Dana White says witnessing the eye poke controversy at the end of Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane in October caused him to pull the plug on a planned $10 million bet on Anthony Joshua against Jake Paul just two months later.
White told the Full Send Podcast that he was ready to stake everything on Joshua’s win before the Aspinall fight changed his mind.
I wanted to bet $10 million on Anthony Joshua, I would’ve bet every f****** thing that I owned in life on that fight. Then the Tom Aspinall fight happened, when he got poked in the eye, and I was like, ‘holy s—, what if Jake Paul does some goofy s—?’ If I were to bet on that fight, I’d have been sitting there freaking out that Joshua was gonna blow his ACL out because Jake Paul kept diving at his legs. You never know what’s gonna happen when you sports bet.
Joshua defeated Paul, but White’s caution ultimately proved wise given how often freak incidents affect combat sports outcomes. Had the bet gone through, White’s profit on the heavily favored Joshua would have been just over $800,000 on the $10 million wager.
Gane returns to action Sunday at UFC Freedom 250 against Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight title.