- Jake Paul and Daniel Cormier had a heated discussion during UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida.
- Cormier said during the event that he would “smack” Paul in the face.
- The two began a Twitter feud after Paul had a knockout win against Ben Askren on April 17.
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Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier and Jake Paul got into a tense exchange Saturday night at UFC 261.
According to USA Today’s MMA Junkie, the incident began when Paul arrived at his cageside seat at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The crowd reportedly began booing and chanting at Paul, 24, catching the attention of UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
“I found out what the chant was. It was ‘F Jake Paul,” Rogan said. “That’s what they were all yelling out. How’d that get started? I don’t know.”
Paul, a controversial influencer who’s taken up boxing, recently scored a first-round knockout win over Ben Askren and currently holds a 3-0-0, 3 KOs record. Although Paul has emerged victorious in his boxing career so far, he’s also made a few enemies along the way, including Cormier.
MMA Junkie reported that Paul’s appearance at UFC 261 rubbed Cormier the wrong way.
—THE NBA Hustle ? (@TheNBAHustle) April 25, 2021
“I swear to God, I just saw Jake Paul. I pointed at him and said, ‘Don’t play with me,’ because I’ll smack him in the face,” Cormier, a current UFC commentator, told Rogan. “He’s right there. I’ll slap him. I don’t play those games, Joe.”
But Cormier wasn’t done. Following post-fight interviews, Cormier walked towards where Paul was seated and confronted the YouTuber.
—MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) April 25, 2021
UFC security prevented any physical altercations from happening, and the men were eventually separated, MMA Junkie reported.
—Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 25, 2021
The bad blood between the pair sparked last week when Cormier appeared to take issue with how Paul talked about other MMA fighters, prompting him to address his discontent on Twitter. Paul responded by calling Cormier “fat boy” and challenging him to a fight.
Paul added fuel to the fire when he shared an expletive-laden message about Cormier on Logan Paul’s podcast, Impaulsive.
“I’ll beat the f— out of your fat a–, too, just like Stipe did. Cleveland s—. I swear to God. I’ll beat the f— out of Daniel Cormier.”
In response, Cormier told ESPN: “This dude would never fight me. I would kill him. Why would I ever fight someone like that?”
Paul’s tangle with Cormier comes after he was accused of sexual assault by TikTok star Justine Paradise. A second woman named Railey Lollies told The New York Times that Paul forcefully groped her when she was 17 and referred to her as “jailbait.”
Paul denied the allegations, and his lawyer, Daniel E. Gardenswartz, released a similar statement.
“Our client is aware of the recent allegation against him. While others have already begun to debunk the claim alleged against him, our client categorically denies the allegation and has every intention of aggressively disproving it and pursuing legal action against those responsible for the defamation of his character,” said Gardenswartz. “Our client believes that any false allegations diminish the credibility of those who have truly been victims of misconduct.”
