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The UFC and Jake Paul do not see eye to eye. The YouTuber-turned-boxer has built his career around carefully selected matchups that have infuriated the MMA fanbase. Paul's first clash with a mixed martial artist was against Ben Askren. Like all of his past opponents, Ben Askren was a safe option.
The former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion was not only undersized, but he was also 37 years old at the time. Furthermore, 'Funky' was a lifelong wrestler with poor striking fundamentals. To make matters worse, Ben Askren was also a few months removed from major hip surgery.
Thus, a small and aging wrestler with a bad hip was an easy foe. Jake Paul next faced Tyron Woodley, another aging and undersized wrestler. While 'The Chosen One' possessed better striking than his friend Askren, Tyron Woodley had lost his last four MMA bouts before departing the UFC.
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Furthermore, Woodley's striking involved little else other than backing up in a straight line to coax his opponent into running into an overhand right. He was a limited counter-puncher with no striking variety and very few setups. At 39 years old at the time, he was no longer explosive enough to make up for that technical deficiency, nor did he have the threat of takedowns like he did in MMA bouts.
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While Jake Paul is now scheduled to face Anderson Silva, a skilled striker who is taller and longer than him, 'The Spider' is still 47 years old. Due to Paul's preference for facing older and smaller foes, this list looks at five UFC fighters, past and present, who 'The Problem Child' wouldn't dare challenge.
#5. Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson
While Anthony Johnson is currently signed to Bellator and is in the process of working his way back into active MMA competition, 'Rumble' presents a very real danger to anyone he faces. The two-time UFC title challenger possesses seismic knockout power.
Furthermore, his specific striking style could prove problematic for Jake Paul. 'The Problem Child' relies on a jab-right cross combination. His jab is a distance measuring tool that informs him on how close his foes are. Once he knows how close he is in relation to his opponent, he throws a right cross.
His logic is simple. If he can hit his opponent with his jab, he can hit his opponent with his right cross. Unfortunately, his specific manner of doing so relies on Paul being taller and longer than his foes: luxuries he won't enjoy against 'Rumble'.
Additionally, Johnson's forward pressure would rob him of the space and time needed to properly align his shots, which is exactly what 'Rumble' wants. He pressures his opponents into miscalculating before immediately returning fire once he forces them to make ill-advised decisions, like trying to counter him on his way inside.
Since 'Rumble' always keeps his hips squared, every punch he throws is a knockout blow, which is further magnified by his intention to counter his opponents' counterpunch. He's too big, too dangerous and too powerful for Jake Paul to entertain as a possible foe.
#4. Jiří Procházka
The first-ever UFC champion from the Czech Republic is one of the most offensively-minded fighters in the promotion's history. Jiří Procházka currently reigns as the UFC light heavyweight champion and he’s an opponent who Jake Paul would never dare challenge.
Not only would 'The Problem Child' be at a serious disadvantage in terms of height and reach since Jiří Procházka is 6 feet 4 inches tall and possesses an 80-inch reach, but he is a stylistic nightmare. If Anthony Johnson's pressure would cause Jake Paul problems, Jiří Procházka would be suffocating.
The Czech phenom fights as if he believes himself to be immortal. He is always moving forward and constantly switching stances to change the alignment of both his and his opponents' strikes. This, in effect, means that his opponents never know when they're aligned with Procházka's power-hand, while rendering it difficult to time him with their own power-hand.
Additionally, since Procházka steps in deep with every punch, he pours every ounce of power into his strikes while stringing together long combinations. Against him, Jake Paul would face a much taller and longer foe who gives him no space, is difficult to time and is constantly throwing punches, forcing him into a purely defensive state.
#3. Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira is currently scheduled to face Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 281. 'Poatan' is a foe who is far too serious and too skilled for Jake Paul to consider challenging. The Brazilian is a former two-division Glory Kickboxing champion.
His breadth of striking knowledge and skill is one that 'The Problem Child' will never touch. Furthermore, Alex Pereira is too big. Like Jiří Procházka, he is 6 feet 4 inches tall. He also possesses a 79-inch reach that is magnified by the difference in height between the two men.
'Poatan' is also extremely powerful and possesses the most dangerous left hook in kickboxing history. To land a standard left hook, a fighter must stand close enough to their foe. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword because it means that they must also be close enough to be hit by a left hook in order to land their own.
Alex Pereira knows this better than anyone. It's for this reason that he fights with his shoulders square and his chest open since it shortens the arc of his left hook. So when opponents see him stepping close to throw a left hook, they try to counter him with their own (which Jake Paul, a boxer, would almost certainly try to do).
Alas, as his foes throw a wider left hook with a longer arc, the Brazilian lands first due to the shorter and more linear arc of his left hook. This has led to countless knockouts against the world's greatest kickboxers, including Israel Adesanya.
#2. Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya is one of the finest strikers in UFC and MMA history. While a world championship in kickboxing eluded 'The Last Stylebender', he has crafted a unique striking style that has benefitted him tremendously across in MMA. With it, the Nigerian-New Zealander captured UFC gold in the promotion's middleweight division.
Like every opponent on this list, Israel Adesanya is too tall and too long for Jake Paul to enjoy a reach and height advantage against. However, this is an even worse scenario for 'The Problem Child' due to Adesanya's use of his height and reach. The reigning UFC middleweight champion is 6 feet 4 inches tall with an 80-inch reach, and he makes every bit of it count.
When Adesanya fights, he stands at a distance longer than what his foes are used to. Whenever an opponent tries to pressure him, he simply uses his footwork and lateral movement to evade them, forcing them into overextending their punches, especially when he leans away from the waist.
As opponents rush in, Israel Adesanya leans away and twists his torso as he intercepts them with pull-counters and counter hooks, which led to his stunning knockout win against former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. When a foe refuses to engage, 'The Last Stylebender' uses his bag of feints to draw his foes in.
An opponent who is too tall, too long and too difficult to hit is one that Jake Paul will avoid, especially if they're in their physical prime. In fact, 'The Problem Child' himself said he'd never fight Israel Adesanya due to the disparity in height and striking skill during an appearance on Sean O'Malley's podcast.
#1. Francis Ngannou
If Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson is too big and too powerful for Jake Paul to consider fighting, Francis Ngannou is a foe who 'The Problem Child' would never dream of facing in a boxing match. The amount of punching power that 'The Predator' possesses is abnormal.
Fighters in kickboxing, boxing and MMA are immediately conditioned to become comfortable getting hit. It's almost impossible to go through an entire fight without getting hit once or twice. Even the most dominant performances will involve both fighters being hit.
When it comes to Francis Ngannou, however, getting hit once might spell the end of his foes. The Cameroonian sensation's knockout power is otherworldly. Furthermore, the UFC heavyweight champion is too long for Jake Paul to return fire against.
Francis Ngannou is not only 3 inches taller than 'The Problem Child', but he also enjoys a reach of 83 inches. Like Adesanya, Ngannou makes excellent use of his height and length. Almost everyone he faces is shorter than him, which causes them to try closing the distance to mitigate his reach advantage.
Unfortunately for his foes, whenever they do so, Ngannou simply leans away as they overextend before firing back with a thunderous counterpunch, which is almost always enough to end his bouts. All the Cameroonian needs is one clear opportunity, and Jake Paul wouldn't dare give him one.
