Dana White issues explosive response to Jake Paul's bold claim after blockbuster MVP deal agreed

Jake Paul is turning heads again after agreeing to a blockbuster deal with the Professional Fighter League (PFL), but UFC president Dana White isn't having any of it.

On Thursday, an announcement was made that Most Valuable Promotions, a company co-owned by Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, have merged with the PFL to bring together both boxing and MMA events under one banner.

MVP focused on boxing following their launch in 2021 but ventured into MMA for the first time in May, holding an event at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

The event featured former UFC legends Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano clashing on the main card, with an average audience of 9.3 million tuning in live on Netflix.

Comparatively, the UFC's iconic White House card averaged 8.2 million viewers across the US and Latin America, showcasing the power of Netflix and the merger's incredible potential.

A successful first MMA event for Paul only fuelled him to rival Dana White by moving the roster under the MVP banner and having more than 400 fighters on board.

The likes of Rousey, Francis Ngannou, Mike Perry, and Nate Diaz, who all fought on the MVP event in May, are spearheading their charge towards the top of combat sports.

Paul has already fuelled excitement for his return in 2027 by calling out Diaz to a showdown in the octagon, three years after beating him via unanimous decision in the boxing ring.

Unsurprisingly, the YouTuber-turned-boxer is also confident of rivalling White's dominance in MMA, in what he describes as "the first of its kind combat sports league."

“Dana White, good morning buddy,” Paul said in a goading video on X. “It wasn’t a nightmare, it’s real. We continue to haunt this man 24/7. But forget about him; this is about us, and this is about you – the fighters at home listening because MVP just merged with PFL.

“We just created the first of its kind combat sports league that combines boxing and MMA together. Over the past few years at MVP, we’ve proven that we can do the biggest fights in the world bar none; Paul-Tyson, Serrano-Taylor, Rousey-Carano.

“In our first MMA event, we had 9 million viewers watching in the United States compared to the UFC’s 7 million at the White House card. They’ve been doing this for 30 years!”

Dana White responds to Jake Paul's comments

While this blockbuster merger could disrupt White's dominance in MMA, he is not too worried.

He believes that his promotion - valued at close to $1 billion - will still attract viewership and fighters over Paul's new venture.

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"I don't know anything about what they're doing," White said in response to the news.

"It probably makes sense when shit isn't working for anybody, they should all probably get together.

"Let's take two organizations that don't sell tickets and nobody watches and let's merge them together and make a bigger company that won't sell tickets and nobody will watch.

"Listen, I've said this a hundred times and I'm f—— around. I don't look at any of those guys as our competition.

"We're on a whole other f—— stratosphere now. I mean, I'm competing with all the majors.

"Those guys aren't my competition so good luck to them all. I wish them all the best."

Paul's new venture has yet to sign a full-time deal, but they may work with several broadcasters having already aired shows on Netflix, ESPN and Sky Sports.

Admittedly, it will require a monumental effort to dislodge the UFC as the biggest commercial promotion after they recently signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with Paramount+. But Paul's ambition has to be admired.