‘I’m Not Here For A Circus’

Demetrious Johnson is not a fan of Jake Paul fighting Mike Tyson.

Tyson and Paul were originally scheduled to face each other inside the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, July 20. However, their highly anticipated clash was postponed after Tyson experienced a medical emergency during a cross-country flight last month. Fortunately, the incident was attributed to nothing more than an ulcer flare-up. Still, Tyson was forced to take a break from training, prompting promoters to push the fight from this summer to November 15.

Johnson, on the other hand, thinks they should just scrap the whole thing altogether, or at the very least, find an opponent for ‘The Problem Child’ who isn’t 30+ years his elder.

“He’s 58 years old,” Johnson said of Tyson during an appearance on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know what his health history is, and I think the biggest thing is you have someone who is 58 years old trying to push his body to the absolute limit, moving. I don’t know if he’s sparring or anything like that. I love Jake Paul, I just think there are so many f*cking boxers out there that he can fight and build, pad his record with. I understand Mike Tyson is a big name and Netflix wants to do it, but I don’t think they should revisit it.

“There are plenty of guys out there that Jake Paul could fight. KSI is one of them. He could fight T-Wood [Tyron Woodley] again. He could fight Mike Perry, ‘Platinum.’ He could fight Jorge Masvidal. There are so many guys! He could fight Anthony Pettis. There are so many guys who are younger than Mike Tyson but a little bit older than him that he can beat and have a big name.

“But I just think him fighting Mike Tyson, the guy is 58. I don’t want to see Mike Tyson get hurt. For what? … This is the stupidest f*cking thing that’s happening right now. You’re telling me there is literally nobody out there that can fight Jake Paul that’s his age, that is 8-0 as a boxer?” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Tyson is one of the biggest names in the history of boxing, amassing a 50-6 record with 44 of his wins coming by way of knockout over the course of his two-decade-long career. Along the way, he captured the undisputed heavyweight world championship, carrying the crown from 1987 to 1990.

‘Kid Dynamite’ returned to the boxing ring in 2020 for an exhibition bout with fellow legend Roy Jones Jr., but the clash with Paul will be his first professional boxing match since a 2005 loss to Kevin McBride.

“If they want something that’s big, get a very good boxer that’s really good and have [Paul] fight him,” Johnson argued. “His skills should sell enough. I’m not here for a f*cking circus. I’m here for, are you legit or not? Fight a legit boxer who is 8-0.

“Let’s have a legit boxing promoter like Eddie Hearn give us somebody. ‘Hey, who do you think would be a good fight for Jake Paul? Who?’ Ask Eddie Hearn that and see if he can get the guy to sign on the dotted line and have a fight.”

Demetrious Johnson has the perfect opponent in mind for jake paul

So if Demetrious Johnson doesn’t want to see ‘The Problem Child’ throw hands with Tyson, who would be a suitable opponent? Well, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has the perfect candidate in mind: current BKFC star and the King of Violence, ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry.

“One of the things Mike Perry does very well is he puts a lot of damage on his opponents with bare knuckles,” Johnson said. “With those gloves, I don’t know if he can do the same type of damage, because cutting someone in the face and all that stuff, I don’t think he could do that. But I would watch.

Paul and Perry have teased a potential clash for some time with ‘Platinum’ even serving as the backup for Paul’s fight with former UFC star Nate Diaz last summer. Recent rumors suggest that a date has been discussed for what feels like an inevitable showdown between the two, though no announcements have been made.