Dana White thinks Jake Paul needs Mike Tyson to garner interest for their fight.
YouTuber-turned-pro boxer Paul (9-1) takes on Tyson (50-6) on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
White is not a fan of the matchup, in which his good friend Tyson will be 58 when he steps into the ring. He mocked Paul for facing yet another older fighter.
“I love Mike, and I hate talking about this because he always gets mad at me when I talk about this stuff,” White said the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “I’m not thrilled to see him do this stuff. When the fight happens, he’ll be 58 years old. It’ll be a 31-year age difference between these two.
“Jake Paul did fight a kid his age and he lost. I just saw this thing on the internet yesterday, I reposted where it say if he beats Mike Tyson, he’s going to fight Clint Eastwood next. Clint Eastwood is 93 years old. I don’t know, man.”
After fighting multiple notables names in MMA, as well as Tommy Fury, Paul’s past two boxing matches came against far lesser known competition in Andre August and Ryan Bourland. This time he takes on a boxing legend, but the fight will air live on Netflix for subscribers.
White thinks Paul needs the right dance partner to amp up his views.
“What Jake wants is Jake wants to make money,” White said. “The people that follow Jake Paul don’t buy Jake Paul’s fights, so Jake Paul has to fight people who can actually sell pay-per-views.”
For more on the fight, visit MMA Junkie’s hub for Paul vs. Tyson.