Jake Paul shoved Mike Perry during a face-off at their weigh-in Friday, then went on a rant against UFC president Dana White and mixed martial arts fighters, saying “they’ve been trying to assassinate me” and that they “don’t want me in this sport.”
Paul’s outburst started with a shove of Perry.
“He flew like six feet,’’ Paul said during an interview with Ariel Helwani on stage at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. “But look, Dana White said that he’s going to give (Perry) a UFC contract if he could knock me out. Well, guess what, Dana? You can rip up the (expletive) contract because I’m going to (expletive) up Mike Perry. Anyone you send at me, any one of your MMA fighters is getting (expletive) up.
“They’ve been trying to assassinate me. They don’t want me in this sport. They hate that I run this sport, but when you try to assassinate a guy like me, it only makes me bigger. I’m on a mission from God, a mission from God, a servant of God to save this sport. And that’s exactly what I will keep doing. Keep on winning, keep on fighting.’’
Paul has fought four MMA fighters — Nate Diaz, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Ben Askren — and defeated them all.
Perry, who also competed in the UFC before joining the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in 2021, shoved Paul back during the weigh-in. Several security guards then pulled Perry away from Paul.
“They working hard to protect him, bro,’’ Perry said, referring to Paul. “But tomorrow night in the ring, when it’s just me and him, no protection. He going down.
“You’ve seen how hard those big guys had to work to get me back. I was pushing through the (men). Moving all of they (expletive). That’s like a thousand pounds of pressure. That’s called ‘Platinum Pressure.’ I’m putting it on him tomorrow night.’’
Perry’s trainer James “JT” Taylor told USA TODAY Sports he didn’t know anything about a potential contract offer coming from White should Perry win. Spokespeople for the UFC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter left via voicemail and text.
Jake Paul weigh-in
Paul, who as a pro boxer is 9-1 with six knockouts, weighed in at 200 pounds – the maximum allowed for the cruiserweight fight.
Words were exchanged before the shoves.
“Why are you nervous?’’ Paul said. “I can see it in your eyes.”
Replied Perry, “I’m excited.’’
Perry indicated he wasn’t worried about the weigh-in showdown.
“You can have all this,’’ Perry said. “I want the ring tomorrow. That’s all I want.’’
Replied Paul, “You’re going to eat the ring tomorrow. Face first.’’
