GLENDALE, Ariz. – Jake Paul claims UFC president Dana White has been active behind the scenes attempting to disrupt his upcoming boxing event.
On Saturday, Paul is set to take on former UFC champion Anderson Silva in an eight-round boxing match that headlines the Paul vs. Silva event at Desert Diamond Arena. However, he claims White, with who he has had multiple back-and-forth verbal exchanges, has made attempts to “sabotage” the event.
“The list goes on, and some of it I can’t even speak on,” Paul told reporters during a media scrum following Thursday’s pre-fight news conference. “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. And we’re just finding out more and more stuff as the promotion goes on. I’m sure I’ll speak on it more at a later date.”
While Paul would not get into the specifics of White’s alleged actions, he explained why he believes the UFC boss has targeted him ahead of the toughest fight of his young professional boxing career.
“I think it’s because I’m the No. 1 figurehead that is exposing his business model and how much of a shark he is and how poorly he treats his fighters,” Paul said. “He said I wouldn’t fight Anderson Silva, who is one of UFC’s greats, and now here I am fighting him. And he largely, in part, promoted that. He’s the reason why I took this fight, is to prove him wrong and shut him the hell up.”
Paul has been vocal in calling for improving fighters’ rights, and their salaries. He has also challenged White to change how he treats fighters under the UFC banner.
Recently, White has been dismissive of Paul, but he did weigh in on the Silva matchup when the fight was in the process of being finalized. However, as the back-and-forth between the two continued, White grew tired of questions about the boxing YouTuber.
“He’s also telling reporters not to talk about me because he doesn’t want my fights to be big,” Paul said. “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.”
Earlier this year, when White was more accepting of questions about Paul, he advised him to leave his business partner Nakisa Bidarian, who was a former accountant for the UFC.
With everything Paul claims he has been through, he says he has found motivation in the attention from White.
“There’s been some big fires, but I can’t really talk about it,” Paul said. “I’m sure it’ll – the truth always comes out. … What he doesn’t realize is he’s just adding fuel to the fire. But he’s trying to do anything he can to stop me, but it is cool that I am so on his radar that he feels threatened enough to care this much to try and sabotage my event.”
For complete coverage of the card, check out MMA Junkie’s event page for Paul vs. Silva.
