Andrew Tate has held talks with Jake Paul 's manager Nakisa Bidarian as talk of a fight between the pair continues to build.
Controversial kickboxer Tate, 35, has not fought in five years but has welcomed a return to the ring against YouTube star Paul. A four-time kickboxing world champion, Tate has been at the forefront of media attention in recent months with his videos attracting almost 12 billion views on TikTok.
Paul claims he was recently sent a secret message by Tate on Instagram, but the message was deleted before he could read it. Tate has added fuel to the fire of fight talks with Paul by recently meeting with Bidarian, the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions and a former Chief Financial Officer for the UFC.
Tate posted a picture with brother Tristan alongside Bidarian to his Instagram story that was captioned: "With the accountant". The caption is a reference to UFC boss Dana White downplaying Bidarian's role in the promotion, insisting he was only an "accountant" for them despite guiding them in their $4billion sale to Endeavour in 2016.
Paul recently gave brother Logan his blessing to fight Tate but thinks the controversial kickboxer wouldn't be willing to fight either of them. Tate and brother Tristan have praised the Paul brothers transition from YouTube fame to boxing, but Andrew has insisted he would still "kick the living f***" out of Jake if the pair were to meet in the ring.
Do you want to see Andrew Tate fight Jake Paul? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below
"I don't dislike him, I understand him but I want to make something clear, I would still kick the living f*** out of Jake Paul," he told The Fellas podcast. "I'm not some washed-up UFC fighter and I'm not smaller than him, I would beat the living s*** out of him and if he wants to fight I'll fight him any day of the f****ng week. He's very smart with his 'I'm just a YouTuber angle'. The guy's not a jack*** and the fact he puts this spin on it is very smart."
Paul was scheduled to make his sixth professional appearance earlier this month against short-notice replacement Hasim Rahman Jr, but the fight was cancelled just days out from the event due to weight issues. Tate, who used to compete at the same weight as Paul, was forced to cut his career short in 2016 after detaching his retina against Ibrahim el Boustati in the final fight of his career.
