Jake Paul had to cancel his boxing bout against Hasim Rahman Jr following Rahman’s unsuccesful attempts to move the bout up two weight divisions.
“MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone that has conducted themselves in such a deceiving and calculated manner,” the statement read.
“Therefore, MVP is left with no choice but to cancel the August 6th event. This forced outcome impacts Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and every other fighter on this card who have trained tirelessly over the past few months for this event. The boxing community must hold Hasim Rahman Jr. liable for his lack of professionalism.”
At the UFC 277 press conference following the event, White was asked about the cancellation. He was previously very critical of both Paul and Rahman. The event was set to take place in the Madison Square Garden – where UFC will be holding UFC 281.
“I’m not going to sit up here and be happy or gloat that their fight fell out. I mean, both those guys, I’m sure put in a lot of hard work and a lot of training to get ready for this fight, spent money to get ready for this fight.”
“But I will say this, just because you’re an accountant here doesn’t mean you know what the f**k goes on here. And doesn’t mean that you can run a fight promotion company.”
“And now I think that Jake Paul probably needs to get some different people around him. If he’s got to stay in the sport. He needs to be with guys that actually really know how to put on fights.”
White is clearly referencing Nakisa Biderian here. Bidarian is a Co-Founder of Most Valuable Promotions along with Jake Paul. Prior to that, Bidarian was a UFC Chief Financial Officer / Executive Vice President, Strategy & Business Ventures from 2011 until 2016.
White was also asked to comment on the reason for the cancellation – with Rahman Jr being unable or unwilling to make weight and added.
“What did you make of the whole his opponent was too big…” a journalist asked of White to which he responded:
“I think they sold under a million dollars in tickets and it costs $500,000 To turn the f**king lights on and MSG. That’s what I think.”
“Oh, not to mention the fact that hotel rooms in New York and transportation and everything else is very expensive. Yeah. “
White was asked if MSG would refund the money for the event to Paul to which he responded:
“Depends on their deal with MSG.”
“I don’t know that’s that’s up to them and MSG. I don’t know what they’re the I know what my deal is, I don’t know what their deal is.”