Israel Adesanya Declined Jake Paul’s “Backyard” Fight After Commentating on Mike Tyson’s Return Against Roy Jones Jr.

Israel Adesanya has come up with yet another revelation. And it involves the YouTuber turned professional boxer, Jake Paul. Adesanya is no stranger to commenting on fights; be it mixed martial arts or boxing. Getting into a ‘backyard fight,’ however, might just be too much for the former champ.

Talking to Demetrious ‘The Mighty Mouse’ Johnson, on his talk show, MIGHTYcast, Adesanya revealed that ‘The Problem Child’ seemingly wanted to get him in a backyard ring. The fact that it was an instance during the COVID-19 pandemic, just makes it all the more interesting. 

Jake Paul wanted to box with Israel Adesanya in his backyard?

During the interview, ‘The Last Stylebender’ recalled the time when Mike Tyson returned to action and fought Roy Jones Jr., and Paul took on Nate Robinson; remembering that after giving his views on the fights, he was invited to Paul’s place. Adesanya said, “You know what’s funny? When I was at, when Jake fought Nate Robinson, I commented on that fight. Mike Tyson fought Roy Jones. And I watch that live, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Meet Jake Paul at the hotel, then he invites me to his house, get there, crazy.”

He goes on to establish that it all happened during the times when social distancing was mandatory owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the crazier thing is that he was pushed to fight Paul in his backyard ring. “And then at one point, there’s a ring in the backyard and I got word through someone, that oh, this guy is trying to get Izzy in the K, in the ring.” The New Zealander was there just for fun. He wanted no part in the backyard fighting scheme. “And I said nah. I’m here to have fun. I ain’t doing none of that”, he added.  

However, it wasn’t the first time Adesanya avoided a fight with ‘The Problem Child’. The former UFC middleweight champ once gave Paul the credit he deserves and steered away from fighting him.

Adesanya won’t fight Paul

During an episode of ‘Ignore the Noise’, Andrew Schultz asked Adesanya if he would ever fight Jake Paul. While Adesanya is arguably among the best strikers in the world, he pushed away the idea of fighting someone like Paul. The fighter simply reasoned that he didn’t box. 

Furthermore, Adesanya seemed to think pretty highly of the boxer. “Jake Paul’s no joke, man”, he reasoned. Recollecting the events from 2020, following Paul’s victory over Robinson via KO, the mixed martial artist said that Paul was indeed serious about boxing. In his tete-a-tete with combat sports, Paul has perhaps earned the respect of Adesanya. Nevertheless, an exhibition fight between the two would be nothing short of exciting, wouldn’t it?