Round 2 with UFC President Dana White continues the no-holds-barred conversation of Part 1. Dana White, known for his candid and forthright style, dives into a range of subjects that are sure to captivate sports fans and fight enthusiasts.
Dana discusses the situation with Francis Ngannou, stating he has no regrets about how things played out. He affirms that the UFC did everything possible to make the Jon Jones vs Ngannou fight happen, emphasizing that Jones isn't afraid of Ngannou and is the baddest fighter of all time. Dana believes Jones would defeat Ngannou just as he did Ciryl Gane and elaborates on Jones's status as the baddest human in fighting sports history, a potential fight with Stipe Miocic, and what makes Jones so formidable—a true "killer" with a dark side.
On the financial side, Dana addresses the ongoing debate about fighter pay, asserting that fighters are earning more and that many quotes on the subject come from reporters who lack understanding of the business. He also reflects on the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather bout, highlighting issues within boxing’s economics. Discussing potential matchups like Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul, Dana insists Tyson, at 58, shouldn't be fighting.
Dana doesn't hold back on Oscar De La Hoya, calling him a "two-faced lying nutjob" and stating they'll never reconcile. He talks about Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement, his vast wealth, and his continuation in the sport through Islam Makhachev. He also praises Ronda Rousey as the greatest athlete he's worked with, noting her unique impact on the sport and her subsequent transition to movies, a path few fighters successfully navigate.
He recounts getting The Rock into social media and shares the success of Power Slap, an endeavor that gained massive followers quickly. Dana envisions celebrities participating and even invites Shannon to join.
In a fun segment, Dana speculates on which athletes from various sports would make great UFC fighters, naming Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Shaq, and others. Dana's love for gambling comes to the fore as he talks about his nightly blackjack sessions, his venture into baccarat, and his strategy of betting as much as possible, even impacting a casino's quarterly report.
He stresses that he isn't concerned about getting canceled, valuing the opinions of those closest to him. Lastly, Dana addresses a personal incident involving his wife, expressing remorse over the impact on his children more than the public nature of the event.
Join Shannon Sharpe and Dana White for a riveting episode filled with honesty, insider stories, and the unfiltered insights of one of the most influential figures in sports today. Whether you're a die-hard UFC fan or simply enjoy candid conversations, this episode of Club Shay Shay is essential listening.
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Thank you for coming back. Part two is underway. I had Francis and Godnuo and he lost his son a couple of weeks ago. So rest is rip to a Francis and god news son. Do you regret how things played out with Francis because you talk about the heavyweight champ and the baddest man on the planet and for some reason what he did. I think he defended his belt once and then his contract ran out, and you guys weren't able to get to.
Get something done. Are you? Are you disappointed with how that played out?
Dana, No, because we did everything in our power to try to make that John Jones fight, and it is what it is.
He said that. Now I'm just going about what he said. He said the UFC. I'm as scene assuming if the UFC that's you said John Jones was afraid of him. Do you believe John Jones was afraid of Francis?
Not only is John Jones not afraid of Francis, John Jones is the baddest fighter to ever lift ever in any combat sport. If you look at John Jones is undefeated in the UFC right his He's got one loss on his record. He lost to Steve Mazagatti, do you know who that is? He's the worst referee to ever fucking ref any fight.
And Steve Mazagotti, No, you're thinking of the other GUYI.
This is a guy that should have never ever been a referee in combat sports. Okay, it was during a period when the Athletic Commission was at its worst, and John Jones did not lose that fight. John Jones destroyed the guy that he fought in that fight, and this guy fucked the fight up. John Jones is undefeated, never lost, and he went through murderer's row. Then he goes out for three years, right sits out for three years, comes back and beats Cyril Gun like that easily. In my opinion, he does the same thing to Francis one hundred percent. Does the same thing to Francis John Jones. Francis didn't want to fight John Jones. John Jones is the scariest, most badass fighter of all time. John Jones has his issues outside documented, which actually makes it even more impressive when you think about the lifestyle this guy was living and doing this to the best fighters in the world. And John Jones is one of those guys that won't truly be appreciated until he's gone. But I'm telling you right now, when you talk about who the baddest man on the planet is, two guys get locked in a room, who's walking out? It's fucking John Jones all day, every time.
Did you know when you first met him, did you know he had these type of capabilities?
Not really, It was when we just started seeing him fight and how he was throwing people at such a young age, and what he was doing to guys that were looked at as wow, this guy's you know.
And he's running through him. I mean, it's not.
