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Nakisa Bidarian, who is Jake Paul’s business partner and co-promoter at Most Valuable Promotions, has fired back at UFC president Dana White over his recent statements with respect to the fallout of the canceled pay-per-view fight with Hasim Rahman Jr.
Paul was scheduled to face heavyweight prospect Rahman Jr. this coming Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
A few weeks ago, both men signed on for a contract weight of 200-pounds.
This past weekend, it was revealed that Rahman Jr. was unable to make the weight – even with a new limit of 205-pounds. Rahman Jr. was stuck at around 215 and was physically struggling to get down any lower.
As a result, the entire Showtime Pay-Per-View event was canceled.
In the opinion of White, the event cancelation had more to do with tickets sales than Rahman’s issues with making weight. While making those comments, White also took a direct shot at Bidarian, who previously served as Chief Financial Officer for the UFC.
“I’m not going to sit up here and be happy or gloat that their fight fell out,” White said. “Both those guys I’m sure put in a lot of hard work and a lot of training to get ready for this fight, spent money to get ready for this fight.
“I will say this, just because you were an accountant here doesn’t mean you know what the f— goes on here. It doesn’t mean you can run a fight promotion company. I think that Jake Paul probably needs to get some different people around him. If he’s going to stay in the sport, he needs to be with guys that really know how to put on fights.”
Those statements made their way to Bidarian, who took to social media to respond to White’s claims.
“Had zero to do with ticket sales,” Bidarian said. “We already sold more tickets, more gate than Ryan Garcia just did at Staples Center. We were going to be top-10 in gates since 2005 at MSG.
“Jake Paul was taking a big challenge. All of his fights have been from about 188 to 191 pounds, and all of his opponents — outside Nate Robinson — have been plus or minus one to two pounds of him. That’s all it is.
“They can try and change the narrative, they can try to destroy what this young man has done. I’m proud of him. He’s his own boss. He’s his own promoter, and I’m just an accountant. What’s up?”