UFC President Dana White reacted to the announcements of a fight between 58-year-old boxing legend Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, a well-known video blogger who has been active in the boxing ring lately.
Mike Tyson (50-6) will be 58 when he steps in the ring to box 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-pro boxer Jake Paul (9-1) July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
The UFC CEO didn’t want to say too much not to upset his good friend Mike Tyson, but doesn’t want to see the boxing legend competing period.
“He gets mad when I do this, but Mike’s 60, man,” White said during the UFC 299 post-fight news conference. “I don’t know, what do you guys think about it? Who gives a sh*t what I think? It’s not my fight.
“I love Mike Tyson personally as a friend, and he’s one of my favorite athletes of all time. I don’t know. Let’s see what he can go in there and put together a training camp and come in. I don’t like to see guys fighting at (that age). It’d be a 31-year age difference during that fight. You guys know what I think of that stuff.”
The fight will air live on Netflix for subscribers, something White appeared to be interested in. The streaming service, arguably the most well-known of its kind in the world, recently signed a deal with WWE to stream its long-running “Raw” weekly series, as well as other ancillary WWE programming, starting in 2025.
The WWE and UFC are paired together as TKO Group Holdings through primary owner Endeavor, which means building blocks already are in place if the UFC ever had a conversation with Netflix for after its current broadcast deal with ESPN expires.
“I think that Netflix should have gotten into live sports years ago,” White said. “I think they’re late to the game, but they are a force. When you look at the amount of homes that they’re in worldwide … the show ‘Reacher’ – I posted about it. I love that show. I f*cking hate TV. I don’t watch any TV show, hardly ever. I don’t watch movies anymore. But I love the show ‘Reacher.’ I can watch ‘Reacher’ whenever I want to. I can watch it when I get home. I can watch it next week. Live sports like (UFC 299) you had to watch tonight, as all these massive streaming companies start to get bigger and bigger, they have to be involved in live sports.”