Michael Bisping was in the running to box Jake Paul before Ben Askren signed on the dotted line. What a sight that would have been.
Jake Paul will bite off more than he can chew sooner or later.
The proof is in the fact that he already almost did: his team were in negotiations to fight Michael Bisping instead of Ben Askren. Regardless of how big you think the differences are between boxing and MMA, the difference between Bisping and Askren are larger. Even old and one eyed like some sort of feral neighborhood cat, we’d put our money on “The Count” any day.
Bisping revealed the details of his negotiations with Triller and Team Paul in a conversation with Lowkick.com.
“I got offered a contract. It wasn’t enough money,” he said (transcribed by BJPenn.com). “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.”
Mate, relax on the “all mma fighters” talk. Congrats on your win over Ben, but that’s not a reflection on how you’d fair with any top mma fighter. I can’t let you spew that narrative. There’s many mma fighters that would box you’re fucking head off. https://t.co/zjO8sp4PQf
— michael (@bisping) May 6, 2021
“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.”
Everyone loves to hate on Jake Paul, a feeling Michael Bisping can relate to. He spent many years as one of the resident heels of the UFC alongside Chael Sonnen and, later, Colby Covington. Maybe that’s why he’s more willing than most to look past the persona to what Paul is accomplishing.
“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.”
We tell ya what, if Paul was foolish enough to sign against Bisping, our dollars would definitely be transferred into his bank account. Based on Michael’s performance in the lead up to the GSP fight, the trash talk would be unbelievable… and the fight would be much more substantial.