White may claim no one is barred from attending UFC events, but Paul says he has email proof that he was threatened with trespassing charges if he returned to an event.
Jake Paul is pushing back against Dana White’s recent claim that he’s not banned from attending UFC events.
Paul went deep undercover at UFC 306, sneaking into the historic Sphere event in an elaborate disguise to get around what he claimed was a lifetime event ban from the UFC CEO. White shrugged off the incident, saying no one was banned from attending UFC shows.
“Oscar De La Hoya was there, let’s put it that way,” White said shortly after the event “Nobody is banned from the UFC. “Listen, that kid knows how to market and do his thing and all that good s—. Jake Paul is welcome to come to UFC.”
That’s a big departure from White’s stance after UFC 261, where the YouTuber-turned-boxer was met with ‘F— Jake Paul’ chants and had a verbal confrontation with commentator Daniel Cormier.
“He’s just saying that to make it seem like I wasn’t banned,” Paul said in a new interview with Sports Illustrated. “But he definitely has sent an email to me saying I’m trespassing at all UFC events and I’m not welcome back, etcetera. So, of course, it’s Dana doing what he does best, which is lie.”
For now Paul has bigger fish to fry: he’s boxing Mike Tyson on November 15th at Cowboys Stadium in what is looking like one of the biggest fights of the year.
“Intense camp,” Paul said of his preparation. “I’m sparring 300 pound guys back to back. So my body’s aching. My bones are sore. They punch a lot harder, and just wrestling with them in the ring and sparring is very difficult. But on November 15th, I’m gonna be prepared. We train hard to make the fight easy.”
Texas says this is a professional bout. Not an exhibition.
You can bet on it.
If you have a real sporting event with attempted side deals that can impact its outcome that’s not a good look.
— Erik Magraken (@erikmagraken) October 15, 2024
Recently Paul suggested a bet with Tyson: if the 58-year-old legend can make it past the fourth round, Paul will pay him an extra $5 million. If Tyson can’t, he has to get a ‘I love Jake Paul’ tattoo. Aside from potentially being illegal fight fixing (encouraging Tyson to try and carry Paul later in the fight), it’s also tomfoolery Tyson isn’t interested in.
“He hasn’t responded to the bet, and I I don’t think he probably will,” Paul said. “I think he’s locked in in war mode. He’s declining to do interviews.”
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson goes down Friday November 15th, and is free to watch with a Netflix subscription.