Jake Paul is confident he will fight Conor McGregor within the next two years.
The YouTube star returns to the ring this weekend when he takes on former mixed martial artist Ben Askren.
Paul has so far knocked out fellow social media star AnEsonGib and former NBA player Nate Robinson but faces his toughest task against Askren.
The 24-year-old has his sights set much higher however and believes his prolonged calling-out of McGregor will eventually pay off.
Paul claims to have offered the Irishman $50million for a boxing fight before McGregor was stopped by Dustin Poirier in January.
The offer was then revised to $10,000 - but Paul remains keen to secure a fight with the former two-weight UFC champion.
“I’m just having fun and trolling,” Paul said. “I’ve sort of purposefully pitting the MMA community against me so they tune into this fight. It worked.
“I think we both are on a road to each other. He wants another boxing fight. He wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. He would get toasted. He just keeps on taking Ls.
"So I think him fighting me would not only be his money fight, but it would technically be the easiest challenge, right? Fighting Jake Paul would probably be easier than fighting Manny Pacquiao and it would be just as big.
“I think we’re a lot closer to a Jake Paul-Conor McGregor fight than anyone thinks. I think it could happen in the next 24 months.”
McGregor this week signed to fight Poirier for a third time with the trilogy bout set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 10.
And Paul added: “Conor’s the big name. He’s a A-list celebrity, and there are very few fighters who are A-list celebrities.
"So we’ll see what happens. I hope he wins against Dustin, I guess, so that the fight becomes more exciting.”
