The Untold Story Behind Dana White & UFC | Big Boy Off Air (Interview)

When you talk about a fight and let's talk about who the baddest man on the planet is it's if you lock two guys in a room who comes out some people can't deal with chaos some people can't handle the pressure but the universe works in crazy ways and when you figure out who you are and what you want to do and you devote your life to it like like a maniac like you're all in on this thing [Applause] These people end up doing what they say they're going to do and being who they say they're

going to become they're still fights that I'll watch and when it's over I go look [ __ ] do I do for what I said I don't know if this kid can fight or not but if he can even throw a punch he's going to be a huge Superstar Man Jake Paul fought a guy who was his age and was actually a boxer what happened he lost he lost Oscar De La Hoya is two-faced he's a liar total [ __ ] phony this story is crazy I don't even know if I've ever told this story

before so I had goosebumps telling you this [ __ ] story and I said I think we could buy the you I've seen I think we should do it [Music] [Music] look at look at [ __ ] Goosebumps big boy off air this is amazing Dana White is sitting with us man Dana What is your title now UFC president so you still UFC president but you guys just did a a different kind of I don't want to get all in your pocket really I do I know it's all good but if you guys just did

a different deal yeah that I don't give a [ __ ] about titles okay about titles and where you sit on the org chart or any of that [ __ ] I I'm not I don't care about that stuff you what do you care about uh winning yeah I heard that bro do you feel like you're Winning yeah let me tell you I walked in here and I only saw a piece first off where are we right now we're in my office so we're at UFC headquarters yeah and this is my office your office is

bigger than houses but you worked hard to get this that's why I never trip off anybody that has something I'm like man I can't fault you for the hard work that you've done but when I walked in here Dane I'm not gonna [ __ ] you bro Felt like I'm not doing enough in my life when I walked in you know I would like like to other people from Jose or whatever I probably look like damn big's the man I walked in here and I'm like oh [ __ ] there's just something I'm not doing

right now you know what's crazy is that first of all obviously I love what I do and I love this business I love everything about it but I love to take brands especially ones that people say can't be Built right and building them you know and uh you know you and I have talked about this several times but you know I got serious about my health a little over a year ago and all the stuff that I have going on right now in my life had I not done this over a year ago I wouldn't

have been able to do all this I wouldn't have been able to keep up and do what I'm doing right now were you feeling bad then or you just know how bad you were feeling I Was feeling really bad I knew I knew I was I was messed up but I was talking all these doctors and uh you know they couldn't do anything they couldn't fix me they couldn't help uh they had no answers for me so I I started to feel like this is what 50 feels like right right this must be what 50

feels like wrong I feel like I'm 30 now again so because it's amazing when we when you came in I was like [ __ ] he looks great you do you feel great you do too thank You well you just playing uh compliment tennis with me no no no listen and you feel like you save yours 100 no doubt about it you know when we're young you get out there and you're aggressive you're doing your thing and you don't really care right then as you start to get older and you start to feel like [

__ ] yeah you know um you want to educate yourself on how how do I feel better and it's not I don't give a [ __ ] how long I live I want A good quality of life quality While I'm Alive believe me I've seen many people like he's 84 he's still alive he's in a wheelchair again you don't know who you like yeah yeah so why did you feel it was necessary to do that you know because people would look at Dana White and think you have they'll say oh he has everything in the

world he got this you know why was it important to step back and take care of your health well you do you do you do Have all these things but if you can't physically get through I mean I was at a point where I would come in here you could ask anybody that was around me over a year ago I would literally fall asleep in the middle of meetings and things like that I was in a really bad place physically um and as far as my health went and then I met this guy Gary brecka

who is an absolute genius this guy isn't a doctor he's a human biologist and None of these doctors know anything about human biology everything they've learned is about medicine right right getting you on medication yeah man oh this feels weird taking this medication although it doesn't feel right take this medication finally you're on three four different medications that have 10 different side effects and mess you up in 10 different ways and that's what I was feeling uh I'm on no medication now you were on medication I was on thyroid I was on cholesterol and I

was on high blood pressure medicine and now I'm on none of that and my blood work has never been better I've never felt better and you know I am not the same person I was a year and a half ago do you feel like you saved your life 100 yeah and not even about saving my life my quality of life is incredible now I have an incredible quality of life I my legs were so bad that I could barely put my socks and shoes on Um Zero Energy I had sleep apnea uh snoring you know

you know go in and say hey I can't sleep what do they do they give you this right machine show me somebody who can sleep with that thing on right I couldn't all that shit's gone there's no snoring there's no uh stopping breathing at night there's no sleep apnea this guy said to me he looked at me and we're sitting right there in that chair he looked at Me and said you do what I tell you to do for the next 10 weeks and I'll change your life 10 weeks he's like it's going to be

hard I said no it won't when I set my mind to do something whatever and I can do anything for 10 weeks and it wasn't even 10 weeks you start to get into week six seven and my mother-in-law who's 80 was just going through a bunch of horrible stuff I called him he flew out he changed her whole life in six weeks she's 80. I had dinner with her last night she's not even the same person she was a month ago my wife was on the phone with her talking to her and she was on

speaker it was like 10 o'clock in the morning and I said to my wife I said your mother sounds like she's drunk what's wrong with her all she's been having some health problems you know they can't get her blood pressure under control and all this stuff call Gary breckett he flew out the next day from Miami he's located in Miami turned her around in weeks weeks this guy's a genius yeah anyway you talking about this but even on my end man like I lost 300 pounds right and I did gastric bypass 20 years ago but

I I'm still like you know I have complications I'm at this doctor I'm seeing this specialist you know I don't do meds and things but no one can ever catch on to what I'm feeling I'm tired I will teed I feel a certain way I never talked to a doctor About my General Health ever again if I break my arm I'm gonna go see a doctor if I need surgery I'm gonna go see a doctor my General Health never again none of them know what they're talking about they're all full of [ __ ] all

they know is to put you on pills and put you on medicine that's all they know I'm talking to Gary Brown you look at that room I hope I hope uh Gary Breck outlives me because uh man I hope I see you on Gary Brecker when you look around Just at my team that's that's off camera do you look at them and are you sad for any of them as you look around like these do some of them look like they need diamonds right now no when I look around at most people there has to

be a way for for Gary Brecker to figure out this is the future of medicine right Dana how what was your upbringing like because we look at Dana White now and we think we know this story how was how did you grow up yeah I Don't talk a lot about my upbringing my mom I grew up with a single mom um who worked very hard you know I definitely got my work ethic from her um as as I got older you know my mom and I didn't have a very good relationship my dad was an

alcoholic he wasn't a bad guy uh he was just a selfish guy you know my dad wanted to party and do his things and and never really uh you know cared about me and my sister So um I uh you know I wouldn't change one thing right every everything that I went through as a kid made me who I am today and I wouldn't change it you know but my mom worked hard she gave us the best life she could give us I don't know how she did it sometimes how she pulled it off as

a single mom with a with a dad that didn't pay anything and didn't care Um so I give her lots of credit for that does that make you put you in a position where even through life like I know you used the Box before correct did that keep you kind of outside of the house where you were you looking for things outside of the house as well because we didn't have everything that we have now we didn't have social media we didn't have 5 000 channels right you know right so what did you do Dana

White As a kid or a teen occupy your time yeah well me and my sister basically raised ourselves I mean my mom was at work all the time and me and my sister were home I know alone all the time so you know we we had stuff like you know my mom was the type of mom we had to have chores done when when she got home from work and stuff like that but uh you know we hung out with our friends we're both very social um we did what we needed to do at home

And then we were probably out most of the time uh but yeah I mean we we had pretty normal upbringings and it's not like uh we had a horrible upbringing uh we had lots of friends I mean my graduating class at Gorman has got to be like the most successful country of all time it's pretty cool that's Gorman here in Vegas Perry Rogers was I don't know if you know Perry but he he was in my class he Shacks agent and and Tatum and and and And a bunch of other guys he started with uh

