Boxing

Dana White Gets Blunt About Ben Askren Financial Support After Jake Paul Callout

UFC's Dana White got very clear about whether he donated money toward Ben Askren's life-saving double lung surgery.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / Inpho Photography

Former UFC fighter Ben Askren (who lost to Jake Paul in the first round of a professional boxing bout back in April 2021) is currently in the hospital, recovering from a double lung transplant after a life-threatening complication that stemmed from having pneumonia combined with a severe staph infection.

While Askren is no longer in critical condition, there was a time when it appeared that he might not have been able to pull through. This was the most apparent when news broke that the double lung transplant would cost $2 million because his health insurance was not going to cover it.

As news of this swirled around the boxing community, Jake Paul pledged that he would be making a sizable donation (which Paul followed through with, giving $500,000) to help fund the surgery that Askren needed. Paul made this pledge right after his June 28 victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Moments after that, he called UFC president Dana White out for not also pitching in to help.

"It sucks that no one is doing anything. I was obviously super busy this week, so we're figuring out the donation now. But none of these people, like Dana [White] or anyone, are stepping in. So I feel like I have to do something. And that's really all it is," Paul said.

Despite what Paul said, there was no way of knowing whether White did give the Askren family financial aid but just didn't speak about it publicly.

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And when White was asked about this after the UFC's July 12 event in Nashville, Tennessee, he sent a clear message.

"Yeah. I usually don't talk about that stuff. But yes I did," White said when asked whether he financially supported Askren's surgery, per an X post from Jed I. Goodman. "I did. We reached out to his wife as soon as we heard, and told her if there's anything else you need, and yes, I did. I did. Yeah, I did. Yes.

"I just don't like talking about that s***. That's between us. But yes," he concluded.

White could not have been any clearer.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.