Despite various claims across the internet, Ben Askren has come out and said that his defeat to Jake Paul was NOT fixed.

The former welterweight UFC star was knocked out in the first round by YouTube superstar Jake Paul, who improves his professional boxing record to 3-0.

While many viewers think the knockout was fixed after Askren was seen laughing with his wife on the way back to his dressing room, the Cedar Rapids-born fighter told ESPN that he lost fair and square.

"That's human nature [to question the fight] but it definitely didn't happen, I got hit.

"I guess the question I have for people is what do I gain from it? I told you guys what I made for this fight, it was a very nice pay cheque but I'm also not destitute and poor, so what do I gain by that? The answer is nothing.

"I think in fact I would lose a lot and it's not something that would ever cross my mind.

"I said if they guy's a good boxer then I'm going to lose. There was a fear he had around me and there was a feeling that maybe he wasn't very good.

"In the locker room I was pretty confident I was going to win but... the result afterwards is irrelevant to me, my life is going to be the same either way."

Askren earned a guaranteed $500,000 from the fight, as well as his share of the total pay-per-view revenue, which Paul reported was $65 million.

Following his big pay-day, Askren was in a pensive mood when looking back at how much he made over the course of his MMA career.

He also told ESPN: "I thought about this, and it's utterly depressing, I made more in the Jake Paul fight, just on my base purse, than all of my fight purses in Bellator combined, that's nine wins.”

The Jake Paul bout was Askren’s first and last boxing match as the former MMA star has now fully retired from fighting. As for Paul, he firmly has his eyes on going 4-0 against a future opponent, but will it finally be an actual professional boxer?