Jake Paul is no stranger to going to toe-to-toe with UFC President Dana White through the media, trading barbs over fighter pay and Paul’s place in the combat sports sphere.
Ahead of his showdown with Anderson Silva, however, Paul’s relationship (or non-relationship) with White took a different sort of turn, according to the social media star. Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press following Thursday’s open workout, Paul alleged that White has sent his team Cease and Desist letters ahead of the bout among other tactics, some of which he claimed he cannot talk about.
“The list goes on, some of it I can’t even speak on. But he’s been sending Cease and Desists for my content promoting this fight, and just doing things behind the scenes that are really shady,” Paul claimed. “And we’re just like finding out more and more stuff as the promotion goes on. I’m sure I’ll speak on it more at a later date.”
As for his take on White’s motivations, “I think it’s because I’m the number one figurehead that’s exposing his business model and how much of a shark he is, and how poorly he treats his fighters,” said Paul.
Paul has been talking about a fighter’s union for MMA again this week. In fact, he went so far as a to place a bet with Silva on the outcome of Saturday’s fight: if Paul wins, Silva has to get on board with helping Paul create a fighter’s union.
White, however, is a big part of why Jake Paul is fighting Anderson Silva on Saturday night in Glendale, AZ. The 25-year old admitted as much. “He said I wouldn’t fight Anderson Silva, who is one of the UFC’s greats. And now here I am fighting him. And he largely in part promoted that. He’s the one that— he’s the reason why I took this fight, is to prove him wrong and to shut him the hell up.”
Paul also confirmed that White banned both his friends, and himself, from UFC events. “He’s doing anything he can to stop me and my friends I guess.”
Another of Paul’s allegations involved the media. According to Paul, White was “also telling reporters not to talk about me, because he doesn’t want my fights to be big. He wants to be the only cash cow in town. He wants to run the fight game, and I’m a threat to him being able to do that.”
Later, Paul said that “the truth always comes out,” adding that “what he doesn’t realize is that he’s adding fuel to the fire. He’s trying to do anything he can to stop me, but it is cool that I’m so on his radar that he feels threatened enough to care this much to try to sabotage my event.”
Jake Paul faces Anderson Silva this Saturday, October 29, 2022 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The event airs live on Showtime PPV and Fite.tv internationally.
