Yoel Romero was close to boxing Jake Paul but the YouTuber’s team didn’t want it.

When Romero was released from the UFC, he was looking at options and one fight that was offered was to box Paul. At the time, Paul just knocked out Nate Robinson and was looking to fight a real fighter, yet when Romero showed interest in the bout, Paul and his team decided to cancel the fight and went with Ben Askren instead.

“What happened was, initially Jake Paul wanted to do a fight with Yoel, but then when Yoel wanted to do it, the Paul team canceled the fight,” Romero said through an interpreter to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (via MMANews). “Initially they wanted to do the fight with Yoel. That was when he was just getting out of the UFC, he had not signed with Bellator yet, and they said eventually no they don’t want Yoel… They decided to go with Ben Askren.”

Yoel Romero, of course, then signed with Bellator and was supposed to be a part of the light heavyweight grand prix and fight Anthony Johnson but he wasn’t cleared to compete. He will now make his debut on Saturday in the main event of Bellator 266 against Phil Davis.

Paul, meanwhile, ended up knocking out Ben Askren and then beat Tyron Woodley by split decision. However, for Romero he claims Paul doesn’t want to fight a real fighter or someone that is his weight, just like his brother, Logan did.

“They don’t want to face a real fighter. (The Paul brothers) are just trying to make it a show and they don’t want to ruin their show,” Romero explained. “They’re finding the easy fights. Even though (Logan) fought Mayweather, but the thing is, there’s a huge weight difference.”

Would you have liked to see Yoel Romero box Jake Paul?