Earlier this week on The MMA Hour, Jake Paul called for a fight against UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal is, of course, currently under UFC contract and when asked about the callout, Dana White shut the idea down. This in turn roused a response from Paul who offered a bet to White: let me fight Masvidal and if I win, I get to continue facing UFC fighters but if I lose I’ll never bother you again. It’s an interesting offer as Paul has spent much of this year calling attention to the UFC’s issues with fighter pay but apparently that didn’t move the needle for White, who once again shut Paul down in a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph.

“Masvidal’s 170 pounds,” White said. “He likes 170-pounders. Go fight somebody your own size. Anderson Silva’s not under contract, he’s 46 years old - that’s the age group you love to fight - and he’s your size and he’s actually winning fights. If you look at Jake Paul’s history, Jake Paul either fights basketball players who have never fought or he wants to fight washed up older guys who haven’t won fights in years. Anderson Silva has actually been boxing, he’s won some fights, he’s 46 years old, and he’s in your weight class. There you go. That’s a no-brainer. Fight Anderson Silva...

“Fans would actually probably like to see that fight. It’s actually a viable fight that would actually sell some pay-per-views. Cause no matter what they tell ya, he ain’t f*cking selling pay-per-views. The brother did. Logan, when he fought Floyd Mayweather, they sold some PPVs. Triller ain’t selling jack sh*t. Those guys couldn’t f*cking give away pay-per-views. If Jake Paul goes out and actually fights Anderson Silva, it’s a viable fight.”

Paul’s fight against Ben Askren earlier this year under the Triller Fight Club banner reportedly sold well north of 1 million pay-per-views, however, White claimed they were “full of sh*t”. Instead of running it back with Triller (whose most recent show featuring Evander Holyfield vs. Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva vs. Tito Ortiz reportedly sold only 150,000 buys), Paul worked with Showtime for his fight against Tyron Woodley last month. That event sold a reported 500,000 pay-per-view buys. That’s a fair comedown from the 1.5 million sold against Askren but still a respectable number of buys.

While White and Paul have had a contentious history, going back and forth through the media all year long, White has also consistently showed a grudging respect for Paul’s ability to promote himself. And while White may dispute the numbers Paul’s fight with Askren did for Triller, even he has to admit that what Paul pulled for Showtime is solid.

“Showtime needs f*cking Jake Paul,” White said. “Their fucking fights are pulling 70K viewers for Christ’s sake. I could take a picture of my fucking big toe and put it on Instagram and more would see that than a Showtime fight. They need Jake Paul. So whatever they’re f*cking paying him, it’s probably not enough. They probably need to pay him more. They need that f*cking guy.”

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TOP STORIES

Former UFC interim champion Carlos Condit retires from mixed martial arts.

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Jose Aldo not interested in Dominick Cruz fight, willing to wait for No. 1 contender bout with T.J. Dillashaw.

Anthony Smith argues the light heavyweight division has moved on from Jon Jones just as fighters were catching up to him.

Trend. Twitter trend casts Tony Ferguson in barrage of fake movies.

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VIDEO STEW

Robbie Lawler interview.

Best finishes from Bellator 266 fighters.

The best combos in UFC history.

Jan Blachowicz fight camp.

Derek Brunson on the Food Truck Diaries.

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LISTEN UP

UFC Unfiltered. Interviews with Raquel Pennington and Ariane Lipski.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Farewell.

Also retiring.

Nate Diaz.

Well this isn’t optimal.

This is pretty cool.

Masvidal responds to Leon.

Wonderboy wants in.

Ready.

Big time prospect.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

N/A.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Carlos Condit is one of my favorite fighters of all time and one half of, in my opinion, the greatest fight of all time. It still surprises me that we didn’t see a rematch between him and Lawler but that was almost certainly better for both men’s longterm health. Godspeed, NBK.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the fights, and see y’all on Monday.

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EXIT POLL

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