“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”.
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.
“I said seventh round TKO, I think I’ll stick with that. I’m not a power puncher, never have been. I’ve got like the slowest twitch muscle fibers ever on planet Earth, but I can last a really long time, so that’s fantastic,” Askren said.
“So I think it’s going to be one of those things where he probably looks good for a round or two, then he starts slowing down… It’s like if you’re in that fight and it’s tough, are you going to figure out how to fight and win or are you going to give up? I think the answer is he’s going to give up. I’m going to make him quit.”
Askren vs. Paul is scheduled to take place next month, April 17 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.