Jake Paul: Conor McGregor Should've Taken $50M Offer to Fight Me

YouTube star Jake Paul said Friday former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor should have accepted his $50 million offer for a boxing match rather than taking on Dustin Poirier.

Paul, who's set to face off with former MMA fighter Ben Askren on April 17, told ESPN's Marc Raimondi that McGregor's loss to Poirier represented a poor business decision.

"If I was Conor, he should have taken the $50 million that I offered him to fight an 'easier fight,'" Paul said. "He took $10 million [and] something on the back end for the UFC event against Dustin but he lost. So why not take $50 million to fight a YouTuber? That's what he should have done quite frankly."

McGregor lost by second-round knockout in his rematch with Poirier after beating the American in 2014. While there has been speculation about a potential trilogy bout, nothing has been finalized.

"Now he has to fight his way back. That's the most embarrassing loss of his career," Paul said. "Knocked out, TKO'd. But he should have taken the Jake Paul fight. More money, more hype."

McGregor has now lost two of his last three fights after a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. He defeated Donald Cerrone in January 2020.

Meanwhile, the fight game is entering uncharted territory as high-profile exhibitions like the one in November between former champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr., along with lower-level pro fights like those involving the Paul brothers, have attracted ample mainstream attention.

Whether Paul's numbers about his offer to McGregor are accurate is up for debate, but if he can make a proposal of $40 million or more to boxing or MMA's top names, that's a tough figure to ignore.

Paul can make a major statement with a victory over Askren after his previous wins were over fellow YouTuber Ali "AnEsonGib" Al-Fakhri and former NBA player Nate Robinson.