For anybody to even try to say John Jones wouldn't fight that. What makes Sean Jones even scarier is when you put John Jones in front of the camera and he tries to be normal, yes, and he tries to talk to every There is a dark side to John Jones. I mean that's that's just a fact. And uh yeah, John Jones is the baddest, in my opinion, the baddest human and combat sports ever.
He had a fight, he tore he was supposed to fight, and he tears a pey. Now obviously maybe Steve pay he John says he would like to fight Perreira, give him an opportunity to be a three division champ, something that's never been done in the US UFC. Obviously, I think Espinel, I think that's how you say his last night d C. Daniel Cormier says he understands Jones wanting to fight Pereira because you know, give him an opportunity, But he thinks the better fight will be with Aspinaul what the fight? And but John says, you know what, Stepe did have the bill. I think I owe him. What's the fight do you think makes the first of all, he has to fight Stepe. That's just that fight has to happen.
You have a guy who's looked at as the greatest heavyweight ever versus the greatest fighter ever. Right, that fight has to happen. And I don't disagree with DC. The next fight should be ASA and John Jones. Most of the people that cover the sport know nothing about the sport. Horrendous and they don't know anything about the sport, and they definitely don't know anything about the business of the sport. But if John Jones beats Stepe, then aspinall it's just it's.
So he should be.
So if he beats Steepe, he beats Aspinall, he should just retalc because there's nothing else left him improved.
There's nothing for him to prove now. He already moved up to heavyweight and walked through Cyril Gon. I mean, Francis and Gan, you barely made it through Cyril gone. If Cyril Gon doesn't go for that submission, Sarah Gon wins that fight. John Jones walked through him, he did like he was nothing. John Jones has nothing to prove now, you know what I mean. I saw John arguing with fans on Instagram the other day. John Jones has nothing to argue about. John Jones has nothing to prove anymore. But the fact that he's still here and still wants to you know, he's gonna come out and fight Steepe, and the fact that he could fight Aspinall. It's unbelievable. He will not truly be appreciated until he's gone. So what so the Perira fight? You think because Pereiro, I mean the punch and power that he possessed. You don't think Prayer is amazing. I think John Jones walks through everybody. Now when John Jones gets his hands on you, you're in trouble.
What makes him so unique because there are a lot of guy that can grapple, there's a lot of guy that can submit you. There's a lot of guy that can stay in. What makes John Jones so unique.
John Jones has a great chin. John Jones is good anywhere the fight goes. And and John Jones is a killer. He's a killer. John Jones doesn't go in and try to squeak out. Yeah, you know, decision.
I think that's what you love most about him. You don't like guys trying to raffle and just try.
To get times to that. He's just he's the best. And there is a dark side to John Jones. Wow, look at look at the look at the when him and uh Cormier were in that interview. Yeah, and they thought that the cameras were off and they start talking to each other back and forth, and Cormier is like, you're a piece of ship. I'd just spit in your face right now, and John Jones is like, and I'd kill you, you know, I'd kill you right like we're not talking about fighting, I'd kill.
You, you know.
And then John Jones the stuff that's gone on in his in his personal life. When all the nuttiness was going on during COVID and people were riding and all that ship, John Jones was walking around the streets of his town like smacking uh spray paint cans out of kids hands and being like, get your fucking ass home, well, stop sucking up my town. And John Jones. J Jones is a big gun guy. Yes, he's got the fucking the dogs that are trained, you know what I mean.
Yes, John Jones is a bad dude. Do you ever worry about him and a face off? Because you said he has a dark side.
We see it in the MGM Grand Lobby. People are checking into their hotel. We're doing the wig ins and the lobby him and Cormier, John Jones goes after him. They get close and Cormier pushed them back and Jones goes after him, big fistfight right in the lobby of them, Jam Grant, John Jones is the baddest dude to ever do it.
Right, Daniel, you guys have made some positive strides as far as pay because that seems to be a lot of the fighters that we don't get a thing. And I think the last one, you gave three hundred thousand dollar bonuses instead of the fifty thousand dollar bonuses for UFC three hundred, for USC three hundred, and you have now to get hundred and fifty thousand. I think if that's the case, and they can come out here and train and nutrition and all that other stuff, So.
Where where do we standing on this?
How do we get Obviously, they're not gonna make football money, they're not gonna make basketball and baseball money. But obviously, I think some of the fighters says, considering what's at stake, I think the pay should be more.
