It seemed bizarre when Ben Askren decided to come out of retirement to box YouTube star Jake Paul. That decision makes more sense, after he explains just how much money he will be making from this bout.
During his time in MMA, Askren was not known for his striking prowess, to say the least. The Olympic wrestler used his grappling skills to receive an undefeated record before coming to the UFC, where he went 1-2 before retiring.
That is why it was a bit of a surprise to hear that Ben had agreed to fight Jake Paul in a boxing match. While the YouTube is rather inexperienced, he is a younger, more athletic competitor, who has been focusing solely on boxing for a few years.
Ben Askren Is Making Big Money
The decision for Ben Askren to take this fight, made a lot more sense after finding out just how much money he was making against Jake Paul. He spoke a bit about this on a recent episode of Brendan Schaub’s Food Truck Diaries.
While he did not give an exact figure of how much he is making, he did say that this would be the biggest payday that he has ever had as a fighter. Considering the hype behind his move to the UFC, that is interesting to hear.
“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 said.
“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.”
Predicting The Fight
Heading into the fight, the majority of people are betting against Ben Askren. Other than a massive offer from Dana White, the consensus is that Jake Paul will get the better of the Olympic wrestler.
However Ben does not look at it that way. While he knows that he is not the quickest, he feels like his toughness and cardio will allow him to finish the younger Paul brother in the seventh round.
“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 explained.
“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.”
The fight between Ben Askren and Jake Paul goes down on April 15th. It will be interesting to see how this bout goes down.
