Dana White and Jake Paul have been feuding back and forth pretty heavily over the past twelve months, but a recent appearance on Logan Paul's YouTube show Impaulsive has re-opened speculation that the UFC may end up working with the Paul brothers.
Former UFC fighter Josh Thomson and pioneer MMA referee John McCarthy discussed the recent developments on their Weighing In podcast, and 'Big John' laid out how the UFC may decide to let Logan Paul in the same way they did wrestling superstar CM Punk, but not Paul.
"Logan has not pushed Dana's buttons. A guy named Jake has. He's done a whole lot of stuff and he's said some ... look, social media wise he's 10-8, 10-7 on Dana right now."
In Jake Paul's latest attempt to troll the UFC president, he suggested a one-fight UFC deal to take on Conor McGregor in the octagon. During White's interview with Logan Paul, he refused to completely rule out the idea but didn't sound interested. John McCarthy added this insight into how the UFC promoter saw things.
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"I don't think Dana would do anything for Jake unless he knew that he could make it to where Jake was getting squashed. Then he might make it."
Watch the full episode of Weighing In with Josh Thomson and John McCarthy below:
Jake Paul is willing to cut down to 175 pounds to fight Conor McGregor
One of the main reasons Dana White gave for not being interested in a fight between Jake Paul and Conor McGregor is the size difference. Jake Paul boxes at 190 pounds, while Conor McGregor most recently competed at 155 pounds. He has competed as high as 170 pounds against Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone. Which led Jake Paul to suggest they meet at a much more reasonable 175 pounds.
Conor McGregor has also been looking larger than ever as he rehabs a broken leg suffered in July 2021, leading to speculation that he may be bulking up for a serious run at welterweight. And while Paul would clearly still have a big size advantage against McGregor, it no longer pushes the match-up outside the realm of possibility.
McGregor and Paul may not even need to get the UFC fully onside with the fight. Conor McGregor currently has two fights left on his UFC contract. Jake Paul is undoubtedly the biggest money fight out there at the moment, and if McGregor wants that bank he can either use his impending free agency as leverage or go out and do the fight on his own once his contract ends.