Jake Paul provided a potential suggestion to help fix the issue of fighter pay in the UFC.
Paul has been feuding with UFC president Dana White over fighter pay repeatedly in recent years. It's eventually led to both individuals having heated and sometimes personal exchanges which may have detracted from the main issue at times.
Some even believe Paul isn't serious about fighter pay and is just targeting White to have his name in the headlines, though this was refuted by the former Disney star's brother Logan.
All that said, the UFC head honcho recently claimed he didn't hate Paul but still believed he was doing things for attention. Paul reciprocated those feelings but maintains he wants fighters to be paid more.
“I don’t hate him either, I just want him to pay fighters more,” Paul said on the latest episode of Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson (via MMA Junkie). “You know, now that the company is making billions of dollars a year, and the fighters are only getting 15 percent of it. That’s really where all of it stems from, is wanting higher fighter pay and long-term health care for the fighters.
“Obviously, we’ve gotten into these exchanges that muddies the purpose of why I’ve argued with him. You know, he throws out the fights are rigged, he’s on steroids; then I say something back about him being bald and ugly. It gets too messy and then we start going back and forth.”
Paul has come up with a number of solutions since the fighter pay issue first became prominent and is even working on a fighter union.
However, he recently provided one suggestion that could benefit the entry-level fighters in the UFC.
“The fighter minimum in the UFC is $12,500. It should be at least $50,000,” Paul said. “If they made it $50,000, that would change the smaller fighters’ lives in a big, big, big way. They wouldn’t have to work other jobs, they could afford gym fees, they could afford the proper food. Right now, they’re working other jobs barely scraping by.
“If they changed the fighter minimum to $50,000, it would only cost the UFC $20 million per year. But that $20 million would be going into the smaller fighters’ pockets and it’s a world of a difference. Meanwhile, they’re making $3 billion.”
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