UFC boss Dana White was a guest alongside Zab Judah on “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,” and there was some spirited discussion about the boxing career of Jake Paul in the middle of it all.
White and Judah got into a conversation about Paul’s April 17 fight with Ben Askren, with White still doubting Paul’s fighting credentials and pointing out that while stand-up is not Askren’s forte, he has been in real fights with real fighters:
Dana White: “Listen, let’s be honest, Jake Paul isn’t a fuckin’ boxer. This guy’s a fuckin’ YouTube kid.”
Zab Judah: “He be workin’ hard, though, Dana. Believe that. He be workin’ hard, I watched him, I seen him put it together.”
DW: “Zab, no bullshit, no, no — no bullshit. You’re hanging out with a kid you know, so you’re saying he can fight?”
ZJ: “Yes.”
DW: “Alright, there you go. Zab Judah said he can fight.”
ZJ: “That is a very broad question.”
Mike Tyson: “But who can he fight?”
ZJ: “Right.”
DW: “Wait a minute! Wait, can this fuckin’ guy fight? Over here with the camera? Can this kid fight?”
ZJ: “Now, can he fight with Mike Tyson? It’s a different story.”
DW: “We ain’t sayin’ Mike Tyson. Can this kid fight? Listen, I get it, you’re in a bad position right now, ‘cause you hang out with the kid, you know him at the gym and shit. You don’t want to shit all over the kid. Can this kid fight?”
ZJ: “Dana, you know I shoot straight shit. The boy can fight.”
DW: “The kid that he’s gonna fight is a wrestler. A real good wrestler, decorated wrestler. But he’s actually fought real guys. He’s been a world champion in other organizations in MMA.”
ZJ: “But it’s different though, Dana, from wrestling, when you’re standing up and letting them hands fly, one thing I can say about (Jake Paul), he got hands. I’m not joking. He got hands.”
White then said he’d bet big against Paul beating Askren in five weeks:
DW: “I hope you can bet on this thing, ‘cause I’ll fuckin’, I’ll bet a million dollars that he loses this fuckin’ fight. I’ll bet a million dollars that he loses this fight. So I hope we can bet on this.”
White, it should be noted, has had his public spats with the Paul brothers, too, but it should also be said that it’s not like White was ever some massive fan of Ben Askren, once saying, “I thought Tito (Ortiz) was the dumbest guy I’ve ever met. (Askren) is an absolute moron.” I mean you can never really tell exactly what Dana White or any fight promoter actually thinks, but he doesn’t really have a dog in this fight, either.