Agassi and he's nice and warming like outliers [ __ ] yeah it was in my class um the 1995 American League rookie of the year was in my class I mean I could go on for Tita was in your class Tim poster at Gorman he built a company uh sold it to Expedia and then bought the Golden Nugget he was in my class I mean I could go on for an hour did you see that on campus Could you see the power of that on campus or when you look back you can say oh [

__ ] like not just the same school but you talk about the same graduating class my graduating class yeah not the same school I mean the same school I mean we had uh tons of guys from the same school Cedric career he's probably going to be the next mayor of Vegas oh wow yeah oh man he he was in my graduates even more opportunities for us when we moved to Vegas listen one of the Things that I love about Vegas there's many things that I love about this city I love the action here everything's 24

7. you know you could go to the grocery store one in the morning and a lot of other things that I love about the city but I'm a big guy on the American dream the American dream is real it's a real thing and it's something that I really believe in I fight for all the time and Vegas like is is The American if you come here I don't care where you went to school if you didn't go to school you know who you know who you don't know if you come to this city with a

great idea and you work hard enough car this this city will give you everything you ever dreamed of what brought you to Vegas so my mother was a nurse we lived in Boston my mother was a nurse and uh at the time I was 10 11 12 years old Las Vegas was paying nurses more Than any other city in in the country so for whatever reason my mom packed us up and moved us to Vegas and uh you know so I I was very lucky because I got the best of both worlds I got the

East Coast right on the west coast my grandparents lived up in Maine so I spent a lot of Summers up in Maine which I love still I love it up there and uh yeah I'm so thank God that my mom moved to Vegas so you come here at 11 12 years of age but you do make it back to Boston yeah we go Back and forth and and I uh actually moved back to Boston when I was 17. yeah right after I graduated so um and spent a few years there I came I went there

in 1988 87 and then came back here in Vegas in 95. and what brought you back in 95 was that the uh get the hell out of Dodge yeah yeah those those yeah so explain the reason why like well coming back which is a blessing in the sky as well too you know yeah no those guys did me the biggest favor of all Time you know I was doing business back there I was training people out of a gym and uh you know a couple of dudes that worked for Whitey showed up and and and

uh we're looking for some money that I couldn't pay them and uh eventually one day I was at my house and and uh I got a call and they said you got till tomorrow to pay us and I'm like or what or you're gonna find out so I literally hung up the phone picked It back up called Delta got a one-way ticket to Vegas I left all my [ __ ] like that's how serious it was and I left everything when you get here to or when you just get up and you say man one-way

ticket what are you coming to in Vegas well I came back here my sister was living here at the time um so I came back and uh my uh I stayed with my sister but my wife picked me up at the airport you know her And I had been friends since we were in eighth grade she picked me up at the airport um stayed with my sister for a little bit went out and got a job and then started the whole boxing thing but uh yeah that was I mean me and my wife my wife

picked me up at the airport and we've been together ever since what's the boxing thing here when you say you started the boxing thing so in Vegas there was a boxing gym boxing was Driving at the time you're talking you know mid 90s 1995. you still had Tyson and and uh all the big heavyweight names Riddick Bowe and you know the list goes on and on there were a couple of big boxing gyms here in town that that were popping at the time and I ended up at a place called United Champions and it was

me Roger Mayweather oh Jesus uh Nick one kick who was a Muay Thai Guy we we were basically the three principals in this Gym I was doing Fitness stuff Roger Mayweather obviously was you know training Fighters and Nick onekick was uh was was working with you know Muay Thai type clients and stuff like that and that's how I ended up uh connected with Floyd that's how Floyd and I first met each other was through um Jeff Mayweather Roger's brother you know we were all working out of these this gym and Roger was [ __ ]

nuts right yeah no nuts the [ __ ] that used to go on in this Room every day was yeah what did you want to be you know because if you if did you think that was everything like man I'm in Vegas I'm training I have a facility did you think that that was everything or you felt you knew you wanted something bigger so my thing was always this uh you know I walked out of a job when I was like 19 years old and I wanted to be in the fight game you know everybody

thought I was nuts in any capacity yeah not not Hands-On but any capacity I wanted to learn every single piece of the business and I did everything I mean I trained I boxed I I uh refereed I worked Corners uh you know I did everything the fitness side of it was you know for me to have the ability to make money and stay in the sport and learn everything that I could about the sport you know I just kept learning it was like some kids go to college and you know I'm I'm in college for

whatever Major I'm in but they don't really know what they want to do but they know they want to they think they want to be in this I knew I knew from the time that I was 19 years old that I wanted to be in the fight business so I had to go to college and that's what I did did you stay in college or no like do you talk about that college like that was your college exactly right my college was wishing it to the school of experience so there was a guy named Peter

Welsh in Boston and this guy was a a legend street fighting and boxing this was the type of dude at the time that you didn't seek him out you didn't this is the guy you went looking for kind of thing but I went looking for him I finally caught up with him because all I had heard this guy was like a living legend and he's young he's in his 20s at this time and uh I sought him out and I said I know this is weird you don't know me but I want I want to

work under you I want you To teach me everything you know about fighting and what's even crazier is he took me in how old are you at that time I'm 19 19 or 20 years yeah and he took me in and I started working under him and started to learn and obviously started to meet people through him and uh then the thing goes down where I come back to Vegas and I had already been with Peter Welsh for you know two or three years so I had acquired a ton of knowledge in the sport And

then I came out here and planted my flag and started doing my own thing and started to work my way up and uh yeah at one point when do you know that there's something out there that's that's other than boxing you know you know the fight game but when you started to see this almost brawl damn near bare knuckle thing called right UFC were you a fan early on too before you got involved did you see something coming no I watched the first one like everybody Did yeah everybody heard about this thing we watched the

first one and then I never really thought about it again because I was at such a huge fan of boxing you know what I mean the student of boxing at the time and uh it wasn't until Frank Fertitta and I were out one night at the Hard Rock here in Vegas and we saw a guy named John Lewis who was fought in the UFC and he was a jiu jitsu guy who had the only judicial School here in Vegas and Frank Fertitta Actually said I've always wanted to learn that ground stuff or whatever I said

me too I said I know this guy let we'll go talk to him so we went over and we talked to John Lewis that night and we set up an appointment with him from Monday to try Jiu Jitsu so then we took we grabbed Lorenzo me Frank Lorenzo went to our first Jiu Jitsu lesson with John Lewis on that Monday and after that we became addicted to it we literally started to train three four days a week And um yeah then we started to meet some of the fighters and we were blown away by how

smart these guys were and they weren't what you expected the stigma that was attached to the sport at the time we didn't see it it was like these guys are college educated they're family men they're good guys they're not you know Thugs and you look at things now by MMA Jiu Jitsu everything is is huge now but even when you're speaking about there was one Jiu Jitsu School in in right here right you know now you pop up and and it's everywhere people didn't even know what MMA stood for back in the days and that

how do you put so much into something that is so unknown yeah because now it's it's like oh okay we we know that now but to just say I love this and this is what I want to do yeah so so our Philosophy was we think if we do this the right way build this like a real sport and these are real athletes we think this thing could really be big someday and the question is always about timing is the timing right or not and and thank God the timing actually was perfect it's it's the

same thing that I did with powerslap that you see you know you see all these people talking [ __ ] we get to that but go ahead you see all these People talking [ __ ] about this thing right now it is identical to the UFC you like the same stuff that went on I've seen this 100 I've been here and done this before I know exactly what about sanctioning for them what happens oh yeah when the media shits on something right and telling you this is bad don't do the you know you got something

yeah you're like all right yeah they talking [ __ ] oh these are all Guys that have never built anything they uh nobody's ever depended on them for a paycheck they don't understand anything so it's almost the the exactly like if if the media is like oh this is the greatest thing that's ever happened it's like I don't know right when the media hates it you got it you got it and you know they're the ones that you that you gauge off if you want to know if you've got something successful You got you got

