Jake Paul's beef with Dana White just got really accurate and very entertaining

26.04.2021 15:00

Jake Paul actually made some sense.

I need to say this right away – I’m not a Jake Paul guy. I didn’t buy his fight with Ben Askren. I don’t care about what he’s done on YouTube. He’s just not for me.

But on Sunday he went on Twitter and ripped into UFC boss Dana White and I found myself in a weird spot – agreeing with what Paul had to say.

Crazy, right?

If you missed it, Paul posted a statement directed at White in which he ripped him for not making the fight that fans want to see – Jon Jones vs. heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou – and for refusing to pay Jones, one of the greatest of all time, the money he would deserves for a fight like that.

Paul also went in on other fighter pay issues and an alleged bet that White made with Snoop Dogg on the Paul-Ben Askren fight. White has denied making that bet.

Here was Paul’s statement:

“Dana, you claimed you would bet $1 million on me losing. Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach … gave him full access to UFCPI… and he still got his ass handed to him. Seems like you are the real d—-, not Ariel. 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 …”

I never thought I’d end up at the place where I’m agreeing with Paul but here I am on this fine Monday morning and I have to think a lot of UFC fighters are feeling the same way as I do. Well, probably not UFC legend Daniel Cormier, who had a heated moment with Paul at UFC 261 Saturday night in Jacksonville.

UFC fighters have been grossly underpaid for years, with their annual revenue share being around a reported 20 percent. That’s so far below what players in other major sports (NFL, MLB, NHL) get, as their numbers hover around 50 percent.

Part of that problem, of course, is that the fighters don’t have a union like the other sports do. Another part of that problem is that fighters can’t really speak out against White because they want to get fights and don’t want to do anything that would put them in a bad light with the boss. That stinks but that’s the way business is done in the UFC.

And that’s what makes this Paul stuff really good. He has nothing to lose and can throw these accurate shots at White with no concerns about anything affecting him or his bottom line.

What’s also funny is that White now has to answer questions about Paul at big events. UFC 261 was an incredible night of fights but moments after White was asked about Paul and said he wasn’t interested in doing business with him and that he didn’t trust the PPV numbers from his fight with Askren. It’s just wild that on a night in which we saw some incredible knockouts in title fights White had to take time to talk about a YouTuber.

Also, if you know White then you know by him saying he’s not interested in doing business with Paul doesn’t mean he won’t be interested in doing business with him down the line. The UFC boss hasn’t been afraid to flip flop on things before.

Do I want to see the UFC and Paul do business together? No, I have zero interest. But still, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything popping up between the two.

Paul’s statement on Sunday, though, was an important one for UFC fighters and was a message they should embrace and endorse. And yes, that’s a wild sentence to type.

Again, I’m not a Paul guy at all but as a UFC fan I do hope he keeps bringing up these issues on his giant platform.