UFC has a Jake Paul Problem
But Shamrock author Jonathan Snowden has the solution
You could feel the cultural power of Jake Paul fading as his second fight with former UFC champion Tyron Woodley plodded on in front of an increasingly impatient audience in Tampa Bay. Even the announcers on Showtime could barely disguise their mocking disdain for the “dirty” spectacle playing out in front of them.
The YouTube sensation had held the fight world in his sway for months, his personal magnetism making him the most talked about fighter this side of perpetual loud-mouth Conor McGregor, a neophyte boxer in the embryonic stages of a fighting career that seemed to hold only infinite box office potential if only minimal athletic promise.
But Paul was in danger of becoming something that is instant death in his world, the domain of clicks and subscriptions and impressions—he was becoming boring, losing the room.
The trolling of “real” fighters and the hilarious mockery of UFC President Dana White’s terrible fighter pay could only buy so much good will. In the end, a spectacle must contain the spectacular. And the fight was Woodley was far from that, a battle between a young fighter in Paul still learning the basics of a complicated craft and an aged warhorse in Woodley who seemed impossibly bad when the martial arts were unmixed and he was left to rely only on his rustiest tool.
You could feel the crowd losing patience in the sixth round, those watching at home and communicating their every thought on social media most of all, as the two circled warily, Woodley occasionally breaking the monotony was a skill-less rush into the breach, followed immediately by one of what felt like a thousand clinches. Fingers around the country were poised on the remote control, wondering if maybe they should have watched Saturday Night Live after all, when it happened, a booming sound that can only have a single result.
In the before times, two men face each other in a battle of strength and savvy. After, one lays prone on the canvas, everything that makes him human lost in realm between life and death, awakening in time confused, wondering how his life has come to this.
Such was Woodley, unbelieving in his corner when he eventually returned to his senses, crying out “no, no, no” as if he could turn back time and make it all untrue.
But it was true. With a single booming right hand, cleverly disguised as the kind of body shot he’d been landing throughout the night, Paul once again placed himself at the center of the fisticuff universe, a shining star around which multiple sports seemed to orbit.
“This has to be the greatest moment of my life,” the 24-year-old Paul told Ariel Helwani after the fight. “Look at what I just did. Look at the year I just had. Unprecedented. One of the most valuable boxers in this sport. Four fights. Four massive pay-per-views in 13 months. I’ve knocked out every single person that I’ve fought. Every single person that I’ve fought.”
Afterwards Paul, who had taken great pleasure in providing Woodley his largest career paydays, challenged two more UFC stalwarts who had been in attendance for the bout (Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz), making it clear his war with Dana White was far from over.
Instead of engaging a war of words he can’t win, mostly because Paul is right about White’s abysmal employment practices, it might be time for the UFC boss to take a more proactive approach.
So far, Paul has smartly targeted UFC fighters with uniquely awful boxing games. Ben Askren looked like the idea of punching another man was something he’d only read about in a book, while the more stout Woodley approached a complex game with a decided lack of subtlety.
The 36-year-old Diaz is a faded force who emerged from journeyman status only after an unlikely victory over McGregor and has lost three of four since. Masvidal, who was outboxed in his last two UFC bouts by former amateur wrestler Kamaru Usman, is likewise at the end of a career so long that it actually predates UFC’s singular place as the only promotion that matters.
Smart and savvy callouts by Paul, who possesses a wisdom that belies his extraordinarily dumb-looking face.
If White wanted to get out in front for once, he’d select his own potential challenger—bigger, younger, sharper—and try to bait Paul into a fight he might not be able to win. Right now the battles are being fought on Paul’s terms, as he builds his brand at the expense of UFC’s hard-earned pop culture currency.
White should take back the high ground and send a fighter who can reclaim the UFC’s reputation before it’s further wrecked by the YouTube usurper.
It’s time for Israel Adesanya to enter the chat.
OMG.... No. Put Izzy in and achieve what? give this guy even more legitimacy?