Well, nobody really knows how much a lot of these guys make. And guess what, these guys don't want you to know how much they make either, right, you know, there's a narrative from you know, people that don't like the UFC don't like me, or whatever it might be, and these guys don't know what these guys really make. And the other thing is is that the money is spread out from the top to the bottom. You know, we have guys who would be considered journeymen in boxing who've made millions of dollars. And if you don't like the way that it's run here. There's no barrier to entry. Start your own nixed martial arts organization, and you pay the guys whatever you think you want to. It's been done by many, many powerful, rich, smart businessmen, and they don't succeed. No, I've built a business that has lasted, that has changed many people's lives. And you know, if you think you can do it better than me, knock yourselves out.
Most of this narrative is by.
Scumbag reporters who have never built anything in their life, have no idea what it's like to run a business, and the who have no idea what it's like for people to depend on a paycheck from right, so I could care less.
I look at you guys, Dana, You're like the NFL. You remember the USFL. They try to compete against the NFL dent it didn't work. And we've seen other les try to compete against the NFL, and the UFL say, if you know what, we're gonna pay your cor we're gonna pay you more, and it didn't work. Why do you think that the organizations that come up against you and have all these genius ideas, what we're gonna do X Y and Z. Why do you think they failed. Well, we felt the same way when we bought the UFC. We were like, Wow, this is gonna be crazy. We'll be friends with all the fighters and we'll do this and do that.
But then once you get into it and you start to realize the reality, and you're forty million dollars in the hall and you're trying to fight to survive. You know, we change people's lives every day in many different ways. And I'm very happy with what we've accomplished and what we've done and what we continue to do, not just for the fighters, but for our employees who work here at the UFC. We continue to grow the sport, we continue to get more people involved from other countries, and we reinvest in the sport. When you look at what boxing did, everybody's like, oh boxing boxing. Every fucking event that they put on, it's going out of business sale. Let's grab as much money as we can from everybody. We don't care if the event is good. They don't care if the people at home enjoy what they saw. They don't care if the people who came and bought tickets liked it. We just want to grab as much money as we can. They never reinvested in the sport. Tell me a sport or any business ever in the history of the world that has probably made trillions of dollars in revenue, and at the end of the day, there's nothing there that's boxing. We built a brand that fans believe in and trust. They know when they buy tickets for a pay per view, they're going to get what they paid for, and everybody is taking care of from the top to the bottom. Professional sports isn't a job. It's an opportunity, right. You were given an opportunity. You were good enough to get an opportunity where you could go out in a very short period of time and make as much money as you could possibly make, and it gave you a platform to be here today having this conversation. That is what professional sports is all about, and that is what we provide for lots of different people who are great like Connor McGregor, and people that you'll never know their name. You wouldn't even know who the hell they are if you saw him in the street. That's what we do, quick man.
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Where are you on that now, Dana? Are you? I don't know.
If you see people that are like, oh, I want to go into boxing, I think that boxing calls out a lot of our guys, yes, because they know that's where the money is.
Right.
We built the right model, a sustainable model, and a model that works for everybody and changes everybody's lives. If your opinion is you know again, I think these guys, well, how much?
How much money? What's the number?
Because most of the time, most of these guys in boxing, I'll say, well I want forty million for that.
Well, how does that fucking make sense?
Boxing got so fucked up that nobody could actually make a living out of it and people couldn't write that.
Saudi Arabia had to take.
It over, right, a group of people that have so much money they don't care whether they make or lose money. That's how fucked up boxing got that. That's where that had to go. Wow, right, that's why this guy is making all these fights that he's making right now. Like Tyson Fury versus Usick, that's a fight that should have happened. It took Turkey to make that fight right because they have unlimited funds, and whether they make money or don't, they don't care.
They don't care.
I just saw that because of piracy, that fight lost like one hundred million dollars or something like that, or twenty to one hundred million. I don't know what the number was, but that's that's what you need for boxing.
Wow.
Right, Yeah, I do give a shit whether I lose money or not.
Absolutely, you're not a nonprofit.
We built a sustainable business right that can continue to go on and continue to give opportunities to lots of different people from all over the world.
Mike Tyson, Jake Paul.
I've seen you go back and forth with Jake Paul before he's you know, he's beat a couple of you're retired or guy that no longer fighting the UFC.
What's your take on, Jake?
Yeah, listen the kids out there and he's doing his thing and he's making money.
If you can, you make a real money name all you making it.
