The altercation between the celebrity boxer Jake Paul and the UFC president Dana White is all kinds of nasty.
Dana White may have bitten off more than he can chew with Paul – because Paul has a lot of media reach and is not burdened by UFC’s far reaching contracts like all of the UFC fighters.
Paul has been vocal in wanting fighters to receive better pay – and he’d preferably like healthcare to be included. To those unfamiliar with the UFC this might seem obvious however UFC doesn’t really cover Fighter’s healthcare. They seem to be covering only injuries that happen during the fight. And even that is sometimes questionable.
As par for the course, UFC also has complete access to fighter’s medical records which they also utilize when they’re deciding whether to cut a fighter or extend their contract. Just this past year they cut a fighter immediately after receiving a debilitating injury in the cage.
Since leaving the UFC in 2014, Brendan Schaub has become a podcast host for a variety of podcasts. Recently Schaub addressed Paul’s efforts to antagonize UFC president Dana White further
“No one’s done more for fighter pay than Jake Paul. How insane is that? Three years ago like, ‘Hey, you know YouTuber Jake Paul?’ like, ‘Yeah, what about him?‘ ‘Oh, he’s gonna be undefeated in boxing, he’s been making 40 million dollars off boxing and then he’s also gonna be on the forefront of getting fighters paid.’ Like, ‘You’re out of your goddamn mind’. It’s amazing.” Schaub said.
Brendan Schaub then added that the UFC won’t win against a social media personality with a bigger fanbase.
“Again, Dana’s team and the UFC, the best in marketing by far. But when it comes to f***ing with these young kids, and this YouTube and this Instagram, YouTube, social media culture, they just can’t keep up. This isn’t their game. They are gonna lose every single time.” Brendan Schaub added.
While Schaub is half right as usual – he fails to mention that Paul is likely sinister in his fight for the fighter’s union. He also fails to mention that the biggest actual change for fighter’s contracts comes from the certified class action lawsuit against the UFC. Whereas fighter contracts could previously be extended in perpetuity -faced with this lawsuit UFC started instituting hard end dates on contracts. This change is monumental – 10 years ago a champion like Francis Ngannou wouldn’t be able to serve out his contract – it could potentially go on in perpetuity.