Jake Paul has laughed off suggestions Kamaru Usman could be paid $100million to fight him, saying that the UFC welterweight champion isn't worth that sort of money.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul has been calling out all of the UFC's top stars, including Usman, since his knockout win over Nate Robinson in November of 2020. But the Nigerian said earlier this month that he would need to paid a huge sum to get in the ring with the Ohio native, and implied that his pay-per-view events weren't big draws.
Paul has already picked up brutal knockout wins over two former MMA champions in Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, and has established himself as a massive name in combat sports. But Usman believes that he isn't the major draw he claims to be, and that he would need massive money to agree to a fight.
The social media star said during an appearance on The Journey podcast : "Usman's not worth $100m, he's like a $3-5million type of guy who's owned by Dana. Whenever he gets let out of the contract, let's make it happen, easy money.
"I already embarrassed Dana's company by taking out Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley and I don't think he wants that. It would be too much of a risk for him to let one of his fighters lose to me."
Usman had previously indicated that Paul's massive social media following over around 60million isn't equating to PPV buys. “These guys, they making a lot of noise," Usman said during an interview on Club Shay Shay. "That’s good. They got the YouTubers, and they got the new generation, these new kids involved and watching them. That’s fine.
“But they don’t equate to dollars. It’s not them - Jake Paul, he says, ‘we're doing these numbers’. You can add up every fight Jake Paul has had and their pay-per-view numbers weren’t more than what I did in my last fight.
"They can say whatever they want to say. He can say this or that. Write me a check for $100M Jake Paul, I’ll be there to kick your a** next week.”
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And Paul likened the possible fight to the famous Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor match-up that happened in 2017. The second-largest PPV audience in history tuned in to watch the legendary boxer and MMA fighter square off, with McGregor losing by TKO, but winning the respect of world audiences.
But he feels it would be different for Usman to fight him and lose, given the pair's relative standings in the worlds on combat sports. "Conor McGregor losing to Floyd Mayweather is a win-win," Paul explained. "They all make money and then he lost to one of the best boxers ever.
"But Kamaru Usman, one of the pound-for-pound best in the UFC losing to me is very bad for their company, so I think he's trying to protect that. However, over the next two-three years my numbers are going to be so undeniable that he probably will just have to make some of those fights happen."
