The UFC president reacted to boxing’s biggest YouTube troll, and it didn’t take long before the backhanded compliments turned into straight trash talk.
For those of you hoping UFC 261 would wash away the stain that was the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren fight from last weekend: unfortunately, it did not. Jake Paul was actually in the building for UFC 261, and he made his presence known through the night as the crowd chanted expletives in his direction and Daniel Cormier wagged his finger in the young YouTuber’s face.
After the fights, Dana White was asked what he thought of Paul’s impact, in general and on the mood inside the Vystar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this kid has done a good job putting himself in a place to make some money,” White said. “Good for him, he’s got you guys talking about him all the time, asking questions about him, got Daniel Cormier running after him, so he’s doing something right. He knocked out an NBA guy who was forty years old and thirty pounds less than him and I don’t even know what do think about the Askren thing.”
“The whole thing is f**king mind boggling to me. But good for him, grab that money while you can, kid.”
White got a little bit hot under the collar though when reporters suggested he get into the Paul business.
“Do you know what would happen to this guy?” White asked. “He ain’t fighting in the UFC. You’re getting me talking about this f**king guy again. He’s getting hand-picked opponents and God knows what else is going on with that f**king thing. There’s a market for that. That’s not what I do. Not what I do.”
“People want to see that and it’s great, and this kid’s going to make a couple of bucks before this ride is over. And it’s just not what I do. What I do is what happened tonight. What happened tonight is we sold this place out and it’s packed. And the numbers that you’re hearing they did? Are full of s**t. They didn’t pull those kind of numbers, at all, not even f**king close. And what happened tonight is what I do. The best versus the best.”
“There’s a market for … that. People want to see that stuff, and that kid’s going to make a couple bucks. And good for him. But that’s not what I do.”
Daniel Cormier online
“Imma Smack Jake Paul when I see him”Daniel Cormier in person… pic.twitter.com/zHnssneYBV
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) April 25, 2021
By the time Jake came up a third time and the supposed PPV numbers Paul vs. Askren did, White was out of patience and compliments.
“They said they did two million pay-per-views too,” White said. “I don’t believe anything they say, that’s a f***ing circus. None of that’s real. You think any of that s**t that’s going on over there is real? Come on man. I built a real business here, a real sport. That’s a freakshow.”