Dana White counteroffers Jake Paul’s Jorge Masvidal UFC bet: “Fight Anderson Silva”

UFC boss Dana White has rejected a massive fight wager from YouTuber Jake Paul that would have seen him duke it out with Jorge Masvidal while Amanda Serrano fought Amanda Nunes.

Jake Paul has taken the boxing world by storm in recent months, earning victories against mixed martial artists Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley. In his rise to combat sports stardom, he has been a constant pain for Dana White, actively challenging fighters under contract with UFC and taking issue with MMA fighter pay.

After making White an offer to let Masvidal fight him under the condition that, if he lost, he would stop challenging UFC talent, the internet was curious to see what Dana’s response would be.

Unfortunately for Paul, it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, White rejected the offer and instead suggested that Paul fight “someone his own size,” with that someone being ‘The Spider,’ Anderson Silva.

Dana White rejects Jake Paul’s Masvidal-Nunes bet

“Masvidal’s 170 pounds. [Jake] likes 170-pounders. Go fight somebody your own size. Anderson Silva’s not under contract, he’s 46 years old; that’s the age group you love to fight. And he’s your size and he’s actually winning fights,” White blasted.

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According to Dana, both Jake and his brother Logan have a tendency of fighting “washed up older guys” to secure easy wins, although Logan’s fight against Floyd Mayweather ended in a draw due to exhibition rules.

“Anderson Silva has actually been boxing, he’s won some fights, he’s 46 years old, and he’s in your weight class. There you go. That’s a no-brainer. Fight Anderson Silva,” he added.

Plus, Dana added, a fight between Paul and Silva could do big numbers, calling it a “viable” fight.

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Amusingly though, White did have some strong praise for Paul, saying that The Problem Child should be paid more by Showtime.

“Showtime needs f**king Jake Paul. Their f**king fights are pulling 70K viewers for Christ’s sake. I could take a picture of my fucking big toe and put it on Instagram and more would see that than a Showtime fight,” he claimed. “So whatever they’re f**king paying him, it’s probably not enough. They probably need to pay him more. They need that f**king guy.”

Will Jake Paul fight Anderson Silva?

As for a fight against Anderson Silva, while the 46-year-old has expressed interest in fighting either of the Paul bros, Jake has said that the fight would be “lose-lose” for him.

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“If I was to fight Anderson Silva, everyone would just be like ‘oh it’s just another old guy’ when I beat him, so it’s kinda like a lose-lose situation,” he said on MMA Fight Hour with Ariel Helwani. That said, The Spider is still an option and is on a shortlist of fighters he could be duking it out with next.

Only time will tell if we end up getting a fight between Jake and Silva, but it seems like a date with Jorge Masvidal is off the table for the time being.