Controversial star declares war on UFC boss

YouTube star turned celebrity boxer Jake Paul has continued his war of words with UFC president Dana White, claiming the mixed martial arts boss and his promotion don't pay the fighters "their fair share".

Paul, 24, who currently boasts a YouTube channel with more than 20 million subscribers, improved his professional boxing record to 3-0 earlier this month following a first round knockout win over MMA legend Ben Askren.

Following his victory, the YouTube star was seen confronting former UFC champion and current commentator Daniel Cormier at UFC 261.

Paul's controversial appearance at Sunday's UFC event forced White into having to field a number of questions at his post-fight press conference. White questioned Triller fight club's pay-per-view (PPV) numbers for Paul's recent fight with Askren.

"The numbers are there? Nah. I don't know if the numbers are there," White said.

Jake Paul, Dana White

"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," White said.

"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."

Paul after his previous fight had claimed on social media the bout had 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, which generated $96 million.

 (L-R) Daniel Cormier interacts with Jake Paul during the UFC 261 event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

And after hearing the comments made by White, Paul called out the UFC boss and criticised the company for not paying its fighters appropriately.

"No wonder they [UFC fighters] all want to get into boxing," Paul tweeted.

"Dana, you say you make the fights the fans want to see... so hurry up and make Jones vs Ngannou. Pay them their fair share... $10m 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 ..."

https://twitter.com/jakepaul/status/1386387138653081600

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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/news/controversial-boxer-youtube-jake-paul-slams-ufc-boss-dana-white/7c916817-2b3f-4cb0-ba5c-2509f4237713

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