Jake Paul confronted by Daniel Cormier with retired MMA icon threatening to ‘SLAP him’ as pair are separated by security after YouTuber-turned-boxer gatecrashes UFC 261 to crowd chants of ‘f*** Jake’
- YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul was among the 15,000 crowd at UFC 261
- Paul has been dismissed by UFC chief Dana White as ‘full of s***’for his fights
- Retired MMA fighter Daniel Cormier came face to face with Paul inside the arena
- He threatened to ‘slap’ the online star as they were separated by site security
Jake Paul was a surprise attendee at UFC 261 as the controversial YouTuber-turned-boxer had to be separated from MMA icon Daniel Cormier after a bitter confrontation.
The 24-year-old, who recently took his professional boxing record to three wins and zero defeats, was spotted in the crowd during the preliminary fight card and the 15,000-strong crowd quickly made their feelings known by chanting ‘f*** Jake’.
The furore caught the attention of retired fighter Cormier and he confronted Paul, threatening to ‘slap him’.
Jake Paul (left) engaged in a heated war of words with Daniel Cormier at UFC 261 on Saturday
The YouTuber-turned-boxer was warned by Cormier to talk less or he would ‘slap him’
The 15,000-strong crowd in Jacksonville, Florida, were heard chanting ‘f*** Paul’ at the star
Cormier said: ‘I swear to god, I just saw Jake Paul.
‘I pointed at him, I said, “Don’t play with me.” Because I’ll slap that s*** out of him. I don’t play those games.’
The history between the pair seems to have stemmed from Paul calling Cormier out after his last fight, in which he called the retired fighter a ‘fat boy’.
Paul is hot property in the fight game right now amid his claims that he made $75million from pay-per-view sales for his contest against Ben Askren.
Cormier saw Paul pointing at him and the pair confronted each other separated by a barrier
Paul has turned his focus to becoming a professional boxer and has so far won all three fights
White was asked after Kamaru Usman dramatically knocked out Jorge Masvidal if there was interest in the UFC hosting a fight for Paul.
From Cormier’s side, he maintains he would ‘kill’ Paul if they ever did square-off.
‘This dude would never fight me,” Cormier previously told ESPN. ‘I would kill him. Why would I ever fight someone like that?’
The reporter in the post-fight press conference posed to White that ‘the numbers are there’ but the promoter was unconvinced and believes the 24-year-old’s boasts are ‘full of s***’.
‘That’s just not what I do,’ White said. ‘There’s people that like that. That’s just not what I do. What I do is what happened tonight.’
Paul claimed on Instagram his fight with Ben Askren made $75million through pay-per-view
He added that the online star’s success as a fighter ‘is f***ing mind boggling’ but confirmed he had no interest in working with him.
White previously said he would bet $1million on Askren to beat Paul – only for the online celebrity to produce a devastating first round knockout.
‘This is the right guy with the right shtick at the right time,’ he told Yahoo Sports, as reported by BJPENN.
‘This guy is playing this thing perfectly. And boxing is in such a bad place, they’re doing a really good job at sucking in people to buy into this thing. And good for him.’
Paul comically tweeted after the fight: ‘What should I buy with Dana White’s $1m? I’m thinking a Porsche 918 Spyder,’ alongside a picture of the car.
Paul tweeted a photo of a Porsche 918 Spyder, tagging White in the comical post-fight tweet