It seems like the public spat between UFC and YouTube star Jake Paul won’t be going away any time soon. UFC president Dana White ripped Paul and Triller at his UFC 261 post-fight press conference on Saturday, saying the company lied about its PPV buys and how much money Paul made for facing Ben Askren earlier this month.
“The numbers are there? Nah. I don’t know if the numbers are there,” White said. “Do you know what would happen to this guy [in the UFC]? He ain’t fighting in the UFC. He’s getting hand-picked opponents, and God knows what else is going on with that whole f—ing thing.
“There is a market for that. That is not what I do. That’s not what I do. People want to see that, and it’s great, and this kid’s going to make a couple bucks before this ride is over. It’s just not what I do. What I do is what happened tonight. What happened tonight is, we sold this place out and it was packed, and the numbers that you’re hearing (Triller) did — they’re full of s—. They’re full of s—. OK? They didn’t pull those kind of numbers at all — not even f—ing close. What happened here tonight is what I do: The best vs. the best.”
Paul, who knocked out Askren in stunning fashion last week, was cageside for UFC 261 in Jacksonville. He caught the attention of UFC commentator and former two-division champion Daniel Cormier, whom he beefed with online during the week. Cormier and Paul were seen getting into a verbal altercation with Cormier going out of his way to confront Paul. Then, after hearing what White had to say about him after the fights, Paul fired back on social media.
“Dana, you claimed you would bet $1 million on me losing. Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach … gave him full access to [UFC Performance Institute] … and he still got his ass handed to him. Seems like you are the real d—- … not Ariel [Helwani]. In my third fight, I made more in total pay than any fighter in UFC history. Maybe it’s time to pay your fighters their fair share?
“No wonder they all want to get into boxing. Dana, you say you make the fights fans want to see … so hurry up and make [Jon] Jones vs. [Francis] Ngannou. Pay them their fair share … $10 million purse for each guy, plus PPV. Why are UFC fighters so underpaid vs. boxers? Why did I make more money in my third fight than all but two [Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor] UFC fighters have in history? I know why …”
White allegedly made a verbal bet with Snoop Dogg on the Paul vs. Askren fight, but when asked about it earlier this week, White said he owed him no money.
“I can tell you this: I don’t owe Snoop $2 million. I never bet,” White told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.
“Let me make it clear right here to everybody: I have never made an illegal bet, ever. I did not make an illegal bet on Saturday night. I did not bet $2 million with Snoop or anybody.”
To say there’s no love lost between these two might be an understatement. We’ll see if White allows another one of his fighters to move into boxing against Paul in the future.
