Jake Paul has offered to cut to 175lb in an effort to secure a fight with Conor McGregor.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer has weighed in as heavy as 192lb during his five-fight professional boxing career but has vowed to cut light-heavyweight to make a fight with the UFC legend happen. McGregor famously won the UFC's 145lb and 155lb titles, but has also won twice at 170lb against Nate Diaz and Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone.
And it has been theorised that McGregor, who was forced out of action for almost a year with a broken leg suffered against Dustin Poirier last summer, is currently around the same weight as Paul. He has packed on considerable muscle while training for his return, and has recently returned to boxing training, with full sparring to commence next month.
But Paul has said that he would be willing to get down to a career-low weight of 175lb if it mean that he could get the bout he's been angling for over the past few years. "Dana White is begging for Diaz and Conor to fight for a third time," he noted in a tweet.
"They have fought at 170lb in both their fights," he continued. "I will fight Conor at 175lb, no problem. Stop making excuses p****es."
The social media callout follows an appearance by McGregor's promoter Dana White on his brother Logan's podcast Impaulsive . White, the president of the UFC, said that Paul should be concerning himself with boxing cruiserweights, as opposed to MMA fighters known for competing at lightweight or welterweight in their sport.
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"I'm looking for the absolute best in the world," White told the elder Paul brother. "It's not what we do, there's a market for what [the Pauls] do. The Floyd [Mayweather] vs Conor fight, everyone wanted to see it and it took on a life of its own. [Jake] shouldn't even be fighting Conor McGregor; these guys are huge and Conor McGregor is 145/155lb."
White is not keen on crossover fights, but he made one exception to allow McGregor to fight Mayweather back in August of 2017, with the event becoming one of the biggest in combat sport history. He has said that he would be willing to explore the prospect again, but only for a fight of massive consequence and financial reward.
Paul has already defeated two former MMA world champions in ex-Bellator and ONE FC titleist Ben Askren as well as the ex-UFC belt holder Tyron Woodley twice. But he has been criticised for not yet fighting a legitimate boxer, with only one of his opponents having boxed at any level before they fought.
