Dana White Salutes Jake Paul's Joshua Gamble, Shuts Zuffa Door

Dana White doesn't hand out compliments to Jake Paul. So when the UFC boss called Paul's December decision to fight Anthony Joshua a "ballsy move," that's about as close to a truce as this rivalry gets. Paul lasted five rounds against the former unified heavyweight champ before getting stopped in the sixth, breaking his jaw in multiple places along the way.

Joshua, now 29-4 with 26 knockouts, needed until the sixth to close the show, and the fight went down on December 19 in Miami. White says he genuinely didn't expect Paul to go through with it, adding that boxing a man like Joshua isn't a game and could have gotten him seriously hurt. Coming from someone who's been feuding with Paul since the YouTuber first laced up gloves, that's a notable shift in tone.

For years, the knock on Paul was that he padded his record against MMA veterans and aging names rather than a live, in-his-prime boxer. The Joshua fight was the answer to that, even if the answer came with a broken face. White has been openly critical of Paul's project before and after the bout, so the grudging respect only stretches so far.

No Zuffa Deal, No Debate

Asked whether he'd bring Paul into Zuffa Boxing, White didn't hesitate: that's not what he does. He framed his promotion as a place where the best fight the best from debut to world title, and while he acknowledged there's a real market for Paul-brother spectacle fights, he made clear it isn't his lane.

Paul, for his part, isn't short of things to do while his jaw heals. There's no timetable for his return, but his promotion, Most Valuable Promotions, recently announced a merger with the PFL — the same PFL whose ESPN deal is set to wind down at the end of 2026. So the influencer-turned-boxer is building an empire on the business side even as the fighting side goes quiet.

The takeaway is simple. White respects the risk Paul took, but respect and a business partnership are two very different things. Paul finally proved he'd step in with a genuine heavyweight killer — and the result was exactly the kind of brutal reminder White warned about.