Jake Paul Defends Mike Tyson from Conor McGregor, Says UFC Star is 'Trying to Hate'

Jake Paul and Mike Tyson may have exchanged some jabs ahead of their boxing match this summer, but Paul was quick to defend Tyson after UFC star Conor McGregor criticized their upcoming bout.

After McGregor called the fight "a bit strange," adding that the "interest is low" and that he doesn't "understand it," Paul said on his BS with Jake Paul podcast, via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie:

"So, Conor, you're saying that interest is low for the fight but the last fight you announced, there was 1,000 articles written in a multiple-day span, people talking about your last fight. In that same multiple-day span, there was 10,000 articles written about (Paul vs. Tyson)."

"No fight ever has done these numbers in terms of faceoff views, Instagram reels. Just on our main pages alone, it's like 50, 60 million Instagram views on both of our posts – not to mention every single other sports page posting it. That's never happened in the history of the sport to reach those numbers. So this is, in my mind, the biggest fight the world will ever see."

Paul added: "There's no reason for them to be jealous. I get that people are jealous, but this is helping the sport of boxing. Isn't that what people should want to see – getting more kids into the gyms, spanning two generations together, doing it on the biggest scale possible? When the old heads like Conor are still trying to hate, why are you trying to pull people down? Your ego is that (big)?"

To McGregor's point, some fans have questioned why the 57-year-old Tyson is going up against a 27-year-old Paul. Tyson is also one of boxing's biggest legends while Paul, a YouTuber, is just beginning to work his way through the ranks.

Tyson retired in 2005 and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. He finished his career 50-6 with 44 knockouts.

Regardless of what people may think about the fight, it should draw plenty of eyeballs when the two step into the ring at AT&T Stadium on July 20.