Jake Paul’s fans in the MMA community are few and far between, but Michael Bisping is proud to count himself among them. Bisping, a UFC commentator who was once Britain’s first and only UFC champion, is a fan of Jake Paul’s approach to boxing.
Bisping told The Fighter vs. The Writer podcast that he expects his fellow fighters to take Paul more seriously following the Woodley bout this weekend.
Michael Bisping Heaps Praise on Jake Paul: “You can’t hate on Jake Paul for what he’s doing in fights”
“For Jake Paul, he’s a guy who was a Disney star and then he’s got into boxing apparently. He’s got a massive following. I think a lot of people are quick to doubt him, quick to write him off, although I do think he’s dispelling that myth a little bit and people are starting to come on board.”
Paul boasts a 3-0 record, which he will look to extend to 4-0 against Tyron Woodley. Paul has been widely criticized for avoiding serious competition in his boxing career, instead promoting “money fights” against the UFC’s wrestlers like Ben Askren and, now, Tyron Woodley.
However, padding records is hardly a novel concept in combat sports, where it’s not uncommon for promising fighters to fight opponents with losing records early in their careers. One notable example is Saul “Canelo Alvarez”, the world’s top pound-for-pound boxer, who didn’t face an opponent with a winning record in any of his first twelve professional fights.
Michael Bisping acknowledged that many combat sports athletes boast rags-to-riches stories, but pointed out the fact that Jake Paul boxes not out of necessity, but love of the game, is admirable in itself.
“Typically as a fighter when you get into combat sports, most fighters if you look at their history, they come from some kind of struggle when they were younger.
Whether that’s an abusive family or coming from poverty or whatever it was, typically there’s always that struggle. This is all we have. We take our fighting skill, we were probably getting into scraps on the streets and things like that. We realize we can fight and we turn that into a living and hopefully turn things around. That’s normally the case.
That doesn’t mean it has to be the case. There’s no prerequisite in combat sports that you have to come from a disadvantaged background. You can’t hate on Jake Paul for what he’s doing in fights. If anything, you’ve got to respect him even more.”
Michael Bisping proudly predicted that Paul would knock Ben Askren out when they fought earlier this year. Do you think Bisping is right about Paul, and he might repeat the feat against Tyron Woodley this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Remember to stay up to date with the latest news on TheOvertimer. Don’t forget to visit Screenstinger for great videos, news, and gameplay!
