UFC President Dana White has explained why he’d never do business with Jake Paul as the YouTube star continues to make waves in combat sports, but he’s also not buying the result of the Ben Askren fight.
Jake Paul, and his brother Logan, might be all about boxing, but they’ve managed to become tangled with the Dana White.
The UFC President has spoken out about the Paul brothers’ involvement with boxing, praising them for getting into the ring, but also criticizing the fights and the claims made about the pay-per-views they’ve sold.
He’s gone as far as threatening Jake with legal action for repeatedly calling out UFC fighters and has now dismissed claims that he’ll ever work with the YouTuber on a fight card.
Speaking to ESPN ahead of UFC 262, White was quizzed on if he had any interest in working with Jake Paul and if he’d be willing to give a fighter the green light to jump into the boxing ring.
“First of all, I would never do business with those guys, just no. It’s not what we do,” White said, talking about a potential crossover.
“I’m not gonna f**king loan them a guy, for f**king what? There’s no way. You’ve got plenty of f**king goofballs out there that you can muster up to get in there and play these games that these guys are playing. I’m not your guy.
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The UFC President also had serious doubts about the recent bout between Jake and Ben Askren.
“I don’t know if I believe the Ben Askren thing. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that,” he said, noting later that it still blows his mind.
White isn’t the only one to dismiss the chance of working with the Paul’s. Boxing icon Mike Tyson said he wouldn’t do it as they’re “nice guys” and he’d rather help them out.
Even if the Paul’s are making silly money from their venture into the boxing world, it doesn’t seem like White will ever be swayed.