Jake Paul has been taking aim at UFC president Dana White for more than a year. It appears he’s only going to escalate those criticisms moving forward.
The latest jab from the 25-year-old social influencer turned boxer was a music video in which he blasted White for bad business practices relating to the UFC’s treatment of its athletes, which has been the main focus of Paul’s attack since his feud with White began.
With the track already receiving more than 1.7 million views on YouTube, Paul says the war of words with White has now captured his full attention, especially after threats of a lawsuit were handed down just ahead of UFC 270 in Anaheim, Calif.
“Dana White first tried to get me beat by Ben Askren,” Paul said in an exclusive statement to MMA Fighting. “Then he said he would bet $1 million that I would lose to Askren. After Dana ran away from his own bet, he started saying my fights are fixed. He then proceeded to disrespect Tyron Woodley, his four-time champion, and said Tyron is washed up. And finally Dana moved on to claiming I’m a dirty fighter. Put aside that I have passed drug testing at every event, I agreed to get tested by Dana White/UFC, but he refused to respond to my offer. Obviously, testing me is not that important to him as it would mean he would have to raise fighter pay and give them the long-term healthcare that they should be provided.
“Dana White is too busy sending out lawsuit threats to his heavyweight champions minutes before they enter the cage to fight another man. I think he actually sent my partner [Nakisa Bidarian] the same thing at 9 p.m. that night when Dana’s supposedly being president at his big PPV event for a public company.”
The threat of a lawsuit involved UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou after his manager Marquel Martin received a letter from the UFC regarding alleged talks with Bidarian, who is Paul’s business partner in Most Valuable Promotions as well as the former UFC chief financial officer.
Afterwards, Ngannou had the heavyweight title wrapped around his waist by UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard rather than White, who later stated that he was busy taking care of an issue backstage while adding that there was no intended disrespect by his absence.
“Imagine if Adam Silver sent a lawsuit to Lebron James minutes before he took the floor for the NBA Finals, then, refused to present him with the NBA championship trophy after he won,” Paul said when reacting to White not putting the title on Ngannou. “It’s pure disrespect to the athlete and the sport.”
In addition to the diss track that primarily targeted White alongside athletes such as Conor McGregor and Jorge Masvidal, Paul also recently said that he wanted spearhead an effort to start a fighter union to give UFC athletes more power to demand higher pay and better benefits.
Judging by this latest salvo fired, Paul is doubling down on his battle against White and the UFC.
“This isn’t about boxing or MMA,” Paul explained. “This is about doing what is right. UFC can and should do better given the control it has exerted over MMA fighters. Either treat them as independent contractors, like Uber does its drivers, or give them the compensation and benefits they deserve as employees.
“So my fund has invested in his company’s stock and I will be working to expose his constant exploitative practices, starting by putting out this song with all proceeds going directly to fighter causes.”
