UFC president Dana White ripped at Jake Paul for fighting boxing legend Mike Tyson.
Earlier this month, 27-year-old Paul announced a fight with the 57-year-old Tyson set for April 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The bout will also be the first boxing event to stream on Netflix.
On an episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, White joked about Paul’s next opponent if he beats the much older Tyson.
‘If he beats Mike Tyson, he’s gonna fight Clint Eastwood next,’ White told former UFC champions Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo. ‘Clint Eastwood’s 93 years old.’
‘I love Mike,’ added. ‘I hate talking about it ’cause he always gets mad at me when I talk about this stuff. But when the fight happens, he’ll be 58 years old. There’ll be a 31-year age difference. Jake Paul did fight a kid his age and lost.’
Dana White claimed that Jake Paul ‘will fight Clint Eastwood next’ if he beats Mike Tyson
The 27-year-old Paul will fight the Tyson, 58, on April 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
Additionally, White claimed that Paul does not want to be taken seriously as a fighter. He noted that the influencer-turned-boxer hunts for money fights as even his supporters don’t buy his pay-per-views.
‘He doesn’t [want to be taken seriously], what Jake wants is to make money,’ White said. ‘People who follow Jake Paul don’t want to watch Jake Paul’s fights. So Jake Paul has to fight people who can actually sell pay-per-views.’
Paul enters the fight with a 9-1 record with wins over retired MMA fighters and his lone loss to Tommy Fury. Paul has fought against Ben Askren, Nate Diaz, and former UFC champions Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva.
Tyson will be 58 by the time he squares off with Paul on Netflix’s first boxing event
On the other hand, Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 with a 50-6 record that included 44 knockout wins. His last time in the ring was during an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.
In 2021, Paul called White on not paying fighters their ‘fair share’ of money. Paul also claimed he would ‘save MMA’ as he continued to throw jabs at White via X (formerly Twitter).
In 2023, Paul signed an MMA contract with UFC competitor Professional Fighters League (formerly World Series of Fighting) but is yet to make his debut for the promotion.