Jake Paul may not have fought last night, but that didn’t stop him from being a major part of the post-fight conversation. Following Vitor Belfort’s dominating victory of Evander Holyfield, the MMA legend called out Jake Paul. Following Anderson Silva’s knockout of Tito Ortiz, he called out Jake Paul, along with his brother Logan Paul. It seems everyone wants a piece of the social media star turned boxer, and it’s not a surprise given he’s now seen as one of the biggest draws in the entire sport.
Last night’s boxing card, which was produced by Triller Fight Club, was a spectacle and a half. It featured former President Trump on commentary and included the aforementioned two fights among combat sport legends, in addition to some undercard work. Both Belfort and Silva looked very capable in their early victories. It’s unclear exactly how much they might net from the event, but after his fight, Belfort dangled a $25M payday in front of Jake Paul. Here’s what he said, according to CBS…
We've got $25 million dollars. Hey, Jake Paul, stop running from me, man. You can be my kid.
Triller executives later upped the offer to a $30M winner take all payday for a match between Belfort and Jake Paul. After his match, Anderson Silva pushed the same theme, though he further broadened the scope to ask for a double main event featuring Belfort, Jake Paul, Logan Paul and himself. Here’s a portion of his quote from The Mirror…
Jake Paul and his brother have a chance to fight with me and Vitor. You know, it's a good fight.
Now, these fights might sound good on paper, but let me pour a little cold water over this for a minute. Jake Paul had a very public breakup with Triller and left for Showtime. Because of that, it’s very hard to imagine him getting in business with Triller again. The event itself would probably need to be produced by Showtime, or at least be a co-production. In addition, Paul seems very focused on fighting Conor McGregor (and taunting his wife). With all due respect to Belfort and Silva who would be nice draws, neither one of them would attract the same level of interest as McGregor.
Paul also needs to be very thoughtful with who his next opponent might be. We don’t know the exact pay per view numbers for his recent fight against Tyron Woodley, but the rumors put the figure around 500,000 buys. That’s a very strong number, but it’s not at the level Paul wants to get to. If he wants to improve, he really needs to attract someone big. Plus, while Belfort and Silva both looked very good in their fights, they’re 44 and 46 respectively. Woodley was 39 when he fought Paul and his age was a widely discussed talking point. Fighting people older isn’t going to give the YouTuber more of an appearance of credibility.
Long story short, however, Jake Paul is clearly operating from a position of strength. Many, many people involved in combat sports see him as their best option to get publicity and a paycheck. That will afford him so many different options, but as usual, he needs to choose wisely because once he loses, it’s very likely interest will crater.
