LAS VEGAS – Jake Paul is actually thankful for all of the negativity Dana White has directed toward him.

Paul feels that the influential UFC president has done nothing but help broaden his brand by criticizing his boxing career. White has been very vocal at times regarding Paul’s level of opposition, particularly before he fought former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley on August 29, and how the prominent platform the inexperienced Paul occupies in boxing has been hurtful to the sport.

Paul couldn’t help but laugh when he learned that White would allow his upcoming opponent, Tommy Fury, to train at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas to prepare for their fight. The 24-year-old Paul (4-0, 3 KOs), of Westlake, Ohio, and the 22-year-old Fury (7-0, 4 KOs), of Manchester, England, will headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View event December 18 from AMALIE Arena in Tampa, Florida.

“Dana, again, thank you, wherever you are,” Paul stated during a recent press conference at a restaurant inside Resorts World Las Vegas. “Thank you for promoting my fights. You literally tee up every single fight for me perfectly. You place bets against me – I prove you wrong. You try to bring in coaches for my opponents, so that they can beat me. You’re letting Tommy Fury train at the UFC Performance Institute. Give it up, guy. Like give it up! ‘Fight a real boxer! When is he gonna fight a guy his own age?’ Or whatever Dana White is constantly f---ing saying.

“You know, I’m doing it. I’m doing it, and he’s mad that I’m doing it because he’s a control freak. And when he doesn’t have his fingers dipped into someone’s business, he doesn’t wanna see them succeed and he tries to bring them down. But he’s not smart enough to realize that every single time he talks about me, it just makes my sh!t grow up.”

Paul’s second Showtime Pay-Per-View event will not compete on the same platform as a UFC show next month. Showtime’s most recent pay-per-view show, headlined by Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez’s 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant in their super middleweight title unification fight, went head-to-head with UFC 268 from Madison Square Garden in New York.

The “UFC Fight Night” card December 18 will be available via ESPN+, ESPN’s $6-per-month streaming service.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.