Dana White claims he blocked Jake Paul’s attempt to join the UFC, ‘he wanted to sign with us!’

Jake Paul has fared pretty well in his war of words with UFC President Dana White. The YouTube star turned 3-0 pro boxer has…

By: Tim Bissell | 2 years ago
Dana White claims he blocked Jake Paul’s attempt to join the UFC, ‘he wanted to sign with us!’
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Jake Paul has fared pretty well in his war of words with UFC President Dana White. The YouTube star turned 3-0 pro boxer has hit White repeatedly with claims he is criminally underpaying fighters and taking undeserved credit (and profit) from the UFC’s successes.

Recently White was put on the hot seat regarding fighter pay when he and UFC parent company owner Ari Emanuel appeared on CNBC news. Check the clip below, courtesy of @FullContractMTWF, to see what White had to say when the TV anchor mistakenly claimed that Paul was part of the UFC.

“Hey, that bum didn’t fight for me!,” responded White. “You’ve got to get your story straight. He didn’t fight for me. He’s out there complaining about fighter pay… He wanted to sign with us! I wouldn’t sign him.”

During that appearance Emanuel made a few interesting claims. One being that White had invented mixed martial arts, which of course he did not. Emanuel also, in defending the UFC’s low revenue-to-fighter-pay ratio, also claimed that fighter revenue had increased 600% since 2005.

That second claim was puzzling to Bloody Elbow financial analyst John S. Nash.

Nash pointed out that, by his reckoning fighter pay was 30 times higher than it was in 2005. However, Nash—who has extensively reported on financial disclosure documents regarding the UFC—said the company’s earnings were 63 times higher.

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About the author
Tim Bissell
Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Tim is also BE's lead (only) sumo reporter. He blogs about that sport here and on his own substack, Sumo Stomp!

Email me at tim@bloodyelbow.com. Nice messages will get a response.

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