Joe Rogan jumped to the defence of Jake Paul amid claims that his knockout win over Tyron Woodley was staged, with the UFC commentator speaking glowingly about Paul’s boxing skills.
Since swapping YouTube for boxing, Jake Paul has created waves in the fight game. On top of some top-level trash talk, he holds an undefeated record that contains a handful of knockout victories.
Most recently, the 24-year-old knocked out former UFC Champion Tyron Woodley in their rematch with a devastating hook. However, it didn’t take long for the internet to concoct a few theories about how the fight was rigged from the start.
While Jake and his camp have defended themselves from such claims, he’s also got the support of Joe Rogan, who is pretty impressed by his skills now.
The podcast phenom and UFC commentator was joined by comedian Tim Dillion for episode 1752 of the Joe Rogan Experience, when Dillion touched on Jake’s foray into the fight game.
That gave Joe a chance to praise the social media superstar, even though he had a few concerns about his injuries. “He’s been saying he’s suffering from slurring words and loss of memory already. It doesn’t take long, if you spar a lot… he’s f**king good though,” Rogan said. “People want to pretend he’s not because he’s a YouTube guy, the way he knocked out Tyron Woodley that is f**king skillful and he’s got real f**king power.”
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He continued: “Meanwhile, the casuals are thinking it’s fake. Have you seen that? They were saying there’s a tell because he moves his hand, and he’s like saying here, here comes a big right hand, Imma hit ya.”
Timestamp of 2:25:20
Rogan quickly dismissed the notion that it was fake, or even pre-determined, but noted that taking on one of the UFC’s weaker punchers was a clever move by the Paul camp.
He’s spoken previously about how some professional fighters might be a bridge too far for the social media star, but we’ll just have to wait and see who he faces off with next.