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Jake Paul nixes Tyron Woodley rematch: ‘The guy wasn’t a man of his word’ on tattoo bet

Jake Paul v Tyron Woodley
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

Jake Paul has moved on from a rematch with Tyron Woodley after the former UFC welterweight champ tied their tattoo bet to a new contract.

Paul on Monday appeared on The MMA Hour and said he’s “done” with a second fight against Woodley and is talking with four separate parties for his next boxing match.

“Chalk it up to the game,” said Paul, who outpointed Woodley via split decision in their Showtime pay-per-view headliner this past month. “The guy wasn’t a man of his word, and he didn’t get the tattoo.

“Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, if he would have the next day – or even the days after – gotten in the tattoo chair and posted that on Instagram, it would have gotten 10 million views. He would have been like, ‘Oh, this is hilarious, you have to do the rematch, you have to do the rematch, you have to do the rematch,’ and then I would have been like, ‘I kind of have to do the rematch.’ But now, he’s like, ‘Nope, not until you sign the contract, I’ll get the tattoo.’

“That wasn’t even the bet in the first place. It was the loser gets a tattoo, so he’s just not playing his cards smart, and the hype has sort of died down. For me, it’s on to the next one.”

Paul first made the bet as he squared off with Woodley in the ring for their first media day in support of the event. Woodley didn’t hesitate, and Paul later hired a tattoo artist to ink the loser of the bout on Aug. 29 in Cleveland.

After the result, both fighters took issue with the scoring for the bout, and Woodley demanded an immediate rematch. When Paul replied he would make the fight if Woodley got the tattoo, Woodley replied, “Bet.”

Seconds later, Woodley’s agent, Malki Kawa, could be heard saying “send the contract.”

Paul hasn’t rewatched the entire fight, but he’s pleased with what he has seen in highlights.

“I fought a good fight,” he said. “I really did, and I was doing a lot of good things to take away his offense. I was in control the entire fight. Even watching it back, I would say I won all eight rounds, even the one where he, in the fourth round, clipped me with that one shot. It wasn’t even a hard shot. I was coming back with a check hook and coming all the way backward, and I was already off-balance, and he hit me with his ‘famous knockout shot,’ and it stumbled me back in the ropes. Ten seconds later, I throw an overhand right and wobble him, catch him by the ropes. So I think the judges looked at that round and saw me going into the ropes and gave it to him. But even in that round, I was more efficient.”

Going into the fight, Paul said he hyperextended his elbow and at one point considered talking to his team about the possibility of delaying the event. He quickly thought twice and resolved to go through with the bout regardless of his injury. Given that he was unable to spar or hit mitts on the week of the fight, he said, he gave himself an overall B- for his performance.

“My timing was a little bit weird, and in the third round, I re-hyperextended [my elbow] on a punch. It didn’t hurt too bad, just because my adrenaline was going like crazy. But all these things added up, the crowd, the family, the most amount of media I’ve ever done, it all adds up slowly.

“I learned a lot, but I got the job done pretty easily. Didn’t take any damage except besides that one little hit, but this is boxing. I wanted to test myself and have a tough guy, so that’s the end result, and I’m happy with it.”

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