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Ben Askren Says Beating Up Jake Paul Would Be 'A Fun Night'

Ben Askren Says Beating Up Jake Paul Would Be 'A Fun Night'

After facing Nate Robinson, YouTuber Jake Paul wants to fight some of MMAs hardest men to prove himself.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Jake Paul followed up his win against Nate Robinson on Saturday night by calling out the great and good from UFC to fight him, and now Ben Askren has replied.

YouTuber Paul knocked out former NBA star Robinson on the undercard of Mike Tyson's comeback draw against Roy Jones Jr on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old is now 2-0 inside the ring and ended the night by claiming he wanted to prove himself as a boxer, "I want to prove to people that I'm a legitimate boxer, a legitimate professional boxer with skill and someone that people should be scared of," he told Mayweather Boxing Channel.

"I have knockout power, I'm dangerous, and to me that's super important and again, that's just going to take multiple fights to prove that.

"I want to fight the biggest names in the sport, I want to take UFC fighters like Ben Askren, like Masvidal, whoever it is and bring them over to boxing, put them in a ring and go head-to-head with them. I want to fight Conor McGregor eventually. Whoever wants to get in the boxing ring with me, I want to be able to do it and beat them."

Paul stands over Robinson. Image: PA Images
Paul stands over Robinson. Image: PA Images

Whilst Paul hasn't stopped talking about the fact he wants to fight McGregor, it looks like it could be Askren who answers his call.

The former ONE welterweight champion retired from MMA last year after three fights in UFC but he sounds like he'd be up for one more fight.

"I don't know if there's a feud, more than this guy has just said my name a few times," the former MMA star told Submission Radio.

"Most people are like, 'Oh, I don't know why Ben Askren would stoop to that level.' It's like, listen, when I was in high school, one of the fun things to do was, a bunch of dudes would come over to the house, we'd put on some boxing gloves, and we'd try to beat the sh*t out of each other.

"Like, we did that for free. We just did that for fun. And now you're telling me you're gonna pay me a whole bunch of money to beat up a YouTube star? Like, I don't know, that just sounds like a fun Friday night to me."

Askren after winning his UFC debut fight. Image: PA Images
Askren after winning his UFC debut fight. Image: PA Images

Askren thinks that Paul called him out because he is famed for his ground game rather than striking, saying, "Obviously I'm someone who is a high-level fighter, who has a large following, who was maybe not known for his standup.

"I think that's probably what he's thinking. But I've worked out with some other guys, just kind of been around, and they're not fighters, and they... every fat guy on the couch in America thinks he can fight, right? They really do.

"And then once they feel what it really feels like, it's just different. There's just this gap. Like, they don't understand what it really feels like."

So far Paul has only been in the ring with a fellow YouTuber and a basketball player, things could be a lot different if he's paired with a professional fighter.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/PA

Topics:Β Combat Sport, Tyson Fury, Ben Askren, Boxing News, UFC News, MMA News, Roy Jones Jr, Boxing, Jake Paul, UFC, MMA