Conor McGregor branded a ‘hostage’ of Dana White by Jake Paul in social media rant

Jake Paul and Dana White’s intense feud continues after the pair staged two of the biggest events of the year this weekend.

The social media star took on Mike Tyson on Friday night in Dallas, with over 65million households tuning in to watch live on Netflix. And 24 hours later, White staged UFC 309 which pitted the legendary duo of Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic against one another in Madison Square Garden for the heavyweight title.

And while both events were monster hits, the battle could still be felt at each other’s shows throughout the week. Undoubtedly, both were tuned into the other on their given nights, and had their own criticisms.

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Jake Paul claims Dana White is holding Conor McGregor ‘hostage’

After his fight with Mike Tyson became one of the biggest in boxing history, Jake Paul has been emboldened to make some big claims on social media. He has been taking to X this evening to take on a number of his rivals, including Artur Beterbiev and even his old friend Francis Ngannou.

His biggest issue appears to be with UFC boss Dana White, with whom he has had a long-standing feud. At the height of his run fighting top MMA fighters, Paul even released a diss track on the promotional supremo, which garnered millions of views at the time.

And he is now claiming that White’s most notable fighter, Conor McGregor, is a hostage of the promotion’s restrictive contracts. The Irishman is one of the most famous athletes in the world, but hasn’t been able to compete since breaking his leg in 2021 despite being cleared for years.

“Dana White has a been boxing promoter his whole career,” Paul wrote on social media, citing an old article from 2014 that reported on the quick cancellation of his The Ultimate Fighter spin-off The Fighters.

“All these nut riders need to do their research. His TV show failed. Couldn’t sell 4K tickets in Dublin with that useless Irish boxer he’s promoting [Callum Walsh]. And he is not fighters first. He’s Dana first. Builds you up and tears you down. Now Conor McGregor is hostage. Free Conor.”

Conor McGregor and Dana White are at odds over his UFC return

There does appear to be a serious issue brewing between McGregor and the UFC over his plans for a return to the octagon. Back in June, he finally scored a date for UFC 303, where he was set to face Michael Chandler over a year after they coached against one another on The Ultimate Fighter.

However, the Irishman suffered a broken toe and the bout was cancelled on short notice. He angled for a return by year’s end, and it seemed UFC 310 in Las Vegas would be his perfect date.

White, on the other hand, has now claimed on multiple occasions that he believes McGregor will be back in the cage in the latter part of next year. That would place his time out of the cage at almost four years, which is an unprecedented length of time.

For context, McGregor’s entire star-making run from signing to the UFC to fighting Floyd Mayweather was just over four years in and of itself.

While it seems that relations between the promotion and McGregor are at an okay point now, that was not always the case. In December of last year he appeared at a boxing event in Saudi Arabia, and told TalkSPORT of his concerns at being kept out of action for years.

“For all the figures I’ve brought into this game, I sell more than them all combined, no-one in the history of the fight game has ever been treated the way that I am being treated at this minute,” he said in a chat with Gareth A Davies.

“They f****** should open floodgates for me and I’m waiting and I’m waiting and I’m waiting. My patience has been wearing thin.”

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