Morning Report: Paddy Pimblett fires back at Jake Paul: ‘He’ll never have it with someone on an even playing field’

Let the Paddy Pimblett vs. Jake Paul saga continue.

Last week, Pimblett gave an interview where he commented that Jake Paul isn’t a bad boxer but that he still believes Paul’s fights are “fixed.” This caused Paul to respond to Pimblett, offering him $1 million if Pimblett could beat him in a sparring session, with the caveat that if Paul wins, Pimblett has to join Paul’s United Fighters Association. Pimblett is set to compete at UFC 282 this weekend and countered with an offer for Paul to come to Las Vegas, at which point Paul re-countered, offering to fly Pimblett to Puerto Rico after UFC 282 is over. And on Sunday, Pimblett posted a video to his YouTube page discussing the entire situation.

“Knowing full well I’m fighting next week,” Pimblett said while watching Paul’s initial callout video. “Lad, I will spar him anytime. Anytime. But the thing is, we’d have to get the $1 million put in escrow, because I know he’d just bump me. He wouldn’t give me $1 million after I beat him up.”

While timing appears to be the biggest issue with Paul’s lucrative offer, it’s not his only problem with what Paul is doing. Pimblett also seems to resent the one-sidedness of Jake Paul’s boxing career, saying that Paul has never been in a fair fight because he skews the terms in his favor.

“I’ve said to him, ‘Come and spar me on the 12th in the P.I. in Vegas. I’m there on the Monday, come and spar me. Let’s do it.’ And he says, ‘Oh I’ve got something I need to do. Come to Puerto Rico on the 19th or the 20th.’ No lad, I’m not doing it on your terms…

“If I fought Jake Paul, he’d have to come down to 180, 175 even. I fight at 155, he fights at 195, so we can meet in the middle. That’s the thing with Jake Paul, he always wants it on his terms. He’ll never have it with someone on an even playing field.”

But thought Pimblett is critical of the way Paul is attempting to cajole him into a fight, “The Baddy” acknowledges that Paul is doing an excellent job of promotion.

“Jake Paul’s booked in to do my podcast on the 5th of January,” Pimblett said. “He’s not stupid, he knows what he’s doing. Give him his due, he is quite smart.”

And should things work out and Pimblett does end up sparring with Paul? Well, Paul might end up getting more than he bargained for.

“Graham just said to me, why are you boxing him? Why not MMA sparring? Why his way?” Pimblett said. “Lad, if I felt like it though, when I was sparring him, I’d just pick him up and drop him on his head. I could though, couldn’t I? If I felt like it. Shoot in, pick him up, drop him on him fog, and then kick him in the face on the floor if I wanted to. You want to have a real fight?”

Pimblett faces Jared Gordon in the co-main event of UFC 282 this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Anyway, hope y’all had a great weekend and thanks for reading!

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