"He's getting terrible advice" - Chael Sonnen says Jake Paul paying fighters 50% of their purse for canceled Hasim Rahman Jr. card was "a bad move"

Chael Sonnen (right) and Jake Paul (left) [Photo credit: Bellator MMA on YouTube]

Chael Sonnen doesn't think Jake Paul made the right move by paying his undercard fighters 50% of their contracted purse amounts.

Paul was scheduled to fight Hasim Rahman Jr. on August 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. However, the event was nixed after Paul's Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) alleged that Rahman Jr. wasn't on track to make weight.

MVP has since announced that Paul will personally hand out half of some of the undercard fighters' show money. While the gesture appeared to be well-received by combat sports observers, Sonnen is of the opinion that Paul flat out made a bad move.

Read the statement below:

Today was supposed to be the day I fought a “real boxer” at MSG. It wasn’t meant to be. My opponents were both frauds.

I will be back. Much bigger fights ahead.

Again I want to thank all of the undercard fighters. We got you. @MostVpromotions https://t.co/FBOjZfGzgm

There are three problems, according to Sonnen. Mainly, the former UFC superstar argued that Paul shouldn't have paid the fighters as they are supposed to be his partners as opposed to employees. Sonnen asserted that every fighter on the card should have taken the financial hit as a collective.

Sonnen also thought it was poor decision-making to compensate the fighters based on their contracted payouts. He believes paying every single athlete a fixed price would have been warranted.

Secondly, the MMA veteran argued that Paul shouldn't have incentivized an industry that has "burned him twice." During an episode of his Beyond the Fight YouTube show, Sonnen said:

"[Hasim] Rahman is coming down on [Jake Paul], he's attempting to bury Jake, he's doing all these negative things to Jake. He's doing these things to the one person who ever said the most beautiful words he's ever heard, which is, 'I'm gonna make you a millionaire and a star.' That's the industry that Jake is finding himself in and he's getting terrible advice."

Watch Chael Sonnen's video below:

More on Chael Sonnen's take regarding Jake Paul's decision

Another problem, according to Chael Sonnen, was the publicity surrounding Jake Paul's charitable move.

The retired UFC icon is of the belief that Paul and his team should have quietly handed out the payouts rather than making a public statement:

"If he was doing that to be nice, we wouldn't have heard about it. That's how good deeds are done. That's how good gestures are done. You ever see the guy who goes down to skid row and he's handing out sandwiches? But then he brought his buddy to film it and he puts it on his social media. It kinda takes away. So if Jake is attempting to buy something for goodwill, is his bang worth his buck? No, this was a bad move."

Overall, Sonnen clarified that he wasn't bagging on Paul, adding that it was very "sweet and kind" of the YouTuber to be considerate. However, 'The American Gangster' still thinks Paul should get rid of the person who gave him advice on how to handle the situation.