to have the media to tell you it's horrible it'll never work Dana going from we when we talk about early UFC and you say oh I saw it I kind of backed away from it I was I was a boxing guy yep Jiu Jitsu when do you become intrigued with UFC not not MMA but when you saw a company that was called so here's what's fascinating so we start training with uh John Lewis John Lewis starts to bring all these fighters in to train With us we start to meet these guys and we're like wow

these these guys are you know what I loved about them is everybody had a different story in boxing everybody's got the same story I came from the Mean Streets of such and such yeah if it wasn't for boxing I'd be dead or in jail these guys were the exact opposite they went to college here they did this if you grew up if you grew up and became a boxer you came from a hard upbringing Bro right and you got into something get off the streets program and you started the box right if you these MMA

guys if you took martial arts growing up or you wrestled you came for money right right you know what I mean right nobody took martial arts classes family you know what I mean you came up from from poverty so these guys all had different stories and we were totally into it so we ended up going to our first UFC event right and I think it was In it was either in New Orleans or it was in Atlantic City I can't remember that you're in the audience yeah we were there did you pay to get in

or you just had like you played to get in yeah we paid for our tickets we went and we started looking around man imagine if we did this imagine if we did that this thing could be big but not even thinking that this is a possibility or you feel or that we would own it right right so this story is crazy I Don't even know if I've ever told the story before but um so we start to meet these guys and for whatever reason some of these guys start gravitating toward me and want me to

manage that right so I start managing Chuck and Tito yeah okay and those were the the guys right at that time the UFC didn't even want Chuck Liddell they didn't want him in the UFC they wouldn't sign him I was Trying to get the UFC to sign Chuck Liddell at that time they're like now he's you're going in we don't manage it we don't think he's got it we don't think he's that guy we don't think he can be a star you know he's got the Mohawk all played out whatever whatever their weird [ __

] was at the time that they didn't want Chuck Liddell so um there was this guy named Wayne Harriman And he owned a company with John Lewis called the WFA right so he calls me and says I want you to run the WFA I want you to come in and take this over and I want you to run this company and I'm willing to offer you offer me like 200 000 a year and this is back yeah this is in uh this has got to be in uh 99 or 2 000. right I I can't

remember The exact date I'm going to give you a house I'm going to pay you 200 000. I want you to come in and run this company for me I was like all right let me think about this so I call Lorenzo and I said I just got this offer to run the WFA and he's like what the [ __ ] I thought you and I were gonna do something together I said wow yep we will so I turned this this guy's offer down I [ __ ] you not two weeks three weeks later I'm

on a call with Bob Myers I have Goosebumps telling you this [ __ ] story so I'm on a call with Bob Meyer what's the owner of the UFC and I'm trying to negotiate Tito's contract and I'm trying to get Chuck into the UFC right and They had screwed Tito over on some money and stuff so I'm trying to get the money back That Tito got screwed over on UFC with the UFC at the time and uh finally Bob meyerwood's [ __ ] snaps and he says you know what there is no more [ __

] money I don't even know if I have enough money to put on the next event that he freaks out on me right and hangs up when we get off the phone I Go holy [ __ ] I called Lorenzo and Frank they're in Miami right and I said I just got off the phone with Bob meyerowitz he just [ __ ] freaked out on me man he basically said there's no more money with the UFC he's probably gonna go BK blah blah blah blah I think we could buy the UFC and I think we

should do it I said Lorenzo you should give him a call and whatever Lorenzo calls Bob marowitz and the negotiation starts for the uh for the year There's no assumptions that anything's gonna happen I never asked for anything I never would ever long story short we start going down the road with these guys and two months later three months later whatever whatever the time to Lorenzo ends up buying the UFC him and Frank call me over and they're like we want you to be the president of the company we want you to run it so

just like literally went from trying To get Tito his money yeah getting cursed out or someone yelling into the US yeah to calling and saying hey I think there's a move here yeah I think we're gonna I think we could buy this thing and I think we should so did y'all really get the UFC for two million dollars two million okay two million for It 2 million and an old octagon right so the name and an octagon Bob meyerowitz to keep this thing alive had stripped Everything that he sold away the video game rights the

DVD rights that wasn't DVD at the time I was [ __ ] the videotape rights everything all the ancillary things that go around the UFC were sold off we bought the three letters UFC old wooden octagon and like 12 or 13 contracts guys that he had under contract anyone when you said or the Fertitta brothers when they said two million dollars Did anyone say man why are you throwing your money away Everybody all the [ __ ] genius now all the smart kids that work for the UFC at the time I mean for the uh

fertitas you know on the on the finance side don't do it beg them not to do this beg them not to do it then once we started to get into we were like the red-headed stepchild of the [ __ ] of the Fertitta portfolio oh really oh yeah oh yeah the UFC like too they hated it this is garbage I hated it everybody that was affiliate and Even more respect to the Fertitta Brothers for for you know staying in there because everybody that that worked for them hated the UFC and thought that this was the

worst idea and they were going to lose shitloads of money and I could kind of understand that early on you know of course everything in the rear view mirror is [ __ ] genius when you're looking through the windshield it's like oh stop this [ __ ] stop this [ __ ] but when we think about 2 million there's people that say oh I would have put into that because what the Empire is worth now yeah but y'all take 2 million and it's not successful off of 2 million and and it's still a lot of

true story is no you wouldn't you wouldn't have put up to a million at them right not that not at that time and nobody couldn't right yeah and and Vince McMahon this is from what I hear his son Shane wanted to buy the UFC Vince had the opportunity to Buy it and then said yeah no we're not going to buy it Vince could have bought this thing and just put it on the shelf or Vince could have brought it and let his son you know it's funny because I think the right [ __ ] got

it though there's I don't believe in much okay I don't believe in much but I I believe in timing for some reason I believe in karma for some reason there's certain things that I do believe in um but the universe works in crazy ways Yeah we were meant to buy this you know did you almost feel automatic this hard work but it almost felt like the sun moon to start everything that's supposed to be aligned 100 and if Lorenzo was sitting here right now Lorenzo would tell you he said it a million times and he

says to me all the [ __ ] time he's like you were me you were put on this [ __ ] Earth Yep to do this this is what you were put on big and small thing right That was was for this when we start having a couple drinks me and him and we start talking about how everything just sort of aligned so there was a point in time where I was so focused on where I was gonna go and and my career right wherever that was going to take me we we could be friends

for whatever I didn't go to anybody's wedding right I didn't go to anybody you know that that point in your life when all your friends start To get [ __ ] married it's like wedding after [ __ ] wedding after and I'm out why I'm I'm too busy this yeah I don't have time for that kind of [ __ ] why do people tell you it was a blanket [ __ ] policy it wasn't just yours right no I've known you for 20 [ __ ] years yeah love you I'm not yeah I won't be

your wedding send you a nice gift here's a [ __ ] here's it because you're great because you were focused all I gave a [ __ ] about was work and and This is at the time where I'm in United Champions with right right when one kick you know what I mean so um there's this kid that I went to school with named Adam Corrigan Jesus Christ I got to go to this [ __ ] Gourmet [ __ ] Adam Corrigan owns a bunch of bars and restaurants here in town right now right this [

