GLENDALE, Arizona – Dana White was unwillingly instrumental in the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva spectacle coming together.
The UFC president had nothing to do with their negotiations, but his intense dislike for Paul pushed the YouTuber-turned-boxer to accept this eight-round cruiserweight boxing match against one of the most legendary figures White’s company has ever promoted. In explaining why White has such disdain for him, the polarizing Paul continued to needle mixed martial arts’ most powerful figure following a press conference Thursday at Desert Diamond Arena.
“I think it’s because I’m the number one figurehead that is exposing his business model and how much of a shark he is and how poorly he treats his fighters,” Paul told a small group of reporters. “And he said I wouldn’t fight Anderson Silva, who is one of UFC’s greats. And now here I am fighting him. He largely in part promoted that. He’s the one that, you know, he’s the reason why I took this fight, to prove him wrong, to shut him the hell up.”
The 47-year-old Silva is almost twice Paul’s age, but his eight-round, split-decision defeat of former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June 2021 validated him as a potential opponent for Paul. The 25-year-old Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) is an approximate 2-1 favorite over Silva, but Brazil’s Silva (3-1, 2 KOs) was a slight favorite before a dated video interview emerged Wednesday in which Silva stated that he had been knocked out twice while sparring for his fight with Paul (https://www.boxingscene.com/arizona-commission-clears-anderson-silva-fight-jake-paul-further-medical-testing–170025).
Regardless, the promotion of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event has attracted a lot of mainstream media attention because of Paul’s popularity and Silva’s status as one of MMA’s most iconic champions.
Paul has accused White of attempting to “sabotage” the show, which will include five televised fights (9 p.m. ET; $59.99) and 10 bouts overall. He declined to go into detail regarding what he contends was White’s interference in promoting this showdown with Silva.
“Man, the list goes on and some of it I can’t even speak on,” Paul said. “But he’s been sending like 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 this promotion goes on. I’m sure I’ll speak on it soon, at a later date.”
According to Paul, White feels threatened by him because Paul hasn’t been afraid to shed light on issues important to MMA fighters affiliated with UFC and other organizations.
“He’s doing anything he can to stop me and my dreams, I guess,” Paul said. “He’s also telling reporters that he said 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.”
If Paul beats Silva, he wouldn’t expect White to acknowledge his victory when White inevitably would be asked about it.
“I think the media will bring it up,” Paul said, “and then he’ll just go, ‘Stop asking me f——- questions about this guy!’ ”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.