Dana White Says He'll Bet One Million Dollars That Jake Paul Will Lose To Ben Askren ... Paul Responds 'Double Or Nothing'
UFC President Dana White was on 'Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson' this week, and when the topic of the upcoming Jake Paul vs Ben Askren boxing match came up, he seemed VERY confident that the former UFC athlete/Olympic wrestler would be able to get the job done against a "non-boxer" in Paul.
SO confident, in fact, that when prodded a little by Zab Judah - who claims Paul is the real deal - White said he'd put $1mil dollars on Askren to win the fight (which is kinda hilarious for anyone who followed the Dana White/Ben Askren relationship saga over the past decade, but I digress)....
“Let’s be honest, Jake Paul isn’t a fucking boxer," White proclaimed, "This guy is a fucking YouTube kid.”
“Dana I watched him, he’s been working hard, Dana. I have seen him put it together,” Judah responded.
“Zab, no bullshit. You are hanging out with the kid, you know him; you’re saying he can fight? So the kid he is going to fight is a wrestler, decorated wrestler. But he has actually fought real guys. He has been a world champion in other organizations in MMA.” said the UFC President.
Judah snapped back: “But it’s different though, Dana, when you’re standing up ... from wrestling to you are standing up and letting them hands fly, one thing I will say about him is he’s got hands. I am not joking.”
Finally, Dana White made the bold statement, “I hope you can bet on this thing because I will bet a million dollars that he loses this fucking fight. I bet a million dollars that he loses this fight.”
Jake Paul responded almost immediately, saying he'd double that bet, and even fight the UFC President himself after knocking out Ben Askren, which you just had to see coming....
I'd love to see them actually go through with this bet in some manner, because it'd add a hell of a lot more intrigue to the fight, which I think is a toss up as it is.
Why do I think that, you ask? Well, on one hand, Jake is almost certainly the better boxer.
Ben Askren's striking is NOT what his wrestling is, to put it lightly….
Some call him the worst striker in UFC history, having landed something ridiculous like 3 significant strikes over 3 fights, and while I think giving him the all-time worst title may be a biiiit harsh - there's a reason Jake Paul selected him (right off of a hip surgery) as his first 'real' matchup inside the squared circle.
On the flip side, Askren is definitely the better/more experienced fighter, and he's also the tough son of a bitch who withstood THIS….
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….which I think means he won't get knocked out (at least not by Jake fucking Paul), and he absolutely won't gas out (unless something goes horribly wrong), which absolutely gives him a shot in the deep waters.
I won't act like Ben doesn't have a favorable GIF or two, either….
As of this week, he's also now training with the legendary Freddie Roach, so you can't really ask for better guy to put together a gameplan….
I'm definitely starting to convince myself that I wanna see this fight. I've got no problem admitting that.
I don't think we'll see a knockout on either side, but I do think we could see the first loss inside the squared circle for Jake Paul, and if Ben Askren is the one to hand it to him, he'll never hear the end of it. It'd be glorious.
Maybe make Uncle Dana a little blackjack money in the process, too!