Dana White isn’t too happy about his good friend Mike Tyson boxing the much younger Jake Paul in a July 20th showdown, but the UFC CEO kept his opinion largely to himself out of respect for “Iron Mike” … and his business partner Netflix.
The Paul vs. Tyson fight is set to air on Netflix for free as part of the streaming service’s pivot to live sports. That included a $5 billion 10-year deal with UFC’s corporate parent TKO to stream WWE events. And who knows? Maybe it will involve billions more for UFC content when the fight promotion’s current deal with ESPN ends in 2025.
So White played it a bit more political than usual when asked about the freakshow match-up.
“He gets mad when I do this, but Mike’s 60, man … I don’t know, what do you guys think about it?” White said at the UFC 299 post-fight press conference. “Who gives a s— what I think, it’s not my fight. I love Mike Tyson personally as a friend and he’s one of my favorite athletes of all time. I don’t know, let’s see what he can go in there and put together a training camp and come in.”
“I don’t like to see guys fighting at [58] ─ it’s be a 31-year age difference during that fight. You guys know what I think of that stuff.”
As for Netflix?
“I think Netflix should have got involved in live sports years ago,” White said, stepping completely around the streaming platform’s elder abuse matchmaking. “They’re late to the game, but they’re a force. And when you look at the amount of homes they’re in worldwide? … As all these massive streaming companies start to get bigger and bigger, they have to be involved in live sports.”
Asked if UFC would be talking to Netflix when negotiations for media rights began, White smiled.
“I’m sure we’ll be talking to everybody,” he said.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
