Although UFC president Dana White has a somewhat unpleasant history with YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul, he hasn’t pulled away from the ‘Intriguing” idea of having the social-media star inside of his notorious octagon.
Jake Paul is currently focused on building his own professional boxing legacy, in addition to his most recent endeavour of becoming ‘Promotor Paul’, after co-promoting the recent Taylor vs Serrano headliner.
However, the 25-year-old is still keen to pursue his passion for mixed martial arts.
Whilst White has not publicly expressed an interest to bring Paul into the UFC, the 52-year-old has stated he would “never say never” given the fact the UFC boss has previously given other combat sports stars a chance to compete in his promotion, such as CM Punk back in 2016. This is in spite of the fact that he vowed never to repeat the experiment.
Dana White suggests he’s not surprised that Jake Paul wants to fight in the UFC because “He knows where the money is.”
Dana White recently featured on The Pivot Podcast, where he shed some more light on the topic of the Paul brothers getting involved in mixed martial arts, as well as what he makes of the situation.
“He wants to fight here because this is where the money is, regardless of what he says,” Dana said, referring to Jake’s ongoing campaign to improve fighter pay.
“I would never say never, I don’t know. 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. And 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, so who knows.”
Whilst Dana White’s stance in regards to the Paul brothers making a potential UFC appearance is continuing to soften, it is hard to imagine anything will materialize anytime soon.
Right now, Jake Paul is rumoured to be focused ahead of his return to boxing as he is scheduled to fight on the 13th of August, with his opponent yet to be officially confirmed.