JAKE PAUL’s showdown with Ben Askren reportedly drew in a whopping 1.5million pay-per-view buys – a figure which blows a number of UFC PPV events out of the water.
The YouTuber turned boxer locked horns with the former UFC welterweight last weekend in the main event of Triller Fight Club in Atlanta.
Paul, 24, starched the ex-ONE Championship and Bellator lightweight champion in under two minutes to stretch his professional record to 3-0.
According to Paul, one-and-half million people tuned in to see his destruction of Askren.
If those numbers are true, the show would trump the pay-per-view sales of six of the ten top-selling events in UFC history.
When comparing the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view shows against Paul’s much-maligned clash with Askren, only four events top the Triller Fight Club bout.
Conor McGregor’s UFC 229, UFC 202 and UFC 257 bouts occupy first, second and third place in the list with 2.4million, 1.65m and 1.6m buys respectively.
Brock Lesnar’s rematch with former heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 100 is the final event with more sales than Paul vs Askren with 1.6million buys.
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The sales of Paul vs Askren also exceed those of McGregor’s UFC 194 showdown with Jose Aldo and the Irishman’s historic UFC 205 clash with Eddie Alvarez.
Paul is still hoping to bag a fight with The Notorious, which he reckons is a lot more ‘realistic’ after his smashing of Askren.
When asked about a potential clash with the UFC’s poster boy, Paul told MMA Junkie: “We’ll see. There are a lot of people.
“But honestly, when it comes down to signing the contract, these guys duck. Honestly, we’ll see.
“The McGregor fight just became more realistic, like I’ve been saying. I just want to do big fights.”
He added: “I’m going to take some time off.
“I’ve been working my f*cking ass off. I’m only going to do big fights. I want to challenge myself at the same time.
“Ben Askren was a step up. OK, look what happened (in) 1:59. We’ll see who the next big challenge is.
“I want to challenge myself. I want to do 3 million, 4 million pay-per-view buys. Who’s going to bring in those numbers?”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
