Dana White finally said why he won't fight Jake Paul after years of trolling from the internet provocateur: age
Getty/Zhe Ji; Getty/Ethan Miller
- Dana White has ruled out ever fighting internet provocateur Jake Paul.
- The novice boxer, 25, has trolled the UFC president for years.
- Though White once wanted to fight UFC icon Tito Ortiz, he says he's now too old at 53 to bother.
Jake Paul has been mercilessly trolling Dana White for years and even suggested they could fight in a boxing rules contest.
But, in an interview with GQ, the UFC boss said there's a very good reason why he's refusing to fight the 25-year-old internet sensation: "You guys realize I'm 53 years old now, right?"
A career chameleon who has achieved success on Vine, the Disney Channel, and YouTube, Paul transitioned to combat sports in 2018 and accelerated his infamy by pranking fighters.
White, never far from his crosshairs, was even the subject of a no-holds-barred diss track Paul released earlier this year.
In January, Paul famously released a three-minute song flaming White. It now has nearly 4.8 million views.
Despite Paul's antics, White has refused to take the bait, even though he considered competing against former UFC icon Tito Ortiz in a bitter grudge match almost two decades ago.
"When I was gonna fight Tito I was 37," White told GQ. "I'm 53."
He now says he's too old to get mixed up in what he hints is a young person's game.
"Come talk to me when you fucking idiots are 53 years old and tell me if you wanna fight some 20-year-old kid," he said in the interview with the lifestyle magazine.
"I promise you, you do not."
Paul will have to continue to look elsewhere for his opponents.