__ ] he was rich I was poor right say that again bro yeah he was rich and I was poor this [ __ ] guy used to pick Me up every day and drive me to school every day okay he'd have to get up earlier to get ready for school to drive all the way over to my house pick me up and drive me to school every day this dude's getting married there's no [ __ ] way I'm not going to his wedding okay for what this guy did I never forget right people do for

me there's no way I'm not going to Adam Corrigan's wedding okay Everybody else's wedding and I'm not going right I go I go to Adam Corrigan's wedding right and I have to go by myself my girlfriend at the time who was my wife is off doing something else what what's worse than going to a wedding going to a [ __ ] Wedding by yourself I go to this wedding who do I run into Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta I haven't seen them since high school so oh my God they approached me at the Wedding and they

said hey we heard you're doing this boxing thing Lorenzo says to me I just got on the Nevada State athletic Commission I would love to come over and train with you look at it look at the [ __ ] Goosebumps this is one of those things so Lorenzo comes Monday to train with me we've been together ever since at a wedding the only wedding that I would go to Where the [ __ ] would I run into Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta how did I knock onto that wedding these are the type of things that

align that we were just talking about if this was the movie people say oh that's [ __ ] you know what I'm saying if that was the movie we're like oh you know he wasn't going to weddings right he goes there and and then you know happily ever after it's it sounds like [ __ ] it's crazy but it's the realest [ __ ] that's the stuff that Happens and the lines in your life and I bet I could sit here and you could tell me oh yeah 30 stories oh yeah how that happened oh

yeah it's not interesting though you know it's not an interesting but yeah I could you know we'll do that on the next interview so would you get to UFC for y'all get to UFC for two million dollars it's not automatically the cash cow that people thought it was or what it is today right And at some point you still they're still 40 50 million dollars that you guys got to still put into UFC for one you can't get sanctioned anywhere right it's barbaric nobody wants to see it there's no rules what was that like early

on did you feel like y'all waste two million dollars well think about this right this thing we we knew to make this successful we had to get this thing on television when we bought it it wasn't Allowed on pay-per-view right you as a grown adult didn't have the option to buy this on pay-per-view porn right was on Pay-per-view UFC was not allowed on pay-per-view that's how bad it was so for anybody you know looking at this now going oh this is a no-brainer right weren't a lot on Pay-per-view no commission Not only would commissions not

sanction it in a couple places it Was actually illegal right number one um and and number two no venues wanted us right right who would want these Savages to show up at your Arena right and you know and then that plays into the Donald Trump uh relationship we can't get a venue Donald Trump actually says come to the Taj because you you were literally had a fight card together so when we bought it there was already a there was already a card plan that we Had to pull off in like two and a half three

weeks we'd never done production before we we'd never put on a fight we'd never done any of that [ __ ] but I knew what I wanted I knew you know I felt like I knew exactly what fight fans wanted to see what they want now I needed to build it now I needed to make it happen and and uh but uh yeah I mean we went to the Taj Trump cut us a deal showed up for the First fight stayed to the last you know both times that we put on a card there Trump

brand here right right at that time UFC brand here right you know the fact that this guy saw it from the day we did that deal with him and did whatever every good thing that had happened to me in my career after that you know we get back on pay-per-view we end up doing a spike deal from there we do a fox deal this guy would like there was a big write-up about us the first Time in the New York Times that we ever got in the New York Times he sent me the New York

Times and it said Dana I always knew you were going to do it congratulations Donald Trump sent me the paper there's a diff when you and Donald Trump relationship there's something different there than political no it's it's loyalty it's it's a loyal this guy has been a good friend he's been you know a guy who did something at a time saw Something in this thing when nobody else did and did something for us that nobody else would at that time and what did I just tell you about the wedding there's no way I'm not going

to Adam Corrigan's wedding right of course I'm gonna go to Adam corgan's wedding when I don't go to anybody's wedding When Donald Trump ends up calling me he's going to get into politics and says this is what he called me and said if you don't want to do this I Completely understand but I would be honored if you would speak at the you know Republican convention for me now before that day look at me politically right right nothing nothing you think I'm not going to go speak for Donald Trump right that's you damn right I

am the Buddy no I mean look what this guy's look what this guy did for us Now he calls me yeah I don't want to be political I can't tell you I didn't show up and give a political speech right I could give a [ __ ] about the politics of everything else I showed up and told you this is the relationship that I've had with this guy and this is who this guy is and this is who this guy has been to me since the day I met him you want to talk about a

loyal dude and whatever I can't tell you enough good things about Donald Trump I want to give back also to this first getting the UFC team as well when you grab that is there any time where you felt like you guys made a bad decision because now you still got to put money into it you still got commission you still got the sanctions you still got to build this brand up was it work that you enjoyed doing or did you feel like [ __ ] what did we do first of all one thing about me

is I love adversity you know what I mean some people fold yeah under adversity some people can't deal with chaos some people can't handle the pressure I love that [ __ ] I I [ __ ] that's what gets me up in the morning I eat that [ __ ] for [ __ ] breakfast negativity on on on social media negativity from the media negativity from whoever they are they're out there talking [ __ ] I love that [ __ ] and that's what Motivates me and gets me going so the more you give me

energize me the more you you make me go I I can't explain it to you I thrive in chaos what is the fight that saved UFC um because well let me let me tell you this first so we we got all this [ __ ] there was no real social media back in those days and the media would not cover us so this gets into how do you and I know Each other and how do you and I have this long time relationship that we have I'll tell you exactly how because we were now we

couldn't get coverage from anybody so we went out and started to buy radio yeah so we radio was incredibly [ __ ] powerful at that time right you were driving in your cars the morning you know you know we went in and we bought radio so that was our social media at the time that was our you know armed media I did more [ __ ] radio I would like to see somebody if you're Jay-Z I would like to see somebody that did more [ __ ] radio than me from 2001 to 2005. and then

even five six seven I was still doing tons of radio and I had to get up at 3 30 in the morning because I had to hit the morning drive on the East Coast so from 3 30 in the morning till 7 8 in the morning I would do non-stop radio because I'd start at 3 30 in the morning on the East Coast then we'd work our way to the mid the Midwest yeah then I'd be on your radio show you know because there was no so you had to wear many hats it was like

departments and well then the other thing was it got to a point it ain't like now where we're like everybody's on [ __ ] zoom and doing all this [ __ ] so we'd do the radio tour that I would buy but then most of you guys would be like yeah no we want You in studio yeah yeah I'd have to [ __ ] fly to New York I'd have to fly to Boston and I'd be in a van and we would go from radio station to radio station to radio station then I'd have to

do the Midwest I'd have to go down to the [ __ ] uh to the South I'd have to go out to LA and I'd have to do all these in studio yeah we'll take you three on the radio but then we need you in studio for the right so insane I mean this is this is the the Travel schedule that I had then I'd have to go to all the fights and do all this other [ __ ] yeah I was on the road there was a couple of years there where I was actually

in the air more than I was on the ground together yeah as we started to get more and more fights but we built this entire business off radio in the early days man thank you for saying that no you know that's what it's the truth but that's how you and I became friends yeah I mean You and I met each other and there's there's a handful of guys and you're one of them that I became really good friends with from my radio days it's like you Jim Rome this guy birdsey from Boston uh that that

had a radio show out there and a couple others after the first one or when you feel like this is okay this is Do or Die you know how does this work what what fight because I know that people say oh man when Griffin and Bonner when they got into when they got into the ring with the Octagon was that the one that you you feel saves UFC so we're 30 something million dollars in the hole I get the call from Lorenzo and he's like oh I can't keep doing this man we're bleeding money I

need you to get out there and find out what we could sell this thing for right now and we're 30 something million in the hole I go here we go I start making all these Calls to really Sally yeah I call him back and then you know six seven at night I said six seven eight million bucks we could sell this thing for right now 30 million in the hole we're lucky we're good if we get six seven eight yeah and you're talking this ain't 2001 right when we got it you're talking this is 2004.

you know middle of 2004. and uh He says all right all right I'll call you tomorrow so Lorenzo tells the story all the time he's like you know how you you know you get you're at the end of the [ __ ] day a lot of [ __ ] Weighing on your mind he makes this call to me and I tell him the number and you wake up they sleep on it you wake up the next morning literally calls me the next morning seven in the morning says [ __ ] it [ __ ] it

let's keep going So you're gonna keep going we end up getting to a point where Spike TV they launched Spike TV which we used to be like the Nashville Network or something now it's it's going to be the uh the network for men if we don't fit in this [ __ ] yeah like where did we go anywhere exactly 100 I mean we would have done a deal with the [ __ ] Food Channel back yeah you know uh we would have been on any channel that we could get on but we go Out we

meet with these guys and we pitch them on the idea for The Ultimate Fighter they don't like it so Spike TV yeah they don't like it These Guys these guys we're in L.A this is the channel for me and they were going to the Dodgers game that night they're like yeah they're looking at their watches and [ __ ] they can't get out of this meeting fast enough so we end up calling them back and Saying well how about if we pay for it we'll put up the 10 million dollars to produce this show wow

and then you guys air it for free so again the beautiful thing about the way that things work out and how things happen now we're 40 something million in the hole so this is the last 10 million that the fertittas are going to invest in the UFC if this doesn't work it's just over So um we air the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and this [ __ ] thing just starts to go like this you know by the fifth episode we're pulling 2.3 2.4 million viewers they fired the president of the network halfway through

the season a good fire or a bad fire for UFC I don't know how bad fire for us so they fire him so you know Everybody watching knows when you see a successful show on TV right when it takes off they're on [ __ ] buses there's commercials everywhere though oh yeah we're on no [ __ ] buses there's no [ __ ] Billboards there's no nothing everybody at Spike TV is hiding in their cubicles afraid they're gonna get fired next right I start flying to New York and I'm waiting in the lobby of Spike

