Michael Bisping wanted double what Jake Paul was offering for a boxing match.
Bisping recently confirmed that Paul's camp offered him a contract to box on Triller. The former UFC middleweight champion countered with a larger offer and never heard back. Ultimately, Paul was matched with and defeated former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren.
“I got offered a contract. It wasn’t enough money. They made an offer and it was some decent cash. But, if I’m going to make a fool out of myself by boxing a YouTuber, then I’d want a bit more for that. I’m not going to come out of retirement, but that’s essentially free money to me. If the number was big enough, then I’d be a fool not to go and pick up that money,” Bisping told Low Kick MMA. “But I wasn’t pursuing it. And I think if anything, I think Jake was very clever. I think he just used me to try and make it seem like he was looking for real challenges. Because we got sent an offer and we countered with more than double. And we never heard anything again, and then we got the news that he’s fighting Ben Askren.”
Paul has gotten on the nerves of just about everyone in the combat sports space, but the Brash Brit actually applauds Paul's hustle.
“Listen, good for Jake Paul. You can’t hate on the guy. Everyone is trying to get ahead in life, and he’s been smart enough to take his YouTube following and parlay it into a boxing career,” Bisping said. “The guy is obviously passionate about the sport. He trains very hard. He’s a switched-on guy. He knows how to piss people off and everyone being pissed off, all that emotion, that transfers into dollars in the bank account.”
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