I don't know that. I don't know. I don't know what he's really making. I believe that he was he was making the money he says he's making. Showtime boxing wouldn't have gone out of business, and Showtime would have made sure they kept paying him. Right, But he's doing it. You know what do I think of the Mike Tyson fighting? Yes, Tyson's fifty eight years old, you know what I mean. Jake fought a guy who was his age and was alway to considered a boxer and he lost. So if you can keep fighting fucking fifty something year old, you don't think Tyson had a chance and making.
A living that.
I think that Mike Tyson has a puncher's chance against anybody. Mike's fifty eight years old, you know what I mean. I hate doing this because Mike gets mad at me every time I do this. But Mike shouldn't be fighting.
I mean because you look at Jake Paul.
He fought Tyron Woodley slipped him Anderson Steal, but think he fought Nate is there? I mean, if he if he wants to be do boxing, why not fight guys that actually box.
For livy, Fight guys that box for a living and guys that are your age how about.
That he says he wants to fight Canilo. Understand what he then why is he not fighting Canelo Canelo? I don't think Canelo wants to waste his time.
Yeah, I mean, it'd be a fucking thirty second payday for Canelos. I don't know why Canello wouldn't do it, you know, but but they probably Canello can fight real guys, yes, credibility intact, and still make that kind of money, you know what I mean.
Jake, Jake needs these guys.
Jake needs Tyson and needs all these other people because that that, you know, everybody's going to tune in to hope that Mike Tyson knocks him out. Right, They're not tuning in because they think Jake was a great fighter and they want to see him compete.
I know, you know this guy. I think it reminds me a lot of Butterbean. When Butterbean was fighting guys that had no chance of beating. Everybody loved him, but once he got beat, the novelty kind of wore off. And I think that's what would happen with Jake if he were.
Top and he got beat and the novelty did wear off. That's why he asked to get a guy like Tyson and.
To try to get some grain, some credibility back.
When he fought somebody that was actually his age and was actually a boxer and it was actually his size.
He lost. It is what it is. I'm not trying to shit on it yet.
I mean, I'm I don't care what he's doing, but i mean, come on, man, to be fighting Mike Tyson.
And another guy you've had some some some verbal spants with that's been very publicized as Oscar de la Hoya. And I think it goes back to I think he said you blocked the fight with he and j George Saint Pierre.
Is that where it started from?
Or talk about Jake Paul, Like me and Jake Paul have had whatever. You know, Jake Paul's a kid that's out doing his thing. He's trying to make some money. Ever, his deal is Oscar de la Hoya. Okay, is a fucking is a two faced lion, fucking nut job, you know. And yeah, me and me and Oscar are never gonna be cool.
Yeah, You're never gonna be cool again, never, never, ever? But were you cool?
Anybody who's ever dealt with Oscar? De la Hoya. I don't.
I don't know if that guy literally has any fucking buddy. Who's his real friends?
Were you guys ever cool at any point in time? You're cool?
I mean obviously for all the things I think about De la Hoya personally. You know, as a fighter, Oscar was about he was he you know what I mean? And Oscar what was the real deal? But as a human being completely different. He and I. I I would go to his fights. I used to promote his fights on my socials, watching the fight or whatever. Then I go to do Mayweather versus McGregor and he starts shitting on the fight yet saying I would fight McGregor though, So yeah, he's just I mean, if you look at the history between me and him, you know, I'm gonna get into MMA to pay these guys what they deserve to be paid.
No, he didn't.
And you know, the guys that were involved in that fight all got fucked right. He didn't pay them more than they ever made in their careers. He didn't even know half the guy's fucking names on the card.
And the list goes on and on.
With that guy kuld beeB, he retired. Do you think there's ever a chance that kuld Bebe would come back and fight. If there are a number that you can say could be we got twenty million, you we got twenty five million.
I threw the numbers out him. Trust me, Habib has more money than he'll ever spend. He doesn't need to fight again. And I think that he sort of lost the desire and his father passed away, and I think it was a father son thing that he had with his dad. And also he's such a good human being that he is truly happy for Islam and what Islam is, and he is fulfilled enough that that was his dad's dream that Habib would reign then would come Islam, and it's all playing out exactly the way they planned it. I think Habib's in a good place in his life. Ronda Rousey greatest athlete I've ever worked with.
Wow, what does she mean for the UFC?
She was huge at the right time, in the right place, and women's fighting is where it is today because of her. And she was one of those athletes like anything anywhere, anytime. She was a workhorse, great human being, brilliant. Yeah, the greatest athlete I've ever worked with. Well, you said when she's dipped away. I was sad that I wouldn't work with her on a daily basis like we did, But I felt like the timing is right. She had done everything she set out to do, not just for her and her career, but what she did for women in fighting in general.
