By Sean Jones: Conor McGregor’s loss last Saturday night at UFC 257 will make it difficult for him to get lucrative boxing matches against Manny Pacquiao and Jake Paul in 2021.
The 24-year-old YouTuber Jake gloated about McGregor’s second-round knockout defeat at the hands of Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, saying that he could have had $50 million to fight him, but now all he’s getting offered is $10,000. Paul appears to be still interested in fighting McGregor, but the money he’ll receive will be far less than what he could have gotten.
What’s unclear is why McGregor agreed to fight Dustin Poirier for less money than what he would have gotten fighting Jake Paul? According to Paul, McGregor made just $5 million for the Poirier fight.
“Conor, I’ve got $10,000 for you,” said Jake Paul after his loss to Dustin Poirier. “Cash. Oh, you had 50 million dollars.
McGregor vs. Paul would still likely make money in this climate of non-mega fights during the pandemic, but it obviously won’t be as big a fight as it would have been.
Whoever would pay McGregor $50 million for a fight against Jake Paul, they obviously won’t be as motivated to offer him that kind of cash after what happened last Saturday. But there’s still some money there for McGregor against a popular YouTuber like Paul or his brother Logan Paul.
If it’s true that McGregor made $5 million for the Poirier fight in the octagon, it wouldn’t be surprising if he can still make that kind of money against Paul.
If Paul (2-0, 2 KOs) can get the McGregor clash, he needs to grab it with both hands because he’s still the most recognizable fighter in the UFC with the casual boxing fans. Jake probably won’t lure UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to fight him in a boxing match.
The Russian fighter would be taking a huge gamble if he were to step in the ring to face a guy with the punching power and training that Jake has.
Yeah, Jake is a YouTuber, but he’s also a guy with tremendous power, excellent and speed, and he has a knack for boxing. Khabib would likely be as over-matched against Jake as McGregor would inside a boxing ring.
“Conor McGregor got paid $5 million dollars to fight a bum, and he got knocked out by the bum,” said Jake. This is hilarious. He got Nate Robinson’d. You got paid $5 million to fight a bum.
“You should have taken the Jake Paul for $50 million, but now I got $10,000 for you, cold, hard cash. April 17th, I’m fighting. It was supposed to be Conor McGregor. We’ll see what happens. Stay tuned,” said Paul.
Manny Pacquiao was reportedly interested in fighting McGregor this year, but that’s now unlikely to happen. The Filipino star would gain nothing by fighting McGregor at this point.
Jake Paul can still get away with fighting McGregor because he’s a YouTuber, and he can count on his huge social media following to tune in still and watch him.
It would attract a lot of interest because Paul isn’t viewed as a world-class fighter in boxing. He’s viewed as a popular YouTuber who uses boxing as a hobby and a way of making money and increasing his visibility.
“This is what happens when you change your team, leave the sparring partners that made you a champion, and sparring with little kids, far away from reality,” said UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Khabib is another one that loses out potentially with McGregor’s defeat. Even though McGregor isn’t the fighter he once was four years ago, he’s still easily the most popular fighter in the UFC. Khabib can arguably make more money fighting a rematch against McGregor than fighting the obscure UFC challengers.