA debut some time after the Anderson Silva boxing match up. While Paul is out of his depth when it comes to MMA he certainly has enough PPV appeal to make it happened in addition to wrestling background in highschool. He’s already handpicked a gym he’d like to train in when the time comes – American Kickboxing Academy.
Famous AKA coach Javier Mendez took back his words on not wanting to train Jake Paul. The AKA Gym owner is also certain that the famous influencer would find great success in mixed martial arts.
After seeing a big success in amateur boxing, social media star Jake Paul decided to jump into the world of professional boxing. ‘The Problem Child’ has been clashing with popular figures and former MMA athletes with a total of 5 bouts and is currently still undefeated.
Jake made his name big in the MMA world by defeating retired mixed martial artists like Ben Askren and former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Back then, Jake also vowed that he would also find great success in MMA and was sure that Javier Mendez would train him.
However, Mendez indicated that Jake isn’t special and would require selection just like anybody else.
“It could happen but like anybody you know we have to go through all the coaches and all the fighters that are here and anybody that’s a famous athlete like him. They will go through the routine that everybody does so he would have to get voted by everybody. First of all, he’s never asked. What he’s done is he’s marketed himself beautifully.” Mendez told The Schmo.
Javier Mendez is one of the most famous coaches in MMA. The AKA gym produced several champions including the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez and Luke Rockhold.
It seems like Mendez has changed his mind. The 52-year-old said Jake has potential and he would love to train Jake.
“If Jake Paul wanted to do MMA, I’m sure he can. He’s a wrestler and now he’s got boxing, and he’s a great athlete. So I think getting him ready wouldn’t take too long, but at the same time too, it depends on the level, you know, where you’re going to put him. You can’t put him in with someone that’s got great jiu-jitsu or great wrestling. They can take him down because he’s not going to be able to survive that. So, he’s going to need time.” Mendez told media.
Mendez also explained that he was finally convinced of Jake’s ability when he found out that his friend, who is also an AKA gym coach, trains Jake Paul.
“Jacob Chavez is a very close friend of mine and he’s an AKA coach. He trained Blagoy Ivanov [a UFC heavyweight], that’s how I met him and he’s with Jake Paul. I don’t really know anything else other than he’s training with an AKA coach which is Jacob Chavez, that’s all.” Mendez explained.