Most MMA fans agree that Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight Tom Aspinall. The heavyweight champ is gearing up to face Stipe Miocic this year. Almost everyone wants him to fight Aspinall, the interim champ since Miocic is quite clearly at the end of his career. However, fans think that since Aspinall is a far more dangerous opponent for Jones, the latter had earlier refused to face him. Now the American has agreed to face Aspinall but demanded $25 million for it.

Since there is no way the UFC would agree to pay him that much, fans understand this as Jones pricing him out of the bout without actually having to say no explicitly and thus branded as ducking Aspinall. Jake Paul, however, doesn’t think so and has come out with full-throated support for ‘Bones’ financial demand.

“Jon Jones doesn’t dodge anyone. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Show him the money 💰 – that real money. Not that spin the narrative money. Him versus Aspinal is massive as it hits two big ppv markets. $25M guarantee plus ppv seems about right. @JonnyBones,” Paul tweeted.

Paul defended  Jon Jones by claiming ‘Bones’ isn’t known to dodge fights. Many fans will disagree with this and point out the example of Francis Ngannou. Jones, of course had refused to fight at heavyweight as long as ‘The Predator’ was in the promotion, making his heavyweight debut shortly after the Cameroonian left the UFC. Jones in fact had asked Dana White for $30 million to fight Ngannou.

Anyways, Paul then pointed out the fact that since Jones-Aspinall would target two markets (USA and the UK), paying Jones $25 million would be would be well worth it. Of course, this would make Jones by far the highest paid athlete in the history of the UFC. Brock Lesanr holds the current record for the highest flat fee at $8 million. And there is no way that Jones is more popular or can sell more PPV than Lesnar, who is a global superstar because of his WWE stint. But the question is why is Jake Paul concerned about Jon Jones all of a sudden?

Why is Jake Paul supporting Jon Jones seemingly out of nowhere?

Jake Paul is probably trying to create some hype for his upcoming fight with Mike Tyson on November 11. While this claim may seem a bit far-fetched at first glance, if there is one thing Jake Paul excels at, its knowing precisely how to get headlines and clicks. Even if those are negative in nature.

And a hot take, which is sure to go down very poorly indeed with UFC fans especially, seems like a perfect opportunity for Paul, who as we have mentioned has no qualms about being hated if that means selling more PPV for his fights.

Indeed, this proclivity for marketing is exactly why ‘The Problem Child’ gets paid more than many boxing or UFC champions per fight, despite him being a celebrity boxer who fights other celebrities or tomato cans. On the other hand, Paul has been quite vocal and critical of the UFC for allegedly underpaying its fighters, and may be entirely sincere. What do you think about the topic?