UFC HALL-OF-FAMER Michael Bisping has revealed he wanted $1million (£725,000) to box YouTube star Jake Paul.
The former middleweight champion was in the running to be the fourth opponent of Paul’s brief boxing career before his fellow MMA star Tyron Woodley signed on the dotted line.
Bisping revealed to SunSport he was offered £360,000 ($500,000) to throw down with The Problem Child but responded by demanding a bigger purse to ‘spank’ the social media star.
The Count, 42, said: “With Jake Paul, yeah I did get an offer of $500,000 to fight him.
“We countered back with a million, but I was never really entertaining it.
“I was like, ‘Alright, let’s have some fun, let’s see what they say.
“And you never know, if they had came back with a million or higher, maybe I would’ve gone and spanked a YouTuber.”
Although the prospect of one last huge payday briefly enticed Bisping, the pride of Clitheroe is more than happy with his new life outside of fighting.
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He continued: “If there’s a million dollars in the table there, I’d be a fool not to pick it up.
“I’m not interested in that, I’m very happy, I’ve got so much going on in my retirement.
“I’m so bloody busy. But yeah, I’m very happy.”
Bisping, Britain’s first and only UFC champion, hung up his gloves in May 2018 following consecutive losses to Georges St-Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum.
The competitive spirit that spurred him on to UFC gold five years ago still burns somewhat, but not enough to convince him to lace up his gloves one more time
He said: “I’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt. I’ve had a lot of fights.
“At the time of my retirement, I set a lot of records, won the belt.
“There’s nothing more to do. I’m in the bloody Hall of Fame, it’s unreal.
“I’m a competitor, though, and I still like to do it. But unfortunately, my body has failed me in many ways.
“I’ve had two total knee replacements, I surgery on my neck in January.
“They put a titanium plate in my neck, they want to go and put another two titanium plates. But fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that.
“Obviously I’m blind in one eye, I’ve got bloody this massive lump on the wrist – that hurts. So my body is a mess, but I still like to go in there and compete.
“So I go in and do some jiu-jitsu here and there. I might compete in some jiu-jitsu or something like that or some grappling.
“But yeah, my fighting days are over.”
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