Dana White and Jake Paul have been embroiled in a pretty interesting beef as of late. Jake is trying to get himself into the UFC, all while White has stated that he has very little interest in having Jake participate in his promotion. The thing is, Jake is now an investor in the UFC, and he gets a seat at the table during investors meetings. Needless to say, White will not get rid of Jake, that quickly.
This past week, White was a guest on "Impaulsive," which is a podcast hosted by Jake's brother, Logan. During the episode, the topic of Jake was brought up, which led to some real comments from White. The UFC President noted that he respects what Jake and Logan are doing, however, a fight between Jake and Conor McGregor simply isn't reasonable right now. However, he does respect Jake's hustle as it's what fighting is all about.
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“It was never off-putting to me,” White said. “In this business, it’s about attention. How much attention can you get? But more importantly, who gives a shit? Who cares that you’re going to fight this guy on Saturday night? You’ve got to make people care. You’ve got to make people stay home. They have a lot of different choices on Saturday, what to do with their time — you’ve got to make them stay home and pay for it. And everybody has a different style of doing that. I’m not against [Paul’s approach]. The thing is with me, if I really don’t like you and whatever, I won’t respond to you. I would’ve never responded to it.”
For now, you probably won't see Jake in the Octagon, however, he will be around to torment Dana as time goes on. With that in mind, it's clear we have a nice little combat sports rivalry brewing that should last for years to come.