- UFC president Dana White commented on the canceled Jake Paul vs. Hasim Rahman Jr. boxing match
- White took a shot at Paul’s business partner and ex-UFC chief of finance
- The 53-year-old offered some unsolicited advice to “The Problem Child”
After weeks of hyping his upcoming bout at Madison Square Garden next week, Jake Paul had to cancel it in the end after his opponent Hasim Rahman Jr. missed weight.
However, UFC president Dana White was not convinced and shared his honest take on the matter at the UFC 277 post-fight press conference.
White’s not buying it
According to White, whether it’s true that Rahman Jr. missed weight or not, the real reason behind the cancellation was that Paul and his team only “sold under a million dollars” in ticket sales, a figure that would make it impossible to run a show at MSG.
“I think they sold under a million dollars in tickets, and it costs $500,000 to turn the f****** lights on at MSG,” White said. “That’s what I think. Not to mention hotel rooms in New York and transportation and everything else is very expensive.”
“I’m not going to sit up here and be happy or gloat that their fight fell out,” he added. “Both those guys I’m sure put in a lot of hard work and a lot of training to get ready for this fight, spent money to get ready for this fight.”
It’s not as easy as it sounds
Paul had been working hand in hand with his Nakisa Bidarian, who previously worked as Chief Financial Officer at the UFC, for his scrapped boxing match. For White, Bidarian should be accountable for the miscalculations and sales forecasts, stressing that just because he worked for the company before doesn’t mean he already knows the X’s and O’s of running a promotion.
“I will say this, just because you were an accountant here doesn’t mean you know what the f*** goes on here,” White pointed out. “It doesn’t mean you can run a fight promotion company.”
A piece of advice
While White is not one of the people who often speak highly of “The Problem Child,” he left some parting advice for the boxing prodigy.
“I think that Jake Paul probably needs to get some different people around him,” the 53-year-old concluded. “If he’s going to stay in the sport, he needs to be with guys that really know how to put on fights.”
Nothing is concrete at the moment, but knowing Paul, it’s highly likely that he would delight his fans with an update about his next move sooner rather than later. Let’s just wait and see.
