Jake Paul has been told his plan to fight Conor McGregor in the UFC won't succeed while he continues to campaign for an increase in fighter pay.
Paul has frequently called out McGregor to a fight throughout his five-fight boxing career and has attempted to entice the superstar into the ring or cage. Most recently Paul offered the UFC president Dana White a chance to make the fight in the octagon providing fighter pay within the promotion is increased if he wins.
However former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub believes White would avoid making a meeting if there is too much financial risk involved in a payment restructure. "So I told Jake remember the deal he offered Dana, when he goes 'Hey I'll fight Conor in the UFC, if i win though you have got to increase the minimum salary for fighters and if I lose you can donate my salary to the rest of the card'," Schaub said on the Impaulsive podcast.
"I told Jake you have got to back down on that and he's like 'what?'. I go 'hear me out here you have to back down on that' because let's say you knock out Conor McGregor, and let's say Dana makes to be outlandish $100 million from that fight he's still losing money. Because if he increases that fighter pay for the rest of eternity, it's going cost him hundreds of millions of dollars so the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
"I go 'So you're gonna have to back down on the fighter pay' and he replies 'I can't do it, I'm f****** dead serious about this man'. 'I won't fight him if he doesn't increase the payout it's not happening'. I was like damn dude you're really serious about this, good on you man."
Paul has been involved in a high-profile feud with White over fighter pay throughout stages of his boxing career and even offered to retire from boxing providing his demands are met. McGregor finally responded to Paul's trash talk of his boxing technique on social media branding him a "jack***" which could suggest he is beginning to entertain a potential rivalry.
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The YouTube star's offer to White on social media had several different components after also requesting a view of healthcare in the organisation in addition to donating his purse if he loses. However UFC legend Chael Sonnen also believes Paul's deal was too complex for White to consider. "There was something different about this (offer) because Paul is a massive draw and Conor is a massive draw," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.
"I wish that Jake would have made the challenge and laid out, I wish he would have stopped right there. Instead he threw a few things on it to sweeten the deal, there was a few different things he put on it so Dana can now not just look at it and say 'yes'."
