{"id":644601,"date":"2026-05-15T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/644601\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T11:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:51:11","slug":"jake-paul-claims-ronda-rousey-earns-more-than-ilia-topuria-for-upcoming-fights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/644601\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Paul Claims Ronda Rousey Earns More Than Ilia Topuria for Upcoming Fights"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his quest to outdo the UFC <\/a>and Dana White<\/a> as a businessman and fight promoter, Jake Paul<\/a> recently made the bold claim that Ronda Rousey is making more money for her upcoming return fight against Gina Carano<\/a> than Ilia Topuria.<\/p>\n

Paul revealed his financial claim while speaking to former UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal on an episode of Death Row MMA<\/a> on YouTube.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know how much Ronda Rousey is making for this event, and it\u2019s a lot more than what Ilia Topuria makes for fighting,\u201d he told Masvidal.<\/p>\n

Watch the full podcast episode here:<\/p>\n

Ilia Topuria, who will defend his UFC lightweight belt at the UFC Freedom 250 event on White House property against interim champion Justin Gaethje, has not yet commented on Paul\u2019s claim. Additionally, the pay for both Rousey and Topuria remains under wraps and cannot be verified as of right now.<\/p>\n

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Paul also claimed that the lowest-paid fighters on the upcoming Rousey vs. Carano Netflix card make more money than the average UFC fighter.<\/p>\n

Masvidal Gives Context<\/p>\n

The host of the podcast, Masvidal, made sure to stand up for his former promotion and explain to Paul why he believes the UFC\u2019s pay structure is necessary, at least early in a fighter\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\"Jorge<\/p>\n

Jorge MasvidalStephen R&period; Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, in fighting, that 12 (thousand to show) and 12 (thousand to win)– or when I was fighting, it was, like, 4 and 4, that\u2019s still like [six times] of what you make on the regional side,\u201d Masvidal explained.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, Masvidal made sure to advocate for an increase once a fighter reaches a certain point in their career, \u201cWhere we do need a dramatic change is more like when you\u2019re in the top 10, top 15 already. Because in the beginning, I don\u2019t have a problem with it because you\u2019ve got to earn your keep, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, saying, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to show that you are the cream that has risen from these new signings. You know, you beat all your classmates, now you\u2019re in the better tier. That\u2019s when they\u2019ve got to start getting paid more because you get caught up in the system sometimes, and then when you\u2019re in that mid-tier, sometimes those guys I feel could get compensated maybe a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like you\u2019ve got to keep them hungry at that stage until we determine who either sells tickets or can actually fight,\u201d he told Paul, justifying a lower pay for fighters just beginning their career.<\/p>\n

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Jake Paul’s Mission<\/p>\n

Paul, however, made sure his opinion on the UFC pay structure was clear, responding, \u201cThe difference is it would create better talent and better fighters because they wouldn\u2019t have to be working other jobs in between training sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would actually grow the sport in the long run if these people making the minimum pay didn\u2019t have to go be a teacher or a janitor or work for UPS, all of that stuff. It would actually make more talent,\u201d he retorted.<\/p>\n

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This upcoming Netflix event is a huge test for Jake Paul and Most Valuable Promotion\u2019s venture into MMA. The success of Rousey vs. Carano will determine whether upcoming MMA fighters will remain funneled into the UFC, or look into other promotions to build up their careers.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the MMA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his quest to outdo the UFC and Dana White as a businessman and fight promoter, Jake Paul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[48952,231664,52362,247203,93364,99,6493],"class_list":["post-644601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gina-carano","tag-ilia-topuria","tag-jake-paul","tag-jorge-masvidal","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}