Jake Paul Says Dana White 'Not Smart Enough' To Save UFC

Jake Paul reiterated his belief that the UFC is dying, going further to claim that Dana White isn't smart enough to save the promotion. Although he would be open to working with them for MVP. 

Paul's MVP presents its first MMA card on May 16 headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano on Netflix. And in the press run leading up to the event, he has maintained that the sport's premier promotion is not in a good way and he sees a gap in the market. 

However, when asked by Theo Von if he would be open to working with White and co., Paul said he would be.

"I'm open to it. Buy us. We'll help you guys not be idiots. The amount of money you would spend – Like, I don't have an ego. I'll work with anybody."

Von went on to say that White was a smart businessman, prompting Paul to retort: "[He's] not smart enough. Just look at what he's doing. You don't get Jon Jones on the White House card? First of all, Justin Gaethje is going to lose to Ilia [Topuria], on the White House card. So you have a Spaniard beating a white American on the patriotic White House card? Big mistake. Why are you not going to pay Jon Jones? They've gotten greedy, and they've forgotten their hearts as a company."

Paul went on to say that UFC is one of the most profitable sports organizations in history, but their investors have gotten greedy and forgotten their heart as a company, and then he once more echoed that the promotion is dying as a result. 

Expanding further, Paul said that MMA as a sport is struggling.

"MMA hasn't stood the test of time because the best people wrestle and they just hold on. Khabib. Khamzat. Which is boring. No one wants to watch that. So it hasn't stood the test of time. Boxing has been around since the 1500s. MMA is 30 years. It's declining."

He continued to say that it's not ran properly, having become a "super-corporate organization" signed with Paramount and a part of TKO under Ari Emanuel, a publicly traded company. He drew a comparison to the NFL to demonstrate his point, saying that UFC pays its fighters 10-15% of revenue while NFL players receive 50%.

"The NFL pays their athletes 50 percent of the revenue, so if the NFL makes a billion dollars, the athletes make $500 million. In the UFC, it's $150 million out of a billion, but when you exclude Conor McGregor and Jon Jones from that, it becomes like, 5 percent, $50 million out of a billion."

McGregor is expected to return later this year and has been tested the most with UFC's Anti-Doping program this year so far, while Jones has been in something of a dispute over the return he wanted.

He had said he was in negotiations to return at the Freedom 250 event at the White House in June 14, but after being omitted from the card White maintained that negotiations were never happening. White went one step further to say he believes Jones is done fighting, prompting Jones to ask for his contractual release. Even still, the belief among fighters and fans is that he will have at least one more bout in UFC.