Midnight Roundup! Ryan Garcia and Sean Strickland trade barbs, Jake Paul turns down offer to fight UFC icon, and more

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul recently revealed no interest in facing perennial UFC lightweight contender Tony Ferguson in the boxing ring. Elsewhere, Ryan Garcia and Sean Strickland exchanged insults on social media.

Read up on all the latest developments in combat sports with Sportskeeda MMA's Midnight Roundup.

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Jake Paul gives verdict on fighting UFC lightweight Tony Ferguson

Jake Paul recently shared his thoughts on facing Tony Ferguson in the boxing ring. ‘The Problem Child’ clarified that while he considers ‘El Cucuy’ a bonafide MMA legend, it would be “sad” to see the former UFC interim lightweight champion lose again.

Ferguson is among the most popular fighters in MMA and is widely known for his incredible 12-fight win streak between 2013 and 2019. However, it's no secret that Ferguson's form has been dismal over the past few years, and he's currently on a seven-fight losing slide.

While many have urged Ferguson to retire, he clarified that he isn't keen on doing that and called out Paul for a boxing match. However, 'The Problem Child' isn't interested and recently dismissed the idea of fighting Ferguson in the squared circle.

Earlier this week, Paul defeated Ryan Bourland via first-round knockout. At the post-fight presser, he addressed Ferguson's callout and said:

"I don't wanna see him go out like that. That'd be sad. He's a great guy, we don't want that for Tony.''

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Sean Strickland slams Ryan Garcia for emotional breakdown on social media, 'KingRy' responds

It appears Ryan Garcia and Sean Strickland have no love for each other. Both combat sports stars recently exchanged barbs on social media, with Strickland even extending a fight offer to the boxing star.

Garcia is booked to fight Devin Haney in a super lightweight title bout on April 20. Ahead of the fight, Garcia has been quite active on social media and appears to have taken the fight promotion quite seriously. After leaking footage of Haney's sparring session with Gervonta Davis, Garcia began uploading bizarre posts on social media. This got many fans concerned about his mental health and safety.

Garcia later addressed such concerns and clarified that he was all right. He emotionally spoke about having his phone stolen and losing access to all his social handles. Strickland didn't like how Garcia broke down in public despite being a wealthy boxer and slammed him for it via an X post.

'KingRy' didn't take kindly to Strickland's statements and hit back at 'Tarzan' by reminding him of his selfish sparring session with streamer Sneako.

Later, Garcia posted screenshots of Strickland's body language during his appearance on Theo Von's podcast and poked fun at 'Tarzan' for his poses. Strickland fired back in the comments section by reminding Garcia of his former partner and even offered to fight the boxer.

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Undefeated UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev claps back at Brandon Royval for "boring" remarks

Muhammad Mokaev and Brandon Royval aren't on the best terms. 'Raw Dawg' recently called the undefeated UFC flyweight contender a "boring" fighter, which led to Mokaev clapping back by bringing up some statistics.

During Royval's recent appearance on The MMA Hour, he made it clear he didn't like Mokaev's fighting style and didn't believe he deserved a title shot. He said:

"Any time I watch that kid fight I’m like, ‘This s*** is lame. This is boring.’ It is what it is... I always forget what he brings to the table. Then I watch and like, ‘Oh yeah, this kid’s f****** boring.’ I get amnesia."

Mokaev took to X to issue his response. The Russian-born Englishman pointed out that he is only 23 years old with a 6-0 UFC record, whereas Royval was 2-1 in the promotion when he was 23. Calling out 'Raw Dawg' for a fight, he wrote:

"Brandon Royval, 23 years old - 2-1 as professional, fighting some cans. I'm 23 years old [and] 6-0 in the UFC. You’re not in the position to hate my fighting style; I didn’t perform well on my bad day, but you, on your bad day, won’t even show up. I told you already, if you saying I’m an easy opponent for you, let’s fight then. You’re easiest guy in top 5 that’s for sure!"

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Jairzinho Rozenstruik sends Shamil Gaziev a heartfelt recovery message

Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Gaziev recently went up against each other in the main event of UFC Vegas 87 last weekend. 'Bigi Boy' defeated the undefeated fighter via fourth-round TKO and handed him the first loss of his professional career.

Later, Rozenstruik took to X to send Gaziev a message. The Surinamese fighter urged the Bahrain national not to take the loss too seriously and wrote:

"@GazievMMA , don't worry about the loss. Imagine what I've gone through when I lost my undefeated status. I hope you recover soon! Be good."

Gaziev responded in kind and addressed his maiden MMA loss. He stated that he was badly hurt in the second round and couldn't follow his intended fight plans. He wrote:

"First of all congratulations @JairRozenstruik ,good job today. Got eye and nose damage in 2nd round and couldn’t follow fight plan. If anyone thinks it will break me, I will disappoint you, I’m going to return gym in the coming days and I promise my fans to get better."

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Former UFC champion slams Jake Paul for "disrespecting" the sport of boxing

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping recently sounded off on Jake Paul for ruining the sport of boxing.

While Paul has made a name for himself as a pugilist, many have slammed him for nitpicking his opponents. He's garnered a reputation for calling out retired MMA stars or unproven boxing talents. After Paul's latest win over Ryan Bourland, he notably called out Canelo Alvarez. However, Bisping wasn't having any of it.

In a recent YouTube video, Bisping slammed Paul for "conning" the fans and said:

"You are the suckers if you paid for the fight and I know most people didn't...He's [Jake Paul] calling out Canelo [Alvarez] because he knows damn well that fight is not going to happen...He is disrespecting the sport of boxing, he's disrespecting all the people that worked their way up, but more importantly, he's conning the fans...Beating people you know you can beat, that's called being a bully."