Right.
And you see Amanda Nunaz come in and I watched that fight, and I'm looking at the capabilities that Amanda had versus what Ronda.
Well, what happened with Ronda was Ronda was very unique in that she came in and put this this thing on the world stage, this thing being women fighting. She put it on the world stage at a level that nobody else could have ever done it. And while she was doing what she was doing, building the sport and the UFC and women, all these other women were training to beat her, you know what I mean. She had taken so much on her shoulders at the time, it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as a fighter during that period.
God, so now we see UFC fighters becoming movie stars. We see Ronda Rousey. We've mentioned to her Connor McGregor, he was in his own movie. Ronda's been in several movies. Are you pleased with do you like do you like that your fighters UFC that they're becoming so big that they're able to brand out and even grow the UFC even more.
Well, you have Connors and Ronda's that are very unique. It's hard to take those two and compare them to all the rest you look at. We already talked about Connor, but if you look at Ronda, she came in and flew the UFC up for women, opened the doors for all women to come in. She's written books that have been New York Times bestsellers. She's written, Uh, she just wrote a screenplay for her own story. She went into the WWI and became a star, sponsorship deals, She's done. There's things Ronda's done that will never be done again. So you're looking at very unique.
Very unique situations, and everybody's not that. But you know, Dana, you know everybody comes with the aspirations of being in their female being Ronda Rousey or being Connor McGregor.
As you should.
And what happened with Nunez another I love a man of noon as we have an incredible relationship.
Is she coming back?
Huh?
Is she coming back?
She could come back. There's the possibilities she could come back. But again, a very unique individual in her own right, you know, very powerful woman that is looked at as the goat now female fighting, you know, married to another female fighter, so very inspirational and big in the gay and lesbian community, you know, now a mother. You know, she blazed her own trail in UFC. Like everybody's journey is different and not the same. You know, as an athlete and as a human.
I read that you were the one that really got Rock into social media. What's what's your relationship with the Rock? I have a great relationship with him. Uh, you know, we probably talked a couple of times a month. And yeah, at the time, he wasn't on social media, and I was like, are you nuts? Do you have any idea how big you would be on social media? And da da da da dad.
And I actually the people that ran my social media, I put on his to get him up and started and kind of get him going. And obviously, you know, the guy's a trailblazer now and in social media and one of the biggest followed humans on Earth.
And he loves he loves UFC because he's doing a doc Is he doing a doc Loork like Mark Kerr.
No, he's doing He's doing a film film, a film based on the Smashing Machine.
Right, Uh, do you have any I mean, did you have any influence on that? Did you Like?
I wouldn't say that I influenced it. That was all him, but I've obviously helped behind the scenes.
Right, Yeah, power slab Oh, I love it. I love it.
I mean, I mean there are very few times that there are two slabs.
Is normally just one slab day?
No?
No, No, it's it's like fifty to fifty. Yeah, go to decisions or knockouts. Yeah, there's there's way more back and forth than people realize because all you see on social is the viral side of it. But this thing is a beast. It's the most successful thing that I have ever been a part of in my career in such a short amount of time, in sixteen months. This thing is only sixteen months old. We have more more followers than like the NHL, PGA, NASCAR and many many others, and we're about to take over Major League Baseball too here pretty soon on all social platforms and billions billions of views and just sixteen months ibadah on. This thing is off the charts. The revenue is unbelievable and we have more sponsors in sixteen months than the UFC had in eight years.
How do you train for power slant? So what's starting to happen now? This is the same.
These are all the same questions people ask me about UFC in the old days. I'm like, God, this is garbage. You jump on top of another guy, you can do this, you can do that. It's human cock fighting. Now this because as soon as money gets involved and you can actually start to make a living doing this, people start taking it serious and people start So when when athletes come in to slap, we put them through the Performance Institute and they go go through the same type of training. We measure them for force, velocity, speed, you know, and people are actually starting to train and take this thing serious because there's real money involved now, I mean, I'm just I mean, And this thing was global overnight. This thing started in Russia and Poland That's where I started to see this stuff coming from. And uh, you know, we pull massive numbers in places like Southeast Asia, India, Brazil. There's already two knockoff leagues in Brazil, and you know, you're starting to see these smaller leagues pop up all over the world.
Now. So when you first saw it, you was like, so when you first saw power Slap, what was the first thing that went through Dana whitees mass This is crazy?