TV and they won't even see me Sitting there for [ __ ] hours they wanted to see me I got I got the hottest show on the network they won't even see me so finally I pull so this guy named Doug Herzog okay Doug Herzog runs all the networks and they had a guy sitting in is acting president his name was Kevin k and Kevin K ended up becoming the president of the network but the Doug Herzog was the most powerful guy at that time in this Viacom block he had like uh Comedy Central Spike

MTV VH1 and and all these different channels that he ran so I pulled this [ __ ] move I tell the lady at the desk I said you know what let these guys know I'm going to meet with Kevin I'm going to meet with Doug Herzog okay I'm going to meet with him and I'll get back to you guys I didn't make it out of the building They come back and pull me back and long story short we end up meeting with Doug Herzog Doug Herzog ends up being a [ __ ] great guy I

end up really liking this guy a lot and uh you know we start to talk about what's possible so we still don't have a deal for a season two or any of that so we get into the finale Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner go out and put on that fight at when that fight happened I knew I'm like I don't even give a [ __ ] what's gonna happen we're gonna end up somewhere after this the spike guys literally pulled us out into the alley and we did a [ __ ] deal on a napkin

that night for our deal with Spike TV and um yeah that that was that was where the whole thing turned turn a corner so now you're starting to see UFC kind of taking a turn you know you you see Spike TV has come on board The hard work is not starting to pay off but you just kind of seem like you're turning this corner oh no what did that feel like when you started to turn that corner yeah we we feel it and who are the fighters at that time the fighters when we started to

to to you know hit hit the uphill were um Chuck Lidl Tito Ortiz um you know Stefan and all the guys that came off The Ultimate Fighter all became Stars right immediately um Matt Hughes yes sir Rich Franklin those were like our Our Stars at the time and uh you know I I just we knew it we felt it now we're on TV we're starting to see a difference in pay-per-view buys we start uh cutting the fighters in on a piece of the pay-per-view so it's it's all and it had a very family feeling at

the time you know me and Chuck Liddell were super tight me And Matt Hughes were super tight Rich Franklin uh you know Forrest Griffin is in that building right over there working right now um you know so it was fun we were having it because the work is still hard of course yeah no the work isn't hard when you love what you're doing you know we were grinding but uh it was it was a great experience and we were loving it I couldn't imagine we had this conversation earlier and I've had it before I couldn't

imagine UFC without Dana White you know like if Vince McMahon would have purchased UFC it'd be a totally different Beast if anything at all especially to this day right and the popularity of what this brand is and from a guy that said you know I went to a wedding uh you know I saw some old friends of mine we figured out something we made it think about how many people eat off of UFC today yeah eaten off a USC and you have seen and how much joy like I plan Saturday nights around pay-per-view events where

it's like okay I can't go yet you don't say I I'm not leaving the house until I watch this and I'm talking about every underground you'd never know what's going to be fight of the night and when I watch UFC for one why are you at the table you could be anywhere in the UFC but you choose to be at that table watching it on a monitor yeah why so so I'm still an Absolute lunatic about the the there's there's a massive company now yeah and lots of ancillary things spin off the brand video games

merchandise gyms et cetera et cetera right and one of the things that you have to really stay focused on is not losing your [ __ ] mind I get in here every [ __ ] day 8 30 9 o'clock I leave every day at 7 30 quarter to eight okay I'm here all day every day and the things that I focus on is the Live event on television and in-house finding up and coming Talent and putting on the best fights that I can possibly put on now if I stay focused on that you can't [

__ ] this thing up you know what I mean you can't forget who you are because you can get out there and start worrying about listen video games and all that other stuff is great but if without the core of what this business Really is none of that [ __ ] matters what are you looking at when you're watching that model so there's a there's a phone on the table that goes directly to the truck when I pick it up and I'm always looking for Perfection I want the perfect show every Saturday night and it

can be um you know I'm unhappy with something that's happening here music's too loud music's too low um you know I'll tell you what happened The other day I called picked up I said tell Craig to come out here he's my head of production we had these spotlights that went all the way around the arena that look cool on TV but if you were there in the live audience it was shining on these people's heads I said these people are watching the [ __ ] show why are these spotlights shining on their head during the

fight and this is already live yeah this is why we're live these are all the little Details that I'm looking at during the fight and then what's happening inside the Octagon I cannot [ __ ] control right okay but what's happening on that monitor I can do you watch the fight do you enjoy the fight yeah yeah yeah so I'll watch the fights but but you're doing everything everything that's going on inside the arena live and on TV even the experience of us having lights on our head you're concerned 100 100 I want to make

sure that everybody's Experience on television and in the live event is as [ __ ] close to perfect as we can get when did you know or had that feeling that it was starting because now you'll go and you'll see not even now you'll see stars in the audience it's it's a lifestyle it's not just guys just kind of sitting down want to see people beat the heck out of each other it has become popular it has become culture pop culture yeah When did you know that that was coming or did you see like man

did you see did you have the the moment of did you see who was in the audience tonight well not only that but it's like when you talk about go on YouTube and type in fights like street fights they're starting a street fight like MMA now the street fights are like MMA fights guys will pick them up yeah and dump them on their head Um and go to the ground then you started to see like in movies and TV right TV shows there was like a boxing ring and they'd always right now now it's all

[ __ ] cages and and stuff like that you see it's starting to take over in pop culture um and you know people don't even now when you and I grew up your parents would put you in karate or Taekwondo or something these kids are taking mixed martial arts now for the martial art Yeah so you know I started to see that start to happen in like 2010-11 is when it really started to to turn and take over the whole boxing uh you know boxing was pop culture and you saw rings and they talked about

boxing and now it's all at any point when you get the UFC and you start putting money into it did you ever think about changing the name UFC early on or you always knew the one thing that we knew we had when we spent the two million Dollars those three letters good bad whatever the you heard of it yeah you heard of it and then when you started to see sort of the you know for lack of a better term the sloppy carbon copies coming up when you started to see those do you feel like

we got to squash them or they'll squash themselves because they they'll never be us no well listen if you look at the ones that are still out there I mean they copy every single Thing we do everything we do from getting into the Octagon the way we do it you know all the stuff that goes on they literally copy every single thing we do and everything with UFC is beautiful though you see the lights you see everything is beautiful and it's pristine and it's clean you know I come up also from enjoying boxing enjoying and

