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Jake Paul has hit back at Dana White amid their pay-per-view row, blasting the UFC president over fighter pay as Jon Jones congratulated the YouTube boxer for his big payday against Ben Askren.
Paul, 24, has transitioned from influencer to boxer, winning his three professional bouts to date with his most recent victory a first-round knockout of former UFC star Ben Askren this month.
The American YouTuber claimed that the bout with Askren generated 1.5million pay-per-view buys.
Jake Paul has blasted Dana White, calling on the UFC president to pay his stars their ‘fair share’
The YouTuber-turned-boxer is making waves and has won his first three professional bouts
Askren made a flat fee of $500,000 for the fight, plus his share of the PPV, with a host of MMA fighters now calling Paul out for a boxing bout.
Paul attended UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend where he clashed with retired UFC fighter Daniel Cormier before the 15,000-strong crowd chanted ‘F*** Jake Paul’ in unison.
White had his say on Paul’s boxing career after Kamaru Usman knocked out Jorge Masvidal, before questioning whether the Askren fight truly generated the numbers Paul claims.
‘There is a market for that. That’s not what I do,’ White said. ‘People wanna see that, this kid’s gonna make a couple bucks before this ride’s over, and it’s just not what I do.
Paul, 24, has claimed that his win over former UFC star Ben Askren generated 1.5m PPV buys
However, White said that Paul is ‘full of s***’, and that the PPV numbers was ‘not f***ing close’
‘And the numbers that you’re hearing that they did are full of s***, they’re full of s*** They didn’t pull those kind of numbers at all, not even f***ing close.’
Now Paul has responded, telling the UFC chief that his fighters are calling to take him on because they are paid far less by fighting for the MMA promotion.
‘Dana, you claimed you would bet $1 million on me losing. Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach … gave him full access to [UFC Performance Institute] … and he still got his a** handed to him,’ Paul tweeted.
‘In my third fight, I made more in total pay than any fighter in UFC history. Maybe it’s time to pay your fighters their fair share?
‘No wonder they all want to get into boxing. Dana, you say you make the fights fans want to see … so hurry up and make [Jon] Jones vs. [Francis] Ngannou. Pay them their fair share … $10 million purse for each guy, plus PPV.
‘Why are UFC fighters so underpaid vs. boxers? Why did I make more money in my third fight than all but two [Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor] UFC fighters have in history? I know why …’
Paul claims that he has earned more than any UFC fighter apart from Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov
Jon Jones is in negotiations with the UFC over a bout with heavyweight champion Ngannou, having relinquished his light heavyweight title to move up to the bigger weight class.
However, White says negotiations have stalled with the American demanding £20m to fight the Cameroonian, a stance which Jones has strenuously denied. ESPN reported earlier this month that the UFC could pursue alternative fights with talks hitting a hurdle.
And Jones took to Twitter to congratulate Paul on his ‘beautiful’ knockout of Askren and raking in a lucrative payday, in a thinly-veiled dig at White.
Jon Jones congratulated Paul for his ‘beautiful’ knockout of Askren in a now deleted tweet
Jones also praised Paul for ‘making over 5 million’ in a thinly-veiled dig at Dana White
Jones (R) is locked in negotations with the UFC over a super-fight with Francis Ngannou (L)
‘Jake Paul congratulations on your victory, that knockout over Ben was absolutely beautiful,’ Jones said in a now-deleted tweet.
‘If you’re seriously making over 5 million for a fight already, that’s wild. I’m so happy for you. Wishing you all the best on your combat sports journey.’
Paul has been linked with a host of big names for his next fight, with MMA fighters Tyron Woodley and Dillon Danis campaigning for a fight, while the 24-year-old revealed he was in talks with Love Island star Tommy Fury, brother of heavyweight champion Tyson, over a mega-fight.
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