Jake Paul might be a boxer now but he obviously doesn’t mind engaging in a war of words when the time is right.
The latest example comes after UFC 261 on Saturday night where Paul was in attendance at the show in Jacksonville, Fla. where he actually had an altercation during the event with former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.
Paul and Cormier actually had to be separated as they were jawing back and forth at each other and following the event UFC president Dana White took aim at the 24-year-old Ohio native while also ripping his recent pay-per-view through Triller Fight Club.
“He knocked out an NBA guy that was 40 years old and 30 pounds less than him,” White said at the UFC 261 post-fight press conference. “I don’t even know what to think about the [Ben] Askren thing. The whole thing is f*cking mind-boggling to me, but good for him. Grab that money while you can, kid.
“I don’t believe anything [Triller] say. That’s a f*cking circus. None of that is real. Do you think any of that sh*t that’s going on over there is real? C’mon, man. I built a real business here, a real sport.”
Following those comments as well as White refuting that he actually made a bet with rapper Snoop Dogg over the recent fight between Paul and Askren, the 3-0 boxer took to Twitter to fire back.
“Dana, you claimed you would be $1 million on me losing,” Paul wrote. “Set up Askren to train with Freddie Roach. Gave him full access to the UFC [Performance Institute] and he still got his ass handed to him.”
White did compliment Paul on his ability to make money and create buzz, which is all he’s been doing since deciding to transition into boxing after becoming a celebrity by way of making videos on YouTube.
For the fight alone, Paul earned a whopping $690,000 to face Askren and he’ll certainly reap the benefits of the success of the show after the Triller pay-per-view sold over 1 million buys.
That was enough for Paul to then blast White for the pay rates in the UFC where athletes typically don’t make the same kind of salaries as the biggest boxers in the world.
“In my third fight, I made more money in total pay than any fighter in UFC history,” Paul said. “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 the 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 pay-per-view.
“Why are UFC fighters so underpaid versus boxers? Why did I make more in my third fight than all but two (Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and Conor [McGregor]) UFC fighters have in history. I know why.”
Of course, Paul has been called out by numerous MMA fighters since his knockout win over Askren including Dillon Danis and former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.
Judging by this latest back-and-forth, Paul certainly has no problem trying to draw White in for a fight as well as this grudge appears far from finished.
