MIAMI – Dana White is not a fan of the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight.
Tyson (50-6) will be in the ring with Paul (9-1), a 27-year-old YouTuber turned professional boxer, on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. I will be 58 years old.
The UFC CEO didn't want to say too much so as not to upset his good friend Tyson, but he also didn't want to see when the boxing legend would compete.
“He gets mad when I do this, but Mike is 60 years old,” White said in the UFC 299 post-fight press conference. “I don't know, what do you guys think about that? Who cares what I think? It's not my fight.
“I personally love Mike Tyson as a friend and he's one of my all-time favorite athletes. I don't know. I wanted to see what he could do there and put together a training camp and get involved. Let's see. I don't like watching guys (of that age) fight. There was a 31-year age difference in that fight. You guys know what I think about that. I know.”
The game will be broadcast live on Netflix for subscribers, and White appears to have been interested in that. The streaming service, perhaps the best-known of its kind in the world, recently signed a long-running deal with WWE to stream Raw. weekly series starting in 2025, and other ancillary WWE programming.
WWE and UFC are affiliated as TKO Group Holdings through primary owner Endeavor. That means if the UFC ever talks to Netflix after its current broadcast deal with ESPN expires, the foundational pieces are already in place.
“I think Netflix should have gotten into live sports years ago,” White said. “I think they're late to the game, but they're a force. When you look at the number of homes they live in around the world…the show 'Reacher' – I posted about it. I love that show. I hate TV. I hardly watch TV programs. I don't watch movies anymore. But I love the show “Reacher.” You can watch “Reacher” whenever you want. I can watch it when I get home. You can watch it from next week. Tonight I got to watch live sports like (UFC 299). As these big streaming companies start getting bigger and bigger, they need to get involved in live sports. ”
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