What the hell is this? Exactly?
And I was fascinated and I started to watch it, and I started to dig deeper and take a deeper dive into it. And I was looking at some of these numbers that were coming out of Russia and Poland three hundred and fifty million views on YouTube and stuff like that. And our YouTube channel is massive now, right, And you want to realize something, So I started putting this thing on UFC's YouTube. Yeah, number one, two, three and four all time video views or power Slap on USC's YouTube. When you think about Connor McGregor Habib, you think about brock Lesner, Ronda Rousey, some of the big stars that we've had in some of the big moments. Yeah, so the second biggest thing on my social media ever now is Max Holloway knocking out Justin gate J.
Yes.
Number one is power Slop. When he called it in the play, I'm a massive number one, right, what about celebrities participating in power slap It.
Will eventually happen. No, it'll eventually, I wanted to Shannon, I'm gonna have you pretty sure.
Hell, I don't want I don't want to be a no UFC. I don't want to get choked. I don't want to get kicked, at least in boxing data. I ain't got to worry about but too d right here in UFC, you gotta worry about kick but that slap.
Man, I know.
And they got your hand behind your back and they already know what's going to happen because they got two people to catch you because they know you about to go down.
These guys are so tough man, so tough and and and the balls. It takes yeah out there and perform on the world stage into this when you know it's going to be the biggest thing virally on earth.
Nah, Well, I don't I tell you what. I hate to be the first.
I hate the first athlete because he goes he's gonna be the biggest, that's gonna be the both biggest viral movement. Because when you get an athlete that does that, a professional, next professional athlete.
This thing's been around for sixteen months and we have six billion views over six billion dues. Yeah right, think about that.
The first athlete to give the slap, he gonna do a big adviody.
In the world. Eight billion people in the world. We have six billion views in sixteen months.
Wow.
I mean when you really wrap your head around how big power slap is and the numbers that it pulls, it's absolutely fascinating. And I love it because it's another one of those things that people said, uh uh, this won't work.
Give me three football players and three basketball players that you believe would be great MMA fighters.
You gotta well, you gotta start with the two goats.
Okay, first of all, Brady Man. You know, damn we have Brady gonna be no MLA fights.
I'm just telling you, if you think about the mindset that it takes to be great, that's that's number one. It starts with the mindset. You gotta go with Brady and you gotta go with your Okay, So let's get those two out of the way. Jordan is a killer. I've spoke about Michael Jordans many times. Never met him, don't know, don't want to meet him. I like him too much. I respect him too much. I love his killer instant, don't want to meet him, respect him to death. So take those two. Then, now let's get into the next four, which is going to be tougher when you talk about big explosive power. So Marcedes Lewis, he's a huge UFC fan, yes, obviously an unbelievable athlete and whatever has the mindsets been in the game forever. I'm gonna go with him too, just because he's such a huge fan of the sports and gets it and uh, you know, you look at all his attributes.
As far as a physical.
Basketball, basketball these days is tough because they as tough as they used to be.
I guess you'd have to go with Lambier. Let's go with Lamber take World Metal Pieces.
I'll take him too. Now, you probably would to take Charles Oakley. Yeah, Oakley's another good one. You're right, Oakley, big baby shack Man, Shaq too b too big, Yeah, because you got you gotta Shaq seven to one, probably three fifty.
Now imagine Shack on top of you, the Shack and his heyday. We're not talking about Shack today or three. He's three twenty five. I mean, you got a limit you can pick in his hey day. When you see Shaq back in the day, Oh yeah, Jack used to bitch over four acts. You know, the speed, theg the power.
But you got a limit. You can only be two sixty five. Yeah, Shaq was two sixty five in high school.
Now I gotta pick weight classes only, shit, I mean no, Yeah.
If I was just talking to.
Those guys that could, that could go in and you think kick your ass, Shaq would definitely be one of them.
Yeah. Uh, Jay.
When you go back to James Johnson the football too, and I think about some of these stuff, I mean there's so many probably you know, big talented, physical Apple. Yeah, you'd have to look at too. H Yeah, you'd have to look at Peyton, right, Walter Payton.
It's definitely a mindset.
That's why I started with the guys that had the mindset first. You know, Jordan and Brady both have the winning whatever it takes to win, the mindset. Jordan, to me is Jordan is the I mean in any sport. When you look at the way Jordan was and when you look at some of the clips on how physical it got with him, and and you know.
He didn't care, no, no, he didn't.
He was sick at one hundred and four degree temperature. Whatever it was. Everything about Jordan equals winner.
