Jake Paul’s KO defeat to Anthony Joshua ridiculed by Dana White in first response

Dana White believes those involved with Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua should be ’embarrassed’.

Paul was savagely stopped by the former two-time world heavyweight champion when they shared the ring on December 19.

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Since then, calls have unsurprisingly been made for Paul to hang up his gloves, with the bout already met with contention prior to it even taking place.

Although the American remains insistent that retirement is not an option, as he has a list of goals he has yet to achieve.

During an interview with Complex, UFC president White has since given his verdict on what he thinks the future looks like for Paul after his recent schooling.

He said: “It’s crazy that that fight [with Joshua] was even allowed to happen…

“I mean, I don’t know. As long as people keep wanting to pay and watch him fight, I guess he can keep doing it.

“It’s just not what I do, you know what I mean?

“To even comment on it, I think everybody that was involved in that thing should be embarrassed, number one.

“Number two, it’s just not what I’m into. Not my thing.”

Paul and White have been at odds for several years, with the latter heavily criticising his controversial boxing career.

So it is no wonder he has renewed his criticism of the bout, having spoken out against it before a punch was thrown.

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While Paul’s ventures in the ring certainly don’t interest White, a staggering 33 million fans worldwide did tune in to watch him take on AJ.

So clearly there was commercial appetite for the event, despite it not going down too well with fighting purists such as White.

What has Jake Paul said about his future in boxing?

Paul was hospitalised with a broken jaw and other facial injuries, but is still eyeing up a return at 200lbs in 2026.

Despite the brutal nature of the defeat, he is adamant he still has a future in the sport and even at world level.

Paul said: “Yeah, for sure [I want to keep fighting].

“We’re going to heal the broken jaw, come back and fight people my weight and go for the cruiserweight world title.

“I’m going to take a little break. I’ve been going hard for six years. I’m going to take some time off.”

Should Paul go straight to challenging for gold, the newly crowned WBC cruiserweight champion, Noel Mikaelian, is likely to be one of his main targets.

Elsewhere, he could look to challenge his old foe Tommy Fury or another of boxing’s superstar names like Canelo Alvarez.