Conor McGregor responds to Jake Paul’s call-out with withering put-down
YouTube star Jake Paul criticised McGregor’s earning power after claiming his fight with Ben Askren made £54m in pay-per-view sales
Conor McGregor has hit back at Jake Paul after the YouTube star criticised the UFC legend’s earning power in the early stages of his career.
Paul has claimed his fight with out-of-shape former UFC fighter Ben Askren resulted in 1.5 million pay-per-view buys and made £54million in PPV sales.
When UFC star McGregor and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather fought in 2017 it resulted in 4.3 million buys and an overall revenue figure of more than £360m.
Both men have won multiple world titles in their respective sports and in the case of Mayweather, is recognised by most as one of the best boxers of all time.
However, Paul, who achieved fame from his YouTube channel, was quick to highlight how little the pair made in their third professional fights compared to his third pro bout against Askren.
On Sunday afternoon, McGregor responded though, tweeting: “UFC high level fighting > [greater than] Blogger jackass boxing.”
McGregor, who is a two-weight UFC champion, lost in his last bout, when he was knocked out by Dustin Poirier in the second round back in January.
The Irishman is set to face Poirier for a third time in July but Paul has stated he wants to fight McGregor or Mayweather in his next bout.
“On the next one we’re going crazier than we did before,” Paul said during an interview on the Impaulsive YouTube channel .
“In Conor McGregor’s third fight in the UFC he got paid $80,000. In Floyd Mayweather’s third fight he got paid $7,500.
“And by the way no one in this room can name who they fought. I will pay you 50 grand if you can.”
He continued: “This is what my management has texted me, by the way: “We do this right and you will be the biggest pay-per-view star in history.
“You are the most impactful, most important boxing professional in history”.
It seems unlikely that McGregor will face Paul in the near future though, with UFC boss Dana White threatening legal action against the YouTuber if he does not stop calling out his fighters.
“Why don’t you go fight a f*** boxer?” White said to Yahoo Sports . “What the f do these guys keep talking to UFC guys for?
“I’m going to have to slap them with another f* legal letter, these f idiots. Go talk to f boxers. What are you doing?”
There have been reports that Mayweather and Paul have agreed to fight in an exhibition bout in June, with six three-minute rounds said to have been agreed.
Mayweather moved to 50 professional wins without loss by stopping McGregor in the tenth round in their 2017 contest, although many believe the American dragged out the fight so fans felt they received their money’s worth from the pay-per-view price.
His last fight against an established professional boxer was back in September 2015, when he beat Andre Berto by unanimous decision, but has shown he is open to exhibition fights, after earning £6.5 million for just 139 seconds’ of work on New Year Eve in 2018, when he defeated 20-year-old kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan.
And speaking back in November, Mayweather tweeted: “These YouTube girls better find some Barbie dolls to play with cause I’m not the one for the kid games.
“Three years ago a fighter from the UFC said my name and I had to put a muzzle on that b****. Logan Paul can get the same treatment before I go conquer Japan again.”