I would look at certain Sports and I'm like oh look at the lighting you know I don't know if I'm too close to it If I'm a production guy but I look at certain things and I'm like you know the pickup what the audience look like what this what the seating look like everything new that comes out that's you know in advance in production we try and we try to do new things and and try to keep it fresh if you really look at you and I coming up in boxing the gold standard at the

time was HBO right they were the gold standard boxing but what changed in 30 [ __ ] years of Them covered they had the same announced team you know same setup same style um and the only thing to change was HD right right right right same [ __ ] HBO really wasn't that good it was the best because it really wasn't that good and one of the things that I really hated about HBO boxing and boxing you know in our heyday is the commentary Larry Merchant was [ __ ] terrible that guy's [ __ ]

terrible I mean I'm tuning in I idolize [ __ ] Mike Tyson you know I I idolized [ __ ] some of these guys and you would hear that even even Floyd yeah I mean even Floyd Larry Merchant gets in there and starts ripping them apart after his fight and says if I was 30 years older I'd kick your ass 30 years younger if I was 30 years younger yeah what the [ __ ] are you talking about you dementia I mean it's just I hated it right you don't ever hear our commentators talk bad

about our Fighters These guys what these guys are doing they're stepping in the ring they're stepping in the Octagon they're they're they're they're putting everything on the line in front of the whole world to test themselves against somebody who's trained as hard as good as them who the [ __ ] are you to have anything negative or criticize what they do you can talk about the fight match up styles this that I hated HBO's boxing is commentary Lampley was a [ __ ] fool too guy was a total fool I couldn't stand the whole team

so I took all the things that I right uh hated about HBO boxing and made you know UFC better because of it when you look at where it's at now and you I mean you never hold your tongue you know we've seen some great fighters in enter and exit as a human being bro have you ever disliked one of your Fighters where you're just Oh absolutely because you're a human being first yeah yeah yeah yeah right is there anyone there's many guys that I disliked is there anyone that you thought like man I hope he

get his ass beat tonight Tito Ortiz I mean it was very [ __ ] Africa every man when him and Chuck fought you know as the promoter you're not supposed to have a rooting interest at such a critical time in the Sports Development and in the in The development the UFC there are probably two guys that that that absolutely tried to destroy the company at that time and it was Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture really 100 yeah two of the worst guys to ever [ __ ] deal with but you had a relationship early on

with you right because you managed them 100 so that went from sugar to [ __ ] did that it did and so when you were like man were you vocal about I hope he lose or could we Just tell did I not I don't think I was ever vocal about it you know it was a lot of behind the scenes stuff with me and him a lot of here's the problem with Tito and Tito's just a really dumb human being he's not intelligent at all he's very very [ __ ] stupid okay let's start there

and I mean look at him speak publicly anytime look Google Tito Ortiz talking okay you know and then I don't have any beef with Tito anymore you know you're [ __ ] stupid Tito you know you are so Tito would we'd be coming up to a big fight that was on Saturday right deals have been done for months Tito would call and say I'm not going to show up unless you pay me another 150 000 or whatever the number was he would do this on the regular you know and I would go [ __ ]

crazy and we would you know but these are the kind of Tito was always the type of guy That would step over dollars to pick up dimes okay because he thought he was smart but he was the complete opposite of smart he's yeah he's not a smart guy so he destroyed what could have been an incredible relationship because we love Tito at the time you know Tito was our guy Tito was my guy Franklin Lorenzo love Tito and you know he he uh absolutely destroyed a Relationship that he could have had for the rest of

his life um over Nichols Nichols in the big picture Chuck Liddell was the exact opposite Chuck Liddell still has the relationship you know we still take care of Chuck Liddell we still do good things for Chuck Liddell because Chuck Liddell is a good person right he's not stupid he's very smart actually and you know when you're in a business type Relationship it's not always perfect right it's not always whatever sometimes there's hard feelings about certain things or whatever but there's loyalty is a big deal you know loyalty is a big deal and loyalty goes both

ways not a one-way Street loyalty loyal loyalty is a two-way street and uh you know we've had a lot of those great relationships with with a lot of these guys and girls it's my Ronda Rousey Relationship Ronda Rousey at one point you probably didn't see women in UFC I mean if there's a famous TMZ clip or I said women will never fight in the UFC and you have to understand at the point in time when I said that we're trying to get people to accept men fighting and again right women yeah no way I want

will you pull up YouTube on your phone real quick I I just I want to get this in the show listen to the commentary His disgraceful exit scary imposing music let's see feeling they were too that's for over all he does I just so they say all his Knockouts were over second-rate Fighters so I you know I just paid back then what 30 [ __ ] dollars or whatever and whatever uh sitting at home and I [ __ ] love Mike Tyson and I gotta listen to this [ __ ] fool Talking [ __ ]

ripping him apart while he walks into the ring it's just like and then a lot I used to mute the [ __ ] commentary from these morons I mean you imagine you're buying this [ __ ] fight because you are a Tyson fan right and you got to listen to this bozo who knows nothing about fighting knows nothing about you know when you see Mike talk about where he comes from what's going on in his life and all these other things that are Happening with him right this this is this is what you're gonna get

while you're walking into this you made a conscious decision and effort to make sure that your guys didn't do that yo listen that's that's not what we do here your personal opinion of Mike Tyson or or or Jon Jones or [ __ ] Conor McGregor or any of these guys that are walking into the we don't want to hear your [ __ ] [ __ ] you're there to be an analyst about the Fight here comes Mike Tyson you know how does he match up against bother is he gonna and basically this guy I just

bought the fight he's saying this fight's going to be one-sided no matter how one-sided fight this is this guy's been knocking out bombs is basically what he's saying who the [ __ ] are you that's like one of the Albert Brothers I don't know who he is you're talking [ __ ] about fighting mm-hmm Who the [ __ ] are you right I mean this is just the stuff that used to drive me crazy right and who are you to judge Mike Tyson while he's walking into the ring you should be an analyst and you

should be talking about him and bother and how's this going to match up every time you're a spectator right I'm a fan I'm boxing I'm I'm there watching the thing and I got to listen to this [ __ ] bozo just decimate Mike Tyson while he walks Into the end of the ring on a fight that I just paid 30 to watch but do you know do you know what I mean these are the things that I used to watch and say these are the things that I hate about the production but do you know

you're watching for your future or you just know as a fan as a fan I was watching going this is I gotta mute these morons they're terrible you know from him this guy's saying this is one of the Albert Brothers I have no idea who it was then you got Larry Merchant who says nothing but dumb [ __ ] the entire time then jumps in and tells Floyd Mayweather if he was 30 years younger he'd kick his ass this is this these are the guys yeah so every next time you're kind of learning what not

to do 100 without even knowing that boxing didn't do great things right yeah things that I liked and definitely that Tyson walking if you take that babbling idiot out of it that Tyson Walking is one of the baddest things you'll ever see man I was there live it was [ __ ] Tyson was so scary man when he walked in you could be home on your couch yeah man holy [ __ ] you know what I mean but that's part of the [ __ ] but she's like what an energy about which boxing felt like

to me and no disrespect to what boxing is today but when boxer felt like to me where it was like okay we can't leave because Tyson's Gonna Knock this person out Literally you couldn't use the restroom right you couldn't make a plan we would literally be ready to go out and we'll say all right and we're watching we're watching the TV boom he's out all right let's go well that's what boxing was for me Tyson this is what UFC is to everyone now Tyson is very much like Conor McGregor right say it you don't want

to miss the press conference right you don't want to miss the weigh-in right you don't want to miss the walk-in right And you don't want to miss the fight when did you know that's when you have that level of a star when did you know that Conor McGregor was the guy when I had dinner with them in Las Vegas after we signed them we went to theater yeah when would you sign Conor McGregor because at this time UFC is already hot as fish Greece there's a lot of Fighters that want to be there what made

you pick this guy named Conor McGregor I went on a I was in Ireland I received this award In Ireland and uh I I went to the the bars down there in Dublin and everybody was talking to me about Conor McGregor Conor McGregor Conor McGregor had you seen them before I hadn't seen them for some reason whatever reason I thought he was a heavyweight for whatever reason that I had heard about him out in Ireland I got back and started talking to the matchmakers and Sean Shelby one of our matchmakers had already had his finger

