UFC president Dana White has said that he believes poor ticket sales is the real reason that Jake Paul vs Hasim Rahman Jr has been cancelled.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer and the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman Sr were due to meet on August 6, but it's now been announced that the fight has been cancelled due to a weight dispute.
Jake and Rahman Jr have exchanged words on social media over the cancellation
A statement's from Jake's Most Valuable Promotions read: "On July 5, Hasim Rahman Jr signed a bout agreement to fight Jake Paul at a maximum weight of 200lbs.
"At the time of signing Rahman provided evidence of his weight to give comfort to Most Valuable Promotions and the New York State Athletic Commission that he would not be losing more than 10 per cent of his weight over the four weeks leading up to the fight.
"Since weighing in at 216lb on July 7, Rahman and his camp have offered assurance after assurance publicly and privately that he was on track to make weight at the weigh-in on August 5, going as far as to provide a letter signed by a recognised nutritionist that his weight cut was progressing without issue per New York State Athletic Commission's required weekly weight checks.
"In the last 48 hours, it has become clear that these assurances were not made in good faith.
"On Friday, Rahman submitted a weight check to the New York State Athletic Commission that demonstrated he had lost less than one pound since originally signing to take the fight 24 days prior.
"This prompted the Commission to declare that it would not sanction the fight at less than 205lb.
Dana was asked about the cancellation at his press conference on Saturday night
"Still, Jake Paul was prepared to move forward with the fight at this new weight and a new contract was sent to Rahman's promoter reflecting a 205lb. limit, imposing strict penalties should he fail to make weight.
"Upon receiving this new contract Saturday morning, Rahman's camp indicated for the very first time that he planned to weigh 215lb at the official weigh-in and would not agree to weigh in at 205lb and informing Most Valuable Promotions that they are pulling out of the fight unless the fight was agreed to at 215lb.
"MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone that has conducted themselves in such a deceiving and calculated manner. Therefore, MVP is left with no choice but to cancel the August 6 event."
Jake Paul is 5-0 (4 KOs) as a pro boxer
The co-founder of Jake's Most Valuable Promotions is former UFC CFO (chief financial officer) Nakisa Bidarian.
Giving his reaction to the fight cancellation, Dana took some thinly vailed swipes at Bidarian.
"I'm not gonna sit up here and be happy or gloat that their fight fell out," he said at the post-fight press conference after UFC 277.
"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.
"But I will say this - just because you were an accountant here, doesn't mean you know what the f*** goes on here and doesn't mean that you can run a fight promotion company.
Dana and Jake have exchanged words in the past
"I think that Jake Paul probably needs to get some different people around him.
"If he's gonna stay in the sport, he needs to be with guys that actually really know how to put on fights."
Asked for this verdict on the weight dispute, Dana added: "I think they sold under $1million in tickets and it costs $500,000 to turn the f***ing lights on at MSG.
"That's what I think."
(@ThePeoplesMMA) 
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