Jake Paul has offered up a flimsy excuse for not fighting UFC two-division female champion Amanda Nunes, claiming that she’s not well-known enough.
“Nah, I wouldn’t fight her,” Paul told TMZ Sports. “Waste of time, no one knows who she is. There’s not a lot of hype there. Plus, there’s no history.
“I want to knock out Dillon because we’ve been talking s*** back and forth for two years, I’ve hooked up with his girlfriend, he’s all butt-hurt about it, there’s history there.”
Nunes certainly isn’t anywhere close to being as big of a star as Conor McGregor, who Paul previously called out, but to suggest that she isn’t well known, while then claiming that Dillon Danis is, is somewhat of a stretch.
While Danis does have some notoriety as McGregor’s BJJ coach, that’s not yet translated into any notable drawing power in his own right at this fledling stage of his MMA career, having fought low down the main card in his two Bellator fights to date.
On the other hand, as the UFC’s No.1 pound-for-pound female fighter, Nunes has headlined multiple UFC pay-per-views, and is no stranger to breaking the one-million PPV barrier.
She first accomplished that feat as the headliner of the historic UFC 200 show opposite Miesha Tate, watched by over one-million on pay-per-view.
She then also topped the bill at UFC 207 against Ronda Rousey, which drew 1.1 million buys, while her co-main event showdown with Cris ‘Cyborg’ at UFC 232 pulled in 700,000 buys.
Admittedly, there is no ‘history’ between Paul and Nunes, but it would be foolhardy to suggest that there wouldn’t be any hype surrounding a fight featuring the YouTuber going up against the greatest female MMA fighter of all-time.
It’s a spectacle that would sell itself and realistically Paul is going to generate big box-office numbers regardless of who he takes on due to his existing fanbase.
With all that being said, it’s a good thing that this fight is being ruled out – it shouldn’t happen under any circumstances – but even so, the reality is that Nunes is actually a far more accomplished striker / boxer than ground specialists like Danis or Ben Askren, who has also been a target for the Paul brothers.