On the pulse of Conor McGregor and knew what was going on so they signed them Conor came out here he and I went to dinner when I left the dinner I called Lorenzo I said dude I don't know if this kid can fight or not but if he can even throw a punch he's going to be a huge Superstar man you just you know you see Conor when he interacts with people and everything the energy the excitement the you know you knew Connor and again Dana that Sounds like the no-brainer when we see what Conor

is and the the what we've seen from Connor but just sitting down with a guy that didn't have the beard probably didn't have all the tattoos didn't have the wins didn't have the accolades yeah no it's it's it's amazing was it him talking about himself just his Personality yeah his Persona when when you know nobody knows him or whatever but you just know when some people have this this energy Or whatever you want to call it did you see that factor that thing that that makes them a star did you see that in other Fighters

and then if sizzles really oh yeah many many some did and some didn't right right Ronda Rousey and Chuck Liddell those were the greats but did you see something where he's like man this is the person this is the guy this is the girl and then it just went from like ah I'm gonna get into this weird [ __ ] here but you know After like the last year and a half you know with this whole hell thing that happened I come off like a hippie sometimes which I used to hate this [ __ ]

but there's this thing about people and they talk about manifesting it's [ __ ] real man manifesting is real when you figure out who you are and what you want to do and you devote your life to it like like a maniac like you're all in on this thing and you manifest most of these people end up you Know doing what they say they're going to do and being who they say they're going to become it's real it's and there's no excuses there's no [ __ ] days off there's no uh you know not willing

to grind and you know everybody's against me and this didn't happen for me because of this and that and all this wine and and you know [ __ ] ass [ __ ] that a lot of people do these days is these people who dive in in their Hardcore and they're focused and they know what they want they know who they are and they lay out these short-term goals and this road map on how to get there most of those people make it how big is UFC now and is it getting bigger you know uh

one of the majors now we're one of the major sports um and when you say one of the majors you yeah you say sports yeah and all sports right you know there's two sports That are global two that is soccer and we're Global I mean we're in every country all over the world we can get an athlete from anywhere in the world we're now just really starting to kick-start Mexico we're opening a performance Institute down in uh in Mexico City here in October and I'm going to open a performance Institute in Africa I got one

in China right now oh my God gonna open one in The Middle East so and even with the Middle East bro when we were sitting down and the world was on lockdown for the pandemic with coronavirus with covid you still gave us UFC that was the only kind of normal thing that we still had when you went and said all right you know what we can't get it out here let's go to fight Island and you build a brand that kept us with something that felt Normal yeah were you missing the contact and the sports

and you also did it for you like I I did it for a lot of reasons there was more than just one reason first of all and none of it was political everybody wants to turn everything into politics none of what I did was political um I I didn't get it I couldn't wrap my head around the whole covert thing yeah I was saying give me a minute if this thing this thing is this bad as they're saying it is we're all dead anyway are you are we going to hide from a [ __ ]

virus how's that even you could go in a restaurant with a mask on sit down take your [ __ ] mask off eat and then put it about just a lot of little [ __ ] details like that and I'm telling you I stood in line with the two Dana almost hypocritical I stood in line with it but I would tell people I'm like okay so six feet we're good then if I step closer to you I'm in a danger zone right seven feet I'm fine and that's the same thing we would say it all

the time like man and now as I look back at it I look at like ah damn there was a lot of [ __ ] there but you saw it early it's [ __ ] silly when we look back at it now people are spraying their [ __ ] [ __ ] they came in spraying their groceries I was literally taking Lysol and wiping my my groceries down and everything we can't go to work all right but we can protest right we all get together and [ __ ] protest but we can't go to work

we can't do I could poke [ __ ] swiss cheese holes and the whole [ __ ] thing right then every time you try to let me tell you this first what I'm Looking down the barrel of okay I'm on ESPN right all sports are [ __ ] stopped right how's this ESPN is a [ __ ] Sports Network how is this going to affect ESPN financially right so at some point no matter how long this thing lasts because they kept pushing it back looked like this was going to last a minute right is this

virus just going to [ __ ] disappear in three months no that's just not it's it's literally common sense it doesn't it doesn't make sense right and somebody at ESPN at some point is going to say we need to start making some hard decisions here okay so let's sit down and let's take a checklist of what we have we have the NFL that's not happen we have major league baseball that's not happening we have the NBA that's not Happening we have the NHL that's nice right we have UFC and we have where they throw the

[ __ ] bean bag right right that is right yeah uh who's going first me and the bean bag [ __ ] guys [ __ ] said that right so I'm like yeah I have 450 employees that I have to take care of who have families that they have to take care of and I've been building this sport for 23 years and I'm not afraid of this thing you know what I mean if if and I'm not Laying off one employee I heard that right so most a lot of these people in this building have

been with me for 15 years or more right and the UFC we've sat here and talked about this for an hour has been a rocket ship of success since 2005 right and I'm always telling them I love you guys it's an ad we're a team this that the first time the [ __ ] hits the fan I'm gonna start laying you people off in the scariest time in the history of the World uh-uh this whole ship goes down and we all go down together or not at all so I start looking why can't I get

an island why can't I take this thing somewhere in the [ __ ] desert somewhere and we build a true bubble uh in the middle of a [ __ ] Force this is the way I'm thinking the other thing That I'm thinking is I'm very close to the royal family in Abu Dhabi right they're testing in Abu Dhabi why can't we test how come there's no tests here in America but they're testing in Abu Dhabi well it's a money issue it's not a it's not a we can't issue so this is so Looney I am

I'm literally I could show you when I'm walking around after this I got a huge space over here that still isn't built out yet I'm gonna build a Lab and I'm going to hire scientists I'm going to get scientists in here and we're going to figure out how to test that's where I'm at I'm not thinking oh my God this is let's hide and I got a really nice [ __ ] house brother and I'm good right I can go hide right right yeah I got high for a very long time and be good my

employees can't right my employees are [ __ ] scared you know am I going to not get paid some Will have kids some of them are getting covered you know this type of shit's happening um not on my watch brother we're we're in this together so we were only off for a few weeks every week I would send out a video to my employees I don't know what's going on I know this is scary if anybody if you or anybody you love gets sick make me the first [ __ ] phone call will get you

taken Care of we'll get you into a doctor we'll get you taken care of if you need groceries this sounds ridiculous now but if you need toilet paper toilet paper was right yeah yeah yeah um we'll get you whatever you need this is what I was telling my employees right we're together we're going to get through this together so meanwhile all these other companies are looking at their bottom line and [ __ ] Whacking everybody laying all their people off see you later whatever so when I figured this thing out finally not me me and

my team figured this thing out so we're going back to work everybody and guess what my team did I [ __ ] jumped up and then went back to work there's people today that still aren't at work there's people today that still aren't at work say less I know yeah so Through this experience and through this time me and my team have become closer than we ever were you know it's easy to sit around and talk about you know you love your employees and you care about your employees right show it and then there's a

time it's just no different than friends hey a good friend you need you need something and you're going through some hard times who's Really there for you that's when you find out who's who and what's what you know what I mean and that's what happened here at the UFC Dana we're starting to see a lot of MMA fighters or a lot of yeah a lot of MMA boxing matches now yep you know you'll see the Jake Paul's of the world Silva uh McGregor Mayweather how do you feel about that that blend well I hate it

right the McGregor Mayweather thing happened because it got So big it had to happen it had to happen but even though it had to happen everybody knew what the result was going to be why because one is a mixed martial artist and the other is a professional boxer let me ask you this if the MMA fighters didn't go into the ring and the boxers went into the octagon what do you think would happen that's why I'm at where I'm at now we did this We already saw this movie I mean even a guy like Jake

Paul is beating MMA guys he's fighting old guys old you know Jake Paul fought a guy who was his age and was actually a boxer right Fury what happened yeah what happened he lost he lost so what does he do he goes after another 40 year old [ __ ] MMA guy whose two-way classes below him you know back into the same [ __ ] [ __ ] we've seen this movie we know how this Movie ends um so that's why I was telling Tyson Fury you want to fight you want to see who the

baddest man when you talk about a fight and let's talk about who the baddest man in the planet is it's if you lock two guys in a [ __ ] room who comes out right right so we get it you boxers can outbox the MMA guys well if you really want to fight for the baddest man on the planet then you come Take on Jon Jones in the UFC you could catch him you're in a fight you've got small gloves on you're a big [ __ ] dude you can punch you can move come take

