Give Jake Paul one win, and he will market the heck out of it. It’s been three years since he defeated the then debutante boxer, Ben Askren. Yet, he continues to ride high on that victory. As he does that, he took a swipe at UFC President, Dana White. He was one of the biggest voices that predicted Paul would lose the fight. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go his way.
In April 2021, ‘Problem Child’ undertook his third boxing bout against former UFC-fame, Ben Askren in an Atlanta fight. In the days leading to the fight, many, like White were confident that Paul would not be able to defeat Askren, given the latter was already well established in the combat realm, and Paul had just begun fighting. However, Paul was resilient enough and won the fight in a first-round TKO, thus ending Askren’s run inside a boxing ring. Today, as Jake Paul marks the third year of the fight, he decided to write to Ben Askren. While he was at it, he also decided to take a swipe at Dana White.
Jake Paul Proved Himself
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On his Instagram stories, 27-year-old Paul wished his former opponent Askren on the anniversary. He wrote, “Happy Anniversary Ben.” While the sharp taunt was typical of him, his reply to actually aimed at Dana White. He shared a video put together by his promotion company that outlined the entire array of events that went down. First in the montage was a video of White, in which he stated, “Let’s be honest, Jake Paul is not a f*cking boxer. This guy’s a f*cking YouTube kid. So the kid that he’s going to fight, he’s actually fought real guys. I hope you can bet on this thing… I’ll bet a million dollars that he loses this f*cking fight.”
Even the captions made Dana White’s investment in Ben Askren’s win evident. “Dana White said he would bet $1M on Ben Askren and aligned Askren with legendary trainer @freddieroach,” read the post.
In those days, one of the few people who strongly backed the influencer-turned-boxer was popstar, Snoop Dogg. In rebuttal to the UFC CEO, Snoop Dogg challenged White to up his bid to $2 million. While remaining confident that Paul would win, he agreed to match the bid. As these voices echoed in the Instagram video, visuals of the stunning knockout that dropped Askren appeared, thus underscoring Paul’s victory in the face of his naysayers. The ‘Problem Child had redeemed himself.
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Are you wondering if Dana White actually lost $2 million to Snoop Dogg because of Jake Paul? Here is what he said after the TKO win.
Dana White Did Not Even Bet!
After the spectacular TKO win, when White was asked about his thoughts on the match he so thoughtlessly shunned, he ate his words and acknowledged the ‘L’. The President of the UFC said of Jake Paul, “This is the right guy with the right stick at the right time. And you know, this guy’s playing this thing perfectly. You know boxing in such a bad place, they’re doing a really good job in sucking in people to buy into this thing.”
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Later, when asked about the supposed bet that he lost to Snoop Dogg, White replied, “I can tell you this, I don’t owe Snoop $2 million. I never bet … let me make it clear right here to everybody. I have never made an illegal bet, ever.” He then went on to add, emphatically, “I did not make an illegal bet on Saturday night. I did not bet $2 million with Snoop or anybody.”
What are your thoughts on this entire fiasco between Paul and White? Let us know in the comments section below.