Ben Askren hasn’t revealed exactly how much he’s getting paid to box Jake Paul, but it’s probably going to be the biggest payday of his career — meaning he’ll make more money fighting a YouTube celebrity than he ever did in the UFC.
Askren revealed Paul’s team made him a ‘nice offer’, but he didn’t specify how much. ‘Funky’ made $500,000 in his UFC debut against Robbie Lawler, so it’s probably safe to say the Paul payout is closer to $1 million USD.
“The first time (I was asked about the fight) they didn’t offer me money. It was just ‘Hey would you be interested?’ and I said yeah, I’ll think about it,” Askren told Brendan Schaub in a recent episode of Food Truck Diaries (h/t Derek Hall of Middle Easy).
“They made me a nice offer, and it was something I wanted to do anyway, so I said sure… It’s probably going to be the biggest payday of my career.”
As for the matchup itself, Askren predicts a seventh-round TKO stoppage against the much younger, hungrier, albeit more inexperienced Paul.