At the time, Jake Paul brought to the table the fact that Dana White, as president of the UFC, was not too willing to provide support for his fighters. A recent development seems to confirm this, as UFC star Kamaru Usman did not receive the support he would expect from his boss.
The Nigerian fighter is the current UFC Welterweight champion (from 156 to 170 pounds) and the best Pound for Pound fighter in Mixed Martial Arts. His record is 21 fights with 20 wins and only 1 loss. In fact, in his UFC career, he has not suffered a single defeat.
In January 2022, Dana White himself confirmed that Kamaru Usman’s next fight would be against Leon Edwards, however, recently, it has been speculated that the Nigerian Nightmare‘s opponent would be Colby Covington who is coming off of defeating Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision, and would like to have a rematch with Usman after being beaten in their first clash.
Dana White puts the brakes on Kamaru Usman’s dreams
Kamaru Usman has a goal in mind that he has openly shared with the press and fans: to fight Canelo Alvarez in what he himself called the biggest event that can be held in combat sports. One that would bring together in one ring the best fighters on the planet.
However, Dana White not only does not share Usman’s illusion, but he also undercuts and disdains it: “He (Kamaru Usman) is serious about it, he shouldn’t be serious about it. I don’t like that fight at all. Everything about it is horrible. It’s a stupid fight to make, it makes no sense. I don’t know how many people would be interested in seeing that.” stated White for Sky Sports.
Faced with the argument that there have already been successful crossovers between boxing and the UFC, such as the one between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor in 2017, White delivered another hard blow to Kamaru Usman: “When Conor and Floyd fought it took on a life of its own. Everywhere I went people asked me if those two are going to fight. It just kept building, building and building. It ended up being the biggest pay-per-view ever. Something could come along but the whole Boxing vs MMA thing is silly”.
Kamaru Usman has previously stated that he feels confident about being able to defeat Canelo Alvarez. This argument was supported by his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who predicted that his charge would knock out the current Pound for Pound King of boxing in three rounds.