But he's like that in every aspect of his life. And that's what I hear. He can't do. Let know him. He can't do anything.
He can't do anything for fun, right, He's got to be a competition, and it's got to be something involved, normally a large or.
He has to be pissed at you. He has to be pissed at you and not like it. He has to create conflict, yeah, for him to have to want to call it.
But if you beat him in something he's pissed at you, he's going to double the stakes, you know. And I don't know if this is a fair comparison, but a lot of people compare you and not in this aspect because we know what transpirted off. The thing is that you and Vince McMahon have a lot of similarities with the way you conduct your business as far as him running the WWE, he's no longer in charge there and you running the UFC. How did you learn how to run a business not ever being in business?
I did.
I did run businesses myself, but not at this level right at this you know the type of finances.
Is it the same thing?
Can you can you run a business, a law level business, and then take the same mindset and run a bit a multi billion dollar business.
I think you can. I think you can. But I was just very fortunate in that. Two things that I've done. I always learned from other people, you know, the ability to learn and see things and learn from certain people. But I've also I'd say my biggest talent is building a team. Nobody does anything by themselves. Build a team around you that you can count on. So I've built a team of people that when I say this is what I want, I have the right people who can implement what I want and get shit done that I don't have to tell somebody something twice. You can't have those type of people around you. If I got to tell you something fucking twice, it doesn't work here. And the other thing is I've also had the ability to when I say I want this fucking done, I want it done now. If I call you at two in the morning, I expect you to answer the phone if you work for me and all this other stuff. Yet I also want my people to not miss their kids, practice, not miss their kids, play, not miss their kids. You know a lot of the things that happen in life while you're building a business. So it's a very it's a weird. Yeah, yeah, it's true.
But when I tell people, and people tell me share and you're crazy, I say, you have to have people as equally obsessed as you are.
In order for this thing to work.
People have to be bought in on the vision, especially in the early days. Yes, it's easy to get people on board for the vision now. Yes, But for me to hire Craig war sorry, my head of production away from Fox, for me to hire some of my guys that are here legally from big law firms, and you know, the greatest PR person in all of fucking business over there, Yes, to keep her from going to somewhere else. The talented production people that I have here, the talented salespeople that I have here that work in sponsorship, all those jobs are in New York and LA.
They're not in Vegas. Right.
You have to have people bought it on your vision, and and and uh and and like you said, be obsessed and love this as much as I do.
Obviously, NBA, NFL Roger Goodell Adam Silver, have you ever spoken to those guys, Do you take any note from how they conduct their league and what you can learn or did you take anything from to different different.
And I wouldn't put this on those guys. It was their their predecessor, the guys before them. I would look at the things like them reading canned statements from lawyers that I always hated them. Being too corporate I always hated. So I did learn a lot about the guys before them, and people will always try to ask me, oh, Roger Goodell doesn't do this, that and everything. You could run the NFL. I wouldn't want the NFL because you got thirty two bosses. Touch the NFL. Okay, and credit to him for what he did. Say whatever you want about Godel and Silver and all these guys. Those leaves continue to go like this. They continue to make money, they continue to thrive, they continue to do well. I don't I don't point the fingers anything they do, and I don't look to them for guidance or advice at all.
You're a very generous man, doll Well. Thank you.
You very generous to your workers, to people that believe in that believe in you and see your vision. Like you say it, I call to expect you to answer the phone because I'm compensating you handsomely. I expect that, but you are where did that generosity come from?
Well, it's not even that I'm compensating you. It's it's this is a very unique business, and that this isn't a nine to five. This isn't a you know, this is a you'll hear that. It's true, though. This is a twenty four hour a day, seven day a week, three sixty five mad.
Fucking madhouse, I guess I'll call it.
And the hard part about this job is it's like Groundhog Day, right, Every Monday is fight week, and we you know, you get into this hamster wheel. So to keep it fun and to keep it different and to keep growing and to keep going to different levels, you need I need people that work here that are accessible and creative and can do things on the fly and can turn things around in a minute. Fight fighters fall all the time. We got to rip all the billboards down. We've got to change all the marketing. We got to sell a new fight. We got to do this. Any people that are are ready to go. And but also I understand how hard these people work and the sacrifices they make, and I try to reward them in many other ways other than compensation. We do lots of fun things around it. We throw killer parties out in this backyard. We do concerts over and and the the arena that we have next door, and I try to do fun things and involve their families in it. I want the people who work here, I want their kids and their significant others to like the UFC and be a part exactly.
