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. Then he began to insult Tyron Woodley and say Tyron was washed up. Dana then claimed that I was 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.”
UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was threatened with a lawsuit after Marquel Martin, his manager received a letter by the UFC concerning alleged talks between Bidarian and Paul. Bidarian is Paul’s business partner at Most Valuable Promotions. He also used to be the UFC chief financial officer.
It seems that the UFC sent the same letter to Bidarian. The UFC is still at odds with Ngannou about a new contract. He declined to sign a promotion with the UFC ahead of Ciryl Gane’s recent title defense at UFC 270..
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 disrespectful to both the player 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.
Paul is now doubling his efforts to defeat White and UFC.
” This isn’t about boxing and MMA, Paul said. This is all about being right. UFC should be more proactive in removing the control that it exerts over MMA fighters. You can either treat them like Uber drivers or pay them what they are due 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.”
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