Darren Till went off on Jake Paul for opting to fight Cedric Doumbe instead of him.
Till was in talks to face Paul (12-2, 7 KOs), but it's former Glory Kickboxing champion and PFL standout Doumbe who got the call instead. Paul meets Doumbe in an eight-round cruiserweight boxing match Dec. 24 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.Till said Paul's team reached out to his team, which is why he was surprised by the Doumbe fight announcement.
"We agreed on a price, and obviously it was going to be in Dubai on the 24th of December, where I live," Till said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "They reached out to me; I didn't reach out to them. For me, I thought we were all good to go. I've been in camp now for the past two weeks with my coach. I flew him out, getting
ready, seven weeks away, right around the corner. It would have been my third fight this year, big fight, as well, and out of nowhere this daft fight gets announced with Cedric Doumbe.
"I don't think anyone outside of his own household even knows who he is. Jake probably just wants to see how his jaw is holding up against someone who weighs 150 pounds on a good day. It's just a fraudulent showing. Everyone is a fraud. Jake's a fraud. Nakisa (Bidarian) is a little fraud. Waste of my time. Couldn't give a f*ck. I'm not asked. If you want to fight me next year, fight me next year. So I've just wasted about 5,000 pounds getting my coach out here for camp, but it doesn't matter. It's all good."
Jake Paul's 'smoke and mirrors' act
Paul has opened up as a big favorite over Doumbe as he looks to rebound from his TKO loss to Anthony Joshua in December 2025 when he broke his jaw. Former UFC title challenger Till criticized Paul for being a weight bully.
"Jake Paul, he's a clear, clear juicehead," Till said. "Look at him, mate. He's a fat juicehead. There's a fact for you. Cedric Doumbe's at 170 pounds. I'm not taking anything away from the guy, fantastic MMA fighter and kickboxing career, but he's not a f*cking boxer. ... Jake Paul is 220 to 225 pounds. You've got to look past all the bullsh*t. Are we all just going to buy into this fight because he's clever at marketing and stuff like that?
"Once you look past all the smoke and mirrors and the bullsh*t, what kind of fight is this? It's a farce again. It's the same with the Joshua-Fury thing. Look past the bullsh*t. It's a f*cking farce for them to make 100 million. We're all the d*ckheads who get sold farce fights. Same as Mayweather fighting Pacquiao later on in his career. A space full of just frauds. There's only a few real men left."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Darren Till: 'Fraud' Jake Paul trying to sell us another 'farce fight'
