The odds are out for a potential Jake Paul vs. Sean Strickland boxing showdown, and they did not open in the UFC champ’s favor.
Strickland went off on X (formerly Twitter) after a potential title fight against Nassourdine Imavov at UFC 335 fell apart over money concerns — more specifically, the UFC’s unwillingness to pay “Tarzan” what he thinks he’s worth. As far as Sean’s concerned, he’ll just ‘nuke’ his UFC contract and go fight Jake Paul in boxing.
“If you want your fair share call MVP when you are free,”
Paul tweeted. “Sean Strickland I see your texts but are you out of contract? Tell your ‘promoter’ to call MVP.”
Paul then shared an extensive new hit list of people he wanted to fight before retiring from combat sports. Sitting in the fourth slot right after ‘Conor McGregor (Boxing & MMA)’ was Sean Strickland … and the bookies have Sean as the underdog.
BetOnline.ag has the opening odds with Jake Paul at -170 and Sean Strickland at +140. That gives Paul a 63% probability of winning a fight between the two.
Sean Strickland is exactly the kind of opponent Paul likes: an aging MMA fighter with zero pro boxing experience. Strickland gets bonus points for also being pretty beat up and injured, and for being smaller. While Sean fights at 185 pounds (and used to fight at welterweight), Jake Paul weighed in at 216 pounds for his last fight.
What we’d really like to see is odds on whether the bookies think this fight will ever happen. Strickland is under contract with the UFC, and the promotion isn’t about to let him go and fight Paul. While Strickland has suggested he might drop the belt and burn through his remaining bouts, that’s not something that would happen quickly, or without a fight from the UFC.
If we had to bet, we’d say it happens in 2028 at the earliest or not at all.
