A few months from now, YouTuber turned pro boxer Jake Paul will take on Mike Tyson in his 11th professional fight. The fight, when announced, shocked the entire combat sports community, as no one saw it coming. Since the news of the fight broke, Paul has been facing significant backlashes for picking a fight with Tyson. However, the criticisms for this fight have not been stronger from any other community as much as it has been from UFC fighters.
A number of UFC fighters have bashed Paul for this fight and Colby Covington just became the latest one to add his name to the list. The former welterweight title challenger recently appeared on the ‘TwinsPod’ show on YouTube.
‘Chaos’ shared his unfiltered opinion on a lot of issues, both pertaining to MMA and otherwise. When asked about the upcoming Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight, Covington used Tom Brady and Michael Jordan as an example to explain why it was a bad idea. He said,
“That is not a sanctioned fight. No sanctioned fight, you can wear a headgear. I guess it’s just going to be an exhibition, it’s just going to be a circus sideshow. They’re just trying to sell tickets. I feel bad for Mike, he is such a legend. He does not need to do something like this. Father time is undefeated. There is a reason Tom Brady does not still throw a football. There is a reason Michael Jordan is still not playing basketball.”
Covington opined that the fight would probably be an exhibition bout. He also detailed that the likes of Tom Brady and Michael Jordan have been able to retain their legendary status because they chose to stay retired.
Apart from the fight itself, there have been a lot of rumors surrounding the rules of the fight as well. However, Jake Paul in a recent interview confirmed that the rumors were false. ‘The Problem Child’ confirmed the fight will take place without any headgear and will not be an exhibition bout by any means. This has further upset many MMA fighters.
UFC community unhappy with the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson scenario
Colby Covington is not the only one to express his disappointment in the Tyson vs. Paul bout. Prior to this, noted names such as Michael Bisping, Kamaru Usman, and Michael Page have all expressed similar opinions. The main concern for the aforementioned personalities was Tyson’s age and his lack of activity. ‘Iron’ will be 58 when he steps into the ring against Jake Paul and coming off a four-year layoff.
In addition to this, most of the fighters believe that there is a strong chance Tyson will be stopped by Paul. They believe that this will tarnish his legacy immeasurably by being defeated by a YouTuber turned boxer. For most of them, seeing their idol knocked out by someone relatively new to the sport will surely be a bitter pill to swallow.
