UFC head honcho Dana White said he will never let Jake or Logan Paul compete in the UFC. White learned lessons with the CM Punk case and would never sign anyone with star power only.
Jake and Logan Paul have made their names big in combat sports especially towards the younger audience. The pair have different paths but were already popular being social media celebrities before switching careers to combat sports.
While the older brother Logan signed with WWE, Jake is still focusing his career in boxing. After seeing a big success in his amateur boxing match in 2018, the 25-year-old decided to jump into the world of professional boxing. He has been clashing with popular figures and former athletes with a total of 5 matches and is currently still undefeated.
Jake is also famous in the world of mixed martial arts after starting a beef with Dana White while Logan was pretty vocal about wanting to compete in the UFC. Despite how popular they are, White is doubtful about signing them.
This is all because the UFC had a bad experience signing popular figures with little to zero experience in MMA. Back in 2016, the promotion signed WWE superstar CM Punk, who has no experience in professional or amateur MMA.
Thanks to his huge popularity, Punk received a spot in the main event of UFC 203 on his MMA debut. The result was pretty embarrassing after he got submitted in the first round by Mickey Gall who was 2-0 at the time. Not stopping there, Punk competed again in 2018 against Mike Jackson in a 3-round snooze fest where Jackson won via unanimous decision.
“The thing was CM Punk would come to the fights and he was such a huge fan and he wanted to try this. I gave the guy a shot. I’ve never done really anything like that, except for Brock Lesnar. It worked out with Brock, it didn’t work out with Punk. No [regrets giving him a shot] he’s a nice guy. I regret putting Michael Jackson in there. I will not call him Mike Jackson. He’s Michael Jackson. I regret that. That I regret.” White said.
When asked about Logan and Jake Paul, the 53-year-old said the two aren’t competent enough to compete in the UFC, and that their boxing bouts are just gimmicks.
“Neither one of those guys can fight. It’s all a big gimmick. Like I said in a press conference, there’s a market for that. If people are dumb enough to spend their money watching that s***, I don’t know what to tell you. Good luck to them. I [couldn’t] care less what that guy [does]. I get it. He’s trying to make some money and is doing his thing. There are people who want to spend money on that. I’m not that guy.” White said.
However, during his appearance on The Pivot Podcast, White kind of changed his mind and said he is intrigued by the idea of Jake Paul competing in the UFC.