His brother might be his business partner, but Jake Paul has never been a fan of KSI and it looks like things aren’t changing any time soon.
There’s been a long-running feud between the pair for years now, but where did it all start?
Essentially, the pair’s resentment of each other stems from the early days of YouTube boxing, when KSI and Jake’s brother Logan Paul emerged as the two biggest figures on the scene.
KSI first took on Logan in 2018 which resulted in a draw. Then, he fought Logan again in 2019 and won by split decision.
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During that time, the pair were 'frenemies' of sorts and built up anticipation by clashing regularly in a war of words. Since then, they’ve largely buried the hatchet to launch their hugely successful Prime energy drink together.
But for Jake, it’s not been so easy to move on and let bygones be bygones – and he still wants to avenge his brother’s loss.
Speaking about his feud with KSI on the BS podcast, Jake said: "Logan grabbed me and he was drunk in this sprinter van and I could tell how badly he was emotionally hurting from the loss to KSI.
"I was seeing him and he was like drinking from the bottle, whilst I was sitting there sober. He was talking with his friends about the loss and I saw how badly it hurt him. In that same sprinter van ride, he grabbed me by the neck and said 'you have to beat KSI for our family'.”
Another point of contention surrounds one of KSI’s previous fights. When considering how KSI will get on against Tommy Fury in their fight in October, Logan told Donagh Corby: “I think Tommy knocks him out in like less than five rounds.”
He added: “I mean [KSI] is doing these gimmick WWE fights up until now. Tommy is his first real test, but who knows, he might throw an elbow on Tommy, too.”
The comment about the elbow is a reference to KSI’s bout with Joe Fournier which was classified as a “no contest” after the fight after the winning knockout from KSI was ruled to be an illegal elbow strike.
In fact, KSI and Logan themselves have been talking up the chances of a fight taking place between them for years now.
They’ve been taking potshots at each other on social media. Before the fight between KSI and Fury was signed, he previously took a shot at him and Jake by writing: "What you waiting for @tommytntfury? Sign the damn contract and let me show you the difference between me and that fraud who only wins against retired MMA pensioners."
The “MMA pensioners” comment was a reference to his win over former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, who was 47 when he fought Paul in 2022.
Not one to back down easily, Jake replied: "This clown…tried to fight [Dillon Danis] who has never boxed and put a rehydration clause on him. Fought a 40 year old who hadn’t fought for 3 years and put a rehydration clause on him before elbowing him. Now trying to squeeze Tommy. I elevated Tommy, my son is now worth a lot more than the $1.5M offers you making. Tommy, February we run it back."
Hitting out again, KSI responded by claiming Jake’s popularity had fallen dramatically.
"We ain’t offering 1.5 million It’s crazy how much your hype has died since you lost. No one cares anymore,” he wrote.
KSI has also made it clearly that he just doesn’t like Jake as a person at all, too.
As he explained to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour in May this year, KSI said: “I don’t know, we’ve kind of just hated each other for so many years. I think there are several reasons, but because I don’t really dwell on it until it’s time, so I don’t really know.
“I think it’s ego. It’s one of the ones where he thinks he’s better than me, I think he’s trash… We just don’t see eye to eye. I just think he’s a d***head. I just don’t think he’s a good person. I know he’s got friends, I know he’s got a lot of people that like him, but there’s a lot of people that hate him, and I’m one of them. I just don’t like him. I just don’t like everything about him. And I feel like he also tries to s*** on everything that I have done, or that I have worked hard for. When I look at him I go, ‘Compared to what you’ve done, to me, you are not on my level, but I’m still going to show you.’ Someone who is devoting all their time into boxing, I can still come from all my music tours, all my YouTube videos, all my Sidemen videos, whatever, my Prime, etc., I can come into your realm and still knock you out.”
Will we ever get to see a fight between the pair? The way they've been talking about each other over the years, we'd never rule it out.
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