Jake Paul can leave his disguise at home the next time he wants to attend a UFC event.
This past weekend, the social influencer-turned-boxing enthusiast posted a video claiming he had to sneak into UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas wearing a wig, fake beard, and glasses because he was supposedly banned from the UFC. While that makes for good content to post on social media, Dana White shrugged off the idea he banned Paul or anybody else from attending events when speaking to reporters following a Contender Series event Tuesday in Las Vegas.
“Oscar De La Hoya was there [at UFC 306]. OK, let’s put it that way,” White said with a laugh when referencing his tumultuous relationship with the former boxing champion. “Nobody’s banned from the UFC.
“Listen, that kid knows how to market and do his thing and all that good shit. Jake Paul’s welcome to come to UFC.”
Paul attended UFC 306 to support his business partner Sean O’Malley after they teamed together to launch a men’s body care line together called ‘W.’ Unfortunately for Paul, he had to witness O’Malley suffer a unanimous decision defeat to Merab Dvalishvili in the main event.
Over the years, Paul and White have engaged in a volatile war of words, but lately the UFC CEO has taken a different approach any time he’s asked about the 27-year-old fighter from Cleveland.
Rather than erupting at whatever Paul says or does, White has largely just brushed off the comments and refused to engage in any kind of back and forth with him publicly.
Even Paul declaring that he was banned from UFC events only got a chuckle out of White. In other words, if Paul wants to attend another UFC event in the future, he doesn’t have to play dress-up.