The Dana White and Jake Paul feud has carved out its own place in combat sports history. After knocking out Tyron Woodley in their 2021 rematch, ‘The Problem Child’ called out the UFC president, demanding a contract to face top fighters from his promotion. However, things escalated when Paul claimed in an interview with Graham Bensinger, “Everyone knows about Dana’s coke habit and the h—ers.” That comment hit White hard, and he didn’t let it slide.
After growing tired of being called a “cokehead” by Paul, White responded during a 2021 interview with Teddy Atlas. The UFC president fired back, saying, “I got a challenge for Jake Paul. This guy keeps saying that I’m a cokehead. He can randomly cocaine test me for the next 10 years if I can randomly steroid test him for the next two.” The YouTuber-turned-boxer didn’t stay silent either. He fired back with a response of his own.
Jake Paul laid out a few conditions to quit boxing and fight Jorge Masvidal in the UFC. His demands included: 1) Raising minimum fighter pay to $50K up from $12K, (2) Guaranteeing fighters 50% of the UFC’s annual revenue $1 billion in 2021, and (3) Providing long-term healthcare for all fighters. White followed up with a fiery social media rant of his own, claiming that he never got a reply from Paul. Nearly three years later, their simmering animosity has been reignited once again.
The UFC head honcho’s UFC 317 spectacle clashed with Paul’s boxing match with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at Honda Center on Jun 28. And at the Full Send podcast, when asked about his thoughts on Paul’s recent fight, Dana White said, “Listen, I don’t think those guys always make good decisions. But they’re not the fight guys; they don’t understand the business. Even the f—ing’ warlock thinks he f—ing’ knows what he’s talking about.”
UFC CEO DANA WHITE with post event media during the UFC 304 event at Co-op Etihad Campus, SportCity, Manchester, England on the 27 July 2024. Copyright: xAndyxRowlandx PMI-6350-0002
When asked about the origins of his feud with Jake Paul—and whether he truly accused the YouTuber-turned-boxer of steroid use Dana White, who boasts a net worth of $500 million (according to celebrity net worth), a staggering $420 million more than Paul’s reported $80 million, revisited his earlier claims. The UFC boss doubled down on his stance, reiterating that he never received a response from Paul regarding the original challenge.
White added, “No. What happened was, Jake said that I snort cocaine, that I’m a cokehead. So my rebuttal to that was: ‘I’ll tell you what, you can test me randomly for the next five years for cocaine, if I can test you randomly for performance-enhancing drugs for the next two years.’ And I never got a response on that. So, to say that I was talking s–t about him… I’ve never just come out and started talking s—t about the guy unless I was asked a question — and I just responded to that question.”
However, in a wild turn of events, Jake Paul actually fired back, urging the media to do their job properly and claiming his response had already been made. So, let’s see what ‘The Problem Child’ has to say about the controversy now.
Jake Paul responds to Dana White’s PED challenge
Well, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Jake Paul never misses a chance to take a jab at Dana White. Recently, the boxer threw a subtle shot at White during the Julio César Chávez Jr. post-fight press conference, calling him out openly for not supporting Ben Askren’s double lung transplant surgery. Later, a Rugby League Post on Facebook revealed that Jake was actually behind a generous $500k donation. It also came to light at the UFC Nashville post-fight presser that Dana White had made contributions, too. Still, the moment made one thing clear: the animosity between them is far from over.
Keeping that energy alive, Paul had another reminder for the UFC boss and media about something. The 28-year-old took to X and dug up his old post, where he clearly laid out the conditions for accepting Dana White’s challenge. Those demands included increasing base fighter pay, sharing 50% of UFC revenue with the athletes, and providing long-term healthcare. Reposting it with a pointed caption, Paul wrote, “Media do your work. I agreed to his bet if Dana White paid UFC fighters more and gave them healthcare.”
And that’s how Dana White and Jake Paul have been going at each other full throttle. With all said, do you think we’ll ever see a truce? Maybe even a time when both Paul and White end up working under the TKO umbrella? Or will they just keep tearing into each other with words for years to come? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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