Kiwi UFC world champion Israel Adesanya believes Jake Paul has what it takes to overcome Tyron Woodley in their boxing showdown on Sunday (NZ time).
Youtube and Disney star Paul will square off with the former UFC welterweight champion in the next step of his young professional boxing career, looking to move to 4-0 and continue his undefeated run.
The hard-hitting Woodley is the most significant test yet for Paul. Considered one of the UFC's premier welterweight champions, the American defended his title four times from 2016 to 2018, before parting ways with the promotion earlier this year.
Adesanya was part of the commentary team when Jake Paul scored an emphatic knockout of former NBA veteran Nate Robinson on the undercard of the Mike Tyson v Roy Jones Jr fight in November.
The UFC middleweight champion had a chance to spend some time after the event with the "crazy" Paul, and is confident the 24-year-old has the size and skills to beat 39-year-old Woodley.
Paul will have advantages in height, weight, and reach over Woodley on Sunday.
"Tyron's too small," Adesanya told The MMA Hour last week.
"[Woodley] has a right hand that he looks for and when you have one thing to look for, it's easy to avoid that. Jake's big and he's actually a pretty good boxer.
"If I was going to bet, I'd bet on Jake Paul."
Without his wrestling and leg kicks, Adesanya thinks Woodley will become too one-dimensional and predictable for Paul and says 'The Chosen One's' striking pedigree has been overstated.
'The Last Stylebender' says he saw shades of himself in the ambitious Paul.
"I thought it was a gimmick at first," Adesanya says on his YouTube channel FreeStylebender.
"But when you sit there and talk to him - no cameras or nothing - and you realise, 'oh shit, he's serious'. He sounded like me when I was coming up.
"When he spoke to me about his passion for boxing and what he wanted to do in boxing I was like 'man, he's crazy. And I like it."
While Woodley has a massive advantage in combat sports experience, his UFC career sputtered to a close with four consecutive, lopsided defeats. He hasn't won a fight since 2018.
Adesanya notes Woodley has the edge in power, saying "he only has to touch Jake once in the right spot and Jake is going to sleep", but warns him against overlooking his less decorated opponent.
"You should be fazed by him," he says. "You should go in there and be worried because that will keep you sharp.
"You have to treat him like everyone else. If you treat him like a little kid, you're going to get your ass whooped by a little kid."
Meanwhile, Adesanya awaits a new fight date for his rematch against Aussie Robert Whittaker, after lack of MIQ vouchers scuppered their proposed clash at Madison Square Garden at UFC 268 in November.
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