Jake Paul adds Kamaru Usman to the list of UFC fighters he wants to box

At some point, the list of MMA fighters Jake Paul says he’ll meet in the boxing ring probably will outpace the ones he hasn’t.

After welterweight champion Kamaru Usman weighed in on YouTube star-turned-boxer Paul in the days leading up to what turned out to be a vicious Usman knockout of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261, and then again Tuesday, Paul responded.

And the same storyline he’s given to other MMA standouts, including Daniel Cormier in the past few days, Paul said he’d be glad to box Usman – and said such a bout would become Usman’s biggest payday.

“Challenge accepted,” Paul posted on Twitter. “@USMAN84kg if your boss Dana gives you permission to box me and make more money than you ever have, let me know and we can lace them up. I promise it will be your biggest pay day.”

Challenge accepted.@USMAN84kg if your boss Dana gives you permission to box me and make more money than you ever have, let me know and we can lace them up. I promise it will be your biggest pay day.

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 27, 2021

Paul was cageside for Usman’s KO of Masvidal at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Fla. While there, he was in a verbal altercation with Cormier that has made arguably more news in the days since the event than any of the three title-fight winners, and more news than the horrific (and ironic) broken leg suffered by former champ Chris Weidman.

After UFC president Dana White said after UFC 261 he has no real interest in doing business with Paul, Paul took aim at White, too, and said the UFC doesn’t pay its fighters enough. So that seems to have become his new strategy in social media communications with UFC fighters – that boxing him will pay them more than the UFC will.

Paul is coming off a knockout of former Bellator and ONE champion Ben Askren, who retired from MMA after three UFC fights.