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In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, UFC lightweight Luis Peña gave his thoughts on Jake Paul's chances against Ben Askren, after watching the YouTuber during a sparring session.
Paul is set to go eight-rounds in a boxing ring with former UFC welterweight Ben Askren on Saturday, April 17.
The bout will be the first test for 'The Problem Child' against a professional fighter, albeit one known for his wrestling skills rather than his striking.
Luis Peña gave his thoughts after watching Jake Paul sparring
Speaking to Sportskeeda ahead of his UFC Vegas 24 fight with Alex Munoz this weekend, Luis Peña expanded on a series of tweets he had made after sitting in on a Jake Paul sparring session.
After revealing he was set to see Paul in action in the flesh, 'Violent Bob Ross' stated he had been impressed, but followed up with another Twitter post calling Paul out for lying about the session.
Peña' reveals Jake Paul's flaws
To clarify his initial comments on what he saw from Paul, Peña explained to us what he really meant by 'impressive' -
"So here's the thing, when I first went out there and saw him, I'm not gonna lie, was I impressed? Yes. But when I say i was impressed, I'm saying that like I was impressed because your average person with like two years of training isn't gonna look that good against two pro fighters that have been competing like Anthony (Taylor) and Charles (Decca) have. But at the same time he definitely showed a lot of flaws." Peña revealed.
Peña, an 8-3 MMA professional seven fights into his UFC career, gave us some insight into what Paul needs to work on based on the experience he had watching him in action -
"He has to work on his cardio, he doesn't really have that much heart, he doesn't like getting hit."
Luis Peña gives his Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren prediction
Jake Paul is currently 2-0 as a professional boxer, with wins over fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and, most recently, former basketball player Nate Robinson. But Peña believes the 24-year-old may be in over his head.
Revealing his prediction for the fight, Peña said -
"What's really crazy is I've never really came out and said what I thought was gonna happen. But when this fight was announced, just based off of Ben's past and Jake's past, I was pretty certain that Jake would probably go in there and get the victory."
Peña went on to reveal the u-turn he's made in his prediction following the sparring session -
"But after watching the sparring, I can't see Jake having enough power to put Ben away. And unless Ben just can't figure out the range and can't get to him, I can't really see Jake Paul winning. Ben's gonna be in his face the whole time and I saw what happened when you put someone in his face the whole time who's just trying to take his head off, he doesn't like it."
Peña reveals what happens when Jake Paul gets tired
Many have predicted a big part of Askren's road to victory will be to tire Jake Paul out and rely on the wrestling strategies he's become an expert on across his career.
When discussing how Askren can transition his grappling skills into a boxing fight, Peña revealed what happens when Jake Paul gets tired -
"Here's another interesting part about that sparring that I didn't really talk about, and I couldn't care less at this point, Jake's the one that came out and started lying about how it went. He's in for some trouble because when he gets tired, he accepts the clinch a little bit too much. He gets tired and he starts grabbing himself. If that starts to happen he's going to be in trouble."