Jon Jones on in the UFC and let's see who the baddest man on the planet is right that's the real baddest man in the planet fight how do you feel about boxing today I love boxing I'll Always Love boxing we wouldn't be sitting here having this interview right Now if it wasn't for boxing the UFC wouldn't be what it is the live event the the uh right right television production without boxing you know I I have a lot of negative things from boxing but boxing is obviously done many positive things to my life and many

other people's lives and you know the show wouldn't exist without boxing at one point I know Oscar De La Hoya tried he tried uh MMA correct as far as A promoter promoted right right did you feel like it takes a certain kind of individual to get all these Fighters and to do this kind of thing that you're doing did you feel like Oscar was out of place you know I have a lot of feelings about Oscar De La Hoya um you know uh he knows [ __ ] crazy about Oscar De La Hoya is two-faced

he's a liar total [ __ ] phony right in many many Ways Wahlberg just did this documentary about him I just saw it being advertised I'm gonna watch it right um I think De La Hoya obviously had a lot of demons you know and De La Hoya coming up whatever my personal things are with De La Hoya De La Hoya was a [ __ ] bad boy coming up you know and and and and and and with his career and everything else Um you know I respect that I respect what Oscar De La Hoya did

in Elizabeth you know what I mean as a fighter 100 and I will watch that documentary um but personally I mean it's just you know yeah personally how did that make sure hopefully he gets better right and whatever is there how it started moment with with Oscar De La Hoya so Oscar and I now like I told you I respected Oscar as a fighter whatever we met we were Cool he came to some UFC's I'd be at home he'd have a fight on I'd promote his fight on my social media or whatever we do Mayweather

McGregor and he starts [ __ ] said telling people do not buy this fight um you know this is this fight is a disgrace to boxing Bubba but I'll fight Conor McGregor right you [ __ ] lunatic what are you talking about you're telling people this Is a personal thing between him and Floyd obviously so he's telling people not not to buy the fight all the fights that I've promoted for you I'm involved in this fight and you're going to tell people not to watch this fight what kind of a of a [ __ ]

douchebag are you that right so we had it out then he goes out and starts to I'm gonna promote fine I'm gonna pay Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz more money than they've ever been Paid in their life [ __ ] wrong and he goes out lies about the numbers I call them out on all the numbers it's plain and clear that he's lying and the list goes on and on and then he comes back and says I want to patch things up with Dana you know yeah that's not how this works right you know I

mean that definitely it's not how it works with me maybe other phony [ __ ] you could do that [ __ ] with him they Ain't doing it with me you know we're never gonna be [ __ ] cool we're never gonna be cool you're just you're not my kind of guy you're not my kind of guy people can say whatever the [ __ ] they want about Donald Trump Donald Trump is [ __ ] solid Square straight up [ __ ] guy de la Hoy is the exact opposite you know we will never be

friends I respect him as a fighter right I'm gonna watch his Documentary and uh but yeah personally do you have a mountain Rushmore of UFC fighters or it's so that hard for you it's so hard there's been so many great Fighters and so many great Fighters I'm pretty sure you've been asked that many times because I get asked who's your favorite guest that you ever interviewed I'm like I can't do that when you look on the women's side you have to Ronda Rousey is right is the Mount Rushmore men but when You look at Amanda

Nunes yes and what she just accomplished she's the greatest female fighter of all time so how she knows is it hard when you see someone there is no Amanda Nunes without a Ronda Rousey so to make a Mount Rushmore and you could say a lot of the same things about a lot of the guys is it hard when you see someone retire no no people always think that that's oh my God you're going to lose them it's the game right it's every game you know what I Mean Michael Jordan left basketball right right not how

much I love Michael Jordan until I saw the Last Dance right I like Killers man Michael Jordan was a killer a killer have you seen a knockout that hurt you yeah I've seen a few Knockouts that hurt yeah yeah the Ronda Rousey knockout her oh yeah you know what I mean and Holly Holm is one of the sweetest human beings on planet Earth I love Holly Holm how do you separate that it's Hard sometimes you know still oh yeah yeah yeah and and the other thing is you know one of one of the biggest focuses

that we have here at this company is health and safety we spend tens of millions of dollars to make sure that these these kids are safe as safe as it could possibly be and uh you know there's still fights that I'll watch and when it's over I go what the [ __ ] do I do for a living this is crazy this is madness you know Brandon Moreno the other night with Pandora right that was a hell of a fight we sent them both immediately to the hospital you don't do interviews you don't stop you

know do this you you go straight to the hospital we send them both immediately to the hospital to make sure that they were okay and safe um you know but yeah I see some of these fights and it's crazy we've talked about UFC man and I asked I said what's what's the Future and power slap and you said you've seen this you've seen this movie you've had a chance to rewind it like you yeah you've seen this with UFC right negativity on power slap and anytime something new comes along and something's different you know you

have a segment of the population that hates it wants to kill it especially the media the media they're the worst yet they're the best at the same time Um and one of the things when you have negativity about an idea or a product or whatever the one thing that you always have to remember are there's eight and a half billion people in this world you you you and you might like it but you you you and you love it I don't need everybody right I only need some people to love it everybody doesn't have to

love it and when you have people who hate it and people who love it you Couldn't have a better scenario than that right and then we can't take our eyes even if you hate it you can't take your eye off of it this thing I have this whole new philosophy social media and this this thing right here is the future this is where everything's going the media you see it right now the two different things there's two two of the most hated people on planet Earth right now are politicians and the media right right Right

yes because they're looked at they're trying to divide us they're lying to us they're everybody's catching on and everybody's starting to get it now right we didn't get it two and a half three years ago everybody's starting to get it now so I am only focused on social media I don't give a [ __ ] what the meeting does I don't care what they do what they say they don't matter to me they're not as powerful and they're not as influential As they think they are if they were the UFC would not exist today and

power slap would definitely not exist today and it's the exact opposite this thing is six months old right let me throw some of these social media numbers at you so with powerslab 2 the second one that we did um it was dirt two power second event right first event killed him off the charts you know we did 3.2 million viewers on Rumble right okay for power Slop one nice when you think to put that into perspective it's hard to even put in a perspective how big that is right so we did it once can you

do it again right so we go into the second one during the same time period that the NHL was in the middle of their Conference Finals right Total video views over a million the NHL did six powerslap did 31. okay Total video views over 2 million the NHL did one powerslap did 20. Total video views we beat them 25 million to 90 million the NHL in the middle of their conference miles here's the real one right here's here's the one that's impressive Celtics Heat games four through seven okay historic game for the Eastern Conference yes

okay all right so Total video views for the Miami Heat over a million was 20. Celtics 29 powerslap 31. Right We outdid Them 90 million to 65 million in Total video views so think about Society are you for this bro if we did 50 of that it would be a [ __ ] story if we did half of that that would be a story yeah right now let's go into this one we just did powerslap three right so on Instagram we got more views than Wimbledon um the PGA Every baseball team combined everything that we

go up against we Crush now how do you find someone that can get slapped in the face like that yeah how do you train well first of all this was going people are all thinking that I invented this right this was coming out of Russia right and Poland back in 1718 I started to see this on Instagram and social media I was like what the [ __ ] is this so I took a deeper dive into it this was it looked Like it was filmed on a flip phone it looked like it was in a

barn somewhere and they were doing 350 million views on YouTube I'm like that's a Justin Bieber video off air thank you brother no you invited us in you answered everything and then some you know what I'm saying but I just can't wait for for one I gotta say just selfishly thank you for UFC that has been like I tell you man like that is my family get together that's something I enjoy I hate you Sometimes I even hit you during the fights and you hit me you know from the from the table but just the

Empire that you've built I appreciate you for doing that and for us just to have that and be Spectators I appreciate your time I appreciate you for bringing us down here man and showing us this beautiful facility but also man I appreciate your friendship and your partnership for the decades that we've been together thank you likewise I feel the same way about You it's good to see you I'm happy for you and your success you're in shape you're looking [ __ ] great and you're good do me a favor always a pleasure I'm gonna put

my hands back here I want you I'm gonna stand up I want you to slap the [ __ ] out of them we'll do that later we'll do that later Dana White Man off air big boy I appreciate you bro like yes sir love you brother thank you [Music] Thank you foreign