Jake Paul has always touted higher pay for fighters and it sounds like he – along with his Most Valuable Promotions – is putting his money where his mouth is.

Chatting with UFC star Jorge Masvidal on the Death Row MMA show, Paul was asked about how the pay for Netflix’s first-ever MMA event, headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano this Saturday in Los Angeles, compares to that of the UFC. Paul responded with a bold statement.

“Here’s what I can say: I know how much Ronda Rousey is making for this event and it’s a lot more than what Ilia Topuria makes for fighting,” Paul said.

Topuria, the UFC’s undefeated lightweight champion, next defends his title in a unification bout against Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC White House on June 14. Salaries are unlikely to be disclosed for that historic show, but one can assume Topuria is being well-compensated to compete in front of UFC President Donald Trump and a number of high-ranking officials and VIPs. So Paul is setting the bar high if he’s to be believed when it comes to Rousey’s upcoming check beating Topuria’s.

As for how some of the lesser known fighters on the card are being compensated, Paul again declined to provide exact numbers, but claimed “definitely more than the UFC by a lot.”

Masvidal retired in his hometown of Miami in 2023 following a loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287, but has said he is on the verge of a comeback. The 41-year-old agrees with Paul that top fighters need to be paid more, but also explained the reasoning behind the UFC’s business practices.

“I like the way you see it, but to be honest with you, in fighting, that 12 and 12 or when I was fighting it was, like, 4 and 4, that’s still like [six times] of what you make on the regional side,” Masvidal said. “It’s good money if you do get there, but where we do need a dramatic change is more like when you’re in the top 10, top 15 already. Because in the beginning I don’t have a problem with it because you’ve got to earn your keep, right? You’ve got to show that you are the cream that has risen from these new signings. You know, you beat all your classmates, now you’re in the better tier. That’s when they’ve got to start getting paid more because you get caught up in the system sometimes and then when you’re in that mid-tier, sometimes those guys I feel could get compensated maybe a little better.

“But the guys in the beginning, we’ve got to find out who’s good, because you can’t just be giving out the bag, right, to some dude because he’s 6-0 and then you look at his record and he’s fought nothing but cans. So I feel like you’ve got to keep them hungry at that stage until we determine who either sells tickets or can actually fight.”

Paul countered that more money would both attract better athletes and make things easier for those already in the combat sports business to focus more on training as opposed to having to treat fighting as a side gig.

“I think the difference is it would create better talent and better fighters because they wouldn’t have to be working other jobs in between training sessions,” Paul said. “So that’s the argument back there is it would actually grow the sport in the long run if these people making the minimum pay didn’t have to go be a teacher or a janitor or work for UPS, all of that stuff. It would actually make more talent.”

As for Masvidal’s next move, he joked with Paul that they should work out a deal for him to work with MVP soon, but he is still under contract with the UFC. Masvidal was cryptic as to what lies in the works for him.

“No, I’m still with them, we’ve been talking for a little bit,” Masvidal said of the UFC. “We’re going to say the news I don’t know when, but we’ve got some things we’ve been working on cooking, we’ve just got to wait for some people to sign contracts, but I think we’ve got something big already pretty much locked down. Once this individual signs, I think they’ll let everybody know.”