Jake Paul believes that the UFC will do "anything to avoid paying fighters" after hearing nothing back from his offer to fight Nate Diaz for free.
Paul has put himself at the mercy of the top MMA promotion, declaring that he will take no purse to face Diaz, but laid out very concrete terms on where that money should go. He wants the deal to include assurances that the promotion will increase their minimum payout for fighters from $12,000 to $50,000 and provide long-term healthcare for competitors.
Of course, such a deal would result in millions being spent over the next few years, but it would offer an opportunity to shut up Paul's trash talking with a massively unfavourable match-up. However, the UFC appear to have no interest, with the YouTuber-turned-boxer telling The MMA Hour that he wasn't even contacted about the possibility.
"The ball is in Dana's court," Paul explained. "I said that I would fight Nate Diaz in the UFC for free. All Dana White has to do is raise the fighter minimum from $12,000 to $50,000 and give the fighters long-term healthcare.
"Then I'll fight Nate Diaz for free as his last fight under UFC contract. I made that offer to no avail, but I think that fight could happen eventually once he gets out of his UFC contract I'd love to box him."
White has admitted that Paul vs Diaz makes sense as the MMA icon's next bout, but is refusing to let him out of his contract until he competes once more in the octagon. The California native was being eyed up as Paul's opponent for his August 6 bout at Madison Square Garden as far back as December, when he was being matched with Vicente Luque for the start of 2022.
But that fight fell through, and Diaz has since been forced to wait out his contract. The UFC have not made any effort to avail of Paul's offer, according to the YouTuber.
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When host Ariel Helwani asked what happened when he made the offer, he replied: "Nothing, they don't want that. They want to avoid how ever they can to pay their fighters, that's the last thing they want to do. They are taking advantage of UFC fighters, they won't ever pay them at this rate unless more fighters speak up about it."
Paul is currently set to face Hasim Rahman Jr at Madison Square Garden, with the pair due to square off at a press conference this evening. But that bout is said to be in jeopardy over a financial dispute.
Rahman has denied Paul's claims that he wants more money for the bout, despite being offered ten times his career-highest purse. It will be the YouTube star's sixth professional fight, and his first against a boxer as experienced as the 12-1 Rahman.
