The days of Dana White’s vow of silence regarding Jake Paul are long gone.
Jake Paul has been Dana White’s biggest critic over the past year, with Paul attacking the UFC’s pay model and business practices. Paul even went out of his way to create a Dana White diss track, where he took both personal and business-related shots at White.
Although it was a combative 2021 between Paul and White, 2022 has consisted of White mostly turning the other cheek. In fact, earlier this year, he even said that he would not mention Paul’s name ever again.
Here is White mentioning Paul’s name yet again. This time, the UFC president called Paul’s fighter-pay crusade nothing more than an attention grab before admitting that he is not closed off to the idea of the YouTuber competing in the UFC. (h/t BJPenn.com)
“At the end of the day, the kid wants to fight here. He doesn’t want to fight here because he doesn’t believe we pay guys. He wants to fight here because this is where the money is, regardless of what he says,” White said in an appearance on The Pivot Podcast.
“I would never say never. I don’t know, I mean, I look at it sometimes. And it’s kind of intriguing, but it kind of goes against what I do. I really do bring the best of the best in. I’ve tried to do a couple of those celebrity things with some WWE guys. Some worked. Some didn’t. But I wouldn’t say no. I did Mayweather/McGregor when I said I would never do it.”
White also said there would never be women fighting in the UFC. White wisely walked back that decision, which paved the way for stars like Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, Holly Holm, new champion Julianna Peña.
To his point, he has also permitted specialty fights, perhaps none more notable than pro wrestling superstar CM Punk’s two Octagon appearances against Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson. Punk would lose both fights in lopsided fashion.
Paul has teased making the move to MMA and has pitched the idea of fighting Jorge Masvidal or Conor McGregor in the UFC if White agreed to his conditions related to fighter pay. If Paul’s boxing run reaches a dead end, perhaps Paul and White could meet in the middle and come to an agreement that would rock the combat sports world.
In the meantime, Paul has announced that he plans on making his boxing return on August 13. There is currently no official word on who will be his opponent.
Can you imagine Jake Paul competing in the UFC?
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