In a hectic last minute change of plans, internet sensation, Jake Paul will officially take on former MMA champion, Tyron Woodley in a rematch after facing each other earlier this year.
The original highly anticipated fight between Paul and UK reality star, Tommy Fury, was called off after Fury’s camp released a statement citing a broken rib and a bacterial chest infection, requiring the star to withdraw.
Jake Paul, not one to shy away from a controversy, didn’t hold back in sharing his thoughts on the late notice withdrawal.
“It is official, Tommy Fury is boxing’s biggest b*tch,” Paul said. “He has pulled out of the fight. The Furys have pulled out of the fight due to a ‘medical condition,’ who knows what’s going on in that camp? I think he has a bad case of ‘p*ss-itis.’ I couldn’t believe the news at first. This still doesn’t even seem real. He fumbled the biggest bag of his life. Now he will be watching at home, paying me $60 instead of getting paid millions of dollars to fight me. I fought with a broken nose, I fought sick, get the f*ck over it. This is boxing. It’s official, he was scared, I think the pressure got to him, the sh*t talk got to him. That’s the bad news, guys.
“The good news is that Mr. Tyron Woodley, we called him up and we were like, ‘Hey, you want to take the fight?’ He has been training. He goes, ‘Sure, I’ll take the fight, let’s do the rematch, run it back.’ I’m giving him $500,000 extra if he can knock me out. Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley 2. Leave no doubt. I didn’t knock him out the first time, I’m coming back and I’m getting that crazy W, the crazy highlight-reel knockout. Dec. 18, the show must go on, I’ll see you guys there.”
This will be the second meeting between Paul and Woodley this year. The two fought in August at a Showtime event in Cleveland, with Paul winning an eight-round split decision. Woodley immediately called for a rematch, which Paul claimed would be granted if the former UFC welterweight champion followed up on a pre-fight bet they had arranged where the loser was to have the winner’s name tattooed somewhere on their body.
Woodley later showed that he had an “I love Jake Paul” tattoo done on his middle finger, though some questioned whether the tattoo was real and Paul seemed to indicate that he was moving on from the rematch regardless. Paul would go on to book a fight with Fury, a reality star and the half-brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, while Woodley was reportedly in talks to box fellow former UFC fighter Dan Hardy in spring of next year.
The loss of Paul-Fury has to come as a blow to Showtime given the amount of promotion that had gone into the matchup thus far. Paul and Fury have rarely missed an opportunity to publicly take shots at one another and that culminated in a memorable press conference two weeks ago in which Paul was involved in verbal dust-ups with both Tyson and the brothers’ father John.
Regardless, the show must go on, and Paul and Woodley are raring to go. Will Woodley settle the score and even it up, or will Paul lock in another win?