Tyron Woodley is going to earn more for fighting Jake Paul than he did when he was a UFC welterweight champion.
Woodley fought in the promotion for eight years and has already said he is taking home a career payday from this boxing match with Paul and Showtime, the network carrying the August fight, have confirmed those claims.
The broadcaster’s chief, Stephen Espinoza, told MMA Fighting: “I think there are some people out there who dismissed Tyron’s claim as something for marketing.
“That wasn’t said, Tyron didn’t make that comment to market the event. That doesn’t sell pay-per-views.
“He made that comment because it’s true. I’ve talked to him about it, I’ve talked to [agent] Malki [Kawa] about it and they all confirmed it is a career-high payday.
“He is getting a guarantee that is more than he’s ever made before. That does say something.
“It says something about the business model that Jake has and it says something about sort of the business model of boxing versus MMA where there’s more of a tradition of the fighters taking home the lion’s share of the money.”
Paul has been outspoken about what he perceives an injustice in the way fighters are paid in the UFC.
Ironically, Woodley is securing the big payday off the back of four straight losses in which he hasn’t won a round.
That alone speaks volumes for the business model Paul has managed to create.
Paul is 3-0 as a professional boxer with three knockouts to boot, but he has only ever-fought first-time boxers and the same goes for Woodley at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
When predicting the outcome of the fight, Paul couldn’t resist taking yet another shot at UFC president Dana White.
He said: “Tyron’s a seasoned striker who has fought the best MMA fighters in the world but will be dropped by a Disney teen star in two rounds.”
“Maybe this time Dana White will actually be a man of his word and put his money on his former champion instead of trying to undermine my success like a jealous ex.
“Influencer vs MMA….let’s get it on. It’s Showtime.”