Two of Dana White’s enemies have fallen on the fists of Anthony Joshua.
Francis Ngannou was capable of explore his boxing ambitions after leaving the UFC in early 2023. He has since entered the ring twice, along with his most up-to-date outing concluding in a devastating way.
After giving Tyson Fury all that he could handle in his pro boxing debut, Ngannou was viciously knocked out by Joshua in 2024.
Jake Paul was also finished by Joshua just last December, but White believes the Cleveland native deserves some praise for avoiding the sort of KO that Ngannou suffered against ‘AJ’.
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Dana White credits Jake Paul for avoiding KO punch that Anthony Joshua slept Francis Ngannou with
Paul didn’t escape unscathed from his controversial boxing match with Joshua, which streamed live to tell the tale Netflix.
He was criticized for his approach to the fight, as he did what he could to avoid engaging with the previous two-time unified world heavyweight champion. But he was unable to evade punches for the entire fight, with Joshua breaking Paul’s jaw with a right hand in round six.
While he left the ring with some severe damage, Paul stayed conscious throughout his match with ‘AJ’, and White recently identified that the identical can’t be said for Ngannou.
“Listen, Jake Paul’s doing his thing,” White said during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “The guy has obviously made plenty of money, and other people have been interested.
“He plays the heel perfectly. In the event you hate what he’s doing and also you hate all of the stuff about him, you hate him so bad that you simply tune in to see him get knocked out.
“And I’ll inform you this, in the event you have a look at what AJ did to Francis Ngannou, right, and Jake — it was a terrible fight…did every part he could to avoid a fight — but once he got hit with that shot…AJ didn’t knock him out, and he definitely didn’t knock him out the way in which he knocked Francis out.
“If I give Jake Paul any credit, I give him that,” he added.
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It’s rare to listen to the UFC president and Zuffa Boxing boss directing any form of praise on the polarizing YouTuber-turned-boxer.
Paul has ceaselessly targeted White and his promotion’s pay scale, resulting in some heated backwards and forwards between the pair of distinguished combat sports figures.