Jake Paul says his ongoing dispute with the UFC has crossed over into his personal life, revealing that TKO Group Holdings has banned him from attending his brother Logan Paul’s WWE appearances.
Speaking on the Smash Cast podcast, Jake opened up about the depth of the tension between himself and the organization that owns both the UFC and WWE.
“The TKO group has this major beef with me,” he said. “They won’t even let me go be in my brother’s WWE matches because they h*te me so much.”
Despite the personal nature of the ban, Jake says he is not losing sleep over it. “It’s pretty wild how much under their skin we are,” he added. “To me it’s just been a fun journey.”
The rivalry between Jake and the UFC has been building for some time, fueled largely by his vocal criticism of athlete pay inside the organization. Jake has repeatedly pointed to the UFC’s minimum wage as a core issue he wants addressed.
“The UFC minimum pay being $12,000, that needs to rise,” he said during the interview. “There are all these things in it that are serious.”
However, Jake was clear that from his perspective, the public back-and-forth with UFC figures like Dana White is largely entertainment.
“I don’t take any beefs too serious. I think it’s definitely in the name of entertainment,” he said. “From my side I’m just having fun and I enjoy the fact that one of the biggest organizations in the world has this major beef with me.”
When asked why his promotion, MVP, seemed to generate more friction with the UFC than it ever did with boxing promoters like Eddie Hearn or Oscar De La Hoya, Jake offered a straightforward explanation.
“I think it maybe comes down to Eddie and Oscar seeing that I’m good for the sport of boxing regardless and I’m adding viewership and fans,” he said. “I end up competing against Anthony Joshua and it’s his biggest payday and Eddie gets a cut off of that. So I think it’s more collaborative and everyone winning together versus the UFC seeing us as like morbid enemies.”