You know.
I hear stories where these big corporate companies will throw parties and they don't even have a plus one. It's just the people who work there having parties with the people who work there. Right now, that's not what we do here.
Do the employees when they're coming on, do they understand what's going to be asked of them and then what's demanded from them? Do they do you explain that to them? Or are they give it a great explanation? Do you understand what you're about to embark up on?
I think they do, yeah, And I think I think it's at a level now where people realize, you know, we have an intern program here too. Okay, And in my opinion, we have the best intern program in all of sports. Kids come here and actually do stuff, they actually learn and our hands on with with real business that's happening in the UFC. And every time the interns come they meet with me and then when they leave they with me and uh, we've hired many interns. Wow, yeah, many interns work here. My right hand guy, who is my right hand guy, started here as an intern.
Wow. Yeah. He is in the day.
To day shit with me all day every day, professionally and personally. He was an intern here at this company.
You live in Vegas, we know it's the scripts just right up the street. You like to partake in gambling, I do. I've heard the story that you've won a couple of million dollars and they've asked you not to come back and partake anymore.
Yeah, that's having a few times.
Actually, what's your game, well, Blackshack, I've been playing pretty much my whole life.
I just started to get into bakara now, okay, and money really change hand in baccarat. I love it. It's it's been fun.
I've been playing for like two and a half three months, and yeah, I gamble almost every night.
Every night almost, I can't say every night, but hold on, how do you live in Vegas? You?
How do you live in Vegas? And you stand and can see those I told you that I love adversity, I love conflict. I love if I don't have it, I create it. So yeah, gambling is one of my favorite hobbies. I love to do it.
So I should probably take up fucking bowling or burden. Yeah.
Not only do I love everything about gambling, I love everything about this city, this city. First of all, I love America. I love this country and one of the things that I love about this country is that it is truly the land of opportunity.
Right. You and I are both proof.
Of that, right right, doesn't matter where you come from, or how you were raised or anything else. If you have the right mindset and you go after something, it can happen in this country. Yes, I look at Vegas as like a little America. Vegas is exactly like America. When you come to this city and you have the right idea and you're willing to work hard enough, anything is possible in this city. And there's nowhere else in the world that you can go out with two hundred bucks, have a great dinner, go out and party all night, have a blast, see some shows, do this and that, and come home with a thousand dollars. There's no other place in the world that you can do that. This city you can do that. But on the flip side, this is also one of those cities that, if you don't have the right mindset, can chew you up and spit you out in two seconds. I can't tell if this city was built for me or if I was built for this city, but I love it and I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.
Will you played blackjack? Are you playing single hand? Or you have the table to yourself, or you will at the table with buddy. I have a table to myself and I played double deck. You played double deck.
Yeah.
And my strategy is this, I want to bet as much as I possibly can in one hand. Let me bet as much as I can. My goal before I die is to bet a million dollar hand.
Well, you got a million dollars.
Hold on only I don't know if they still a lie that we used to be benions No free bot right.
How do you know this? You're absolutely right. It's one of the greatest stories that's never been. Yeah, there should be a movie about Benny Benyon. Kay I made his grandson. I wasn't cool with his grandson. Okay, well his philosophy.
He was an old school Vegas gangster type dude. Okay, you didn't fuck around on the horseshoe, you didn't go in there and cheat, you didn't do any kind of stuff. And guys would walk in and say what's the limit, and he would say, your first bet is your limit?
How gangster is that? Yes, whatever, you could pay it, whatever you put that in. He covered whatever your first bet is, that's your limit. So if you wanted a million dollar limit, your first bet was a million, none of this. Five dollars, five dollars, five dollars a million.
I love that.
I mean, do you know the story about Arnie that came in there and he almost bankrupt Obinions?
I do? I do. There's so many great stories on a Binions.
Back in the day, I used to go take the pictures and they had all the A thousand dollars bills million dollars.
Yeah, yeah, it was a million dollars. Yeah, how do you have this?
I used to have I'm not gonna lie. I used to have the stomach to be able to go and I play. I wouldn't play like you play, and I play. You know, maybe five thousand here, maybe ten thousand dollars hand there. But I don't have the stomach anymore because you can't look at that when you're playing.
You can't look at that is money, right.
Because you got to just look at that like this is a glass or it's not a denomination at that point in time.
And that's what I was always fascinated in. When I was younger, I would go watch these guys play high stakes black jack, and I would equate every bat to what you could buy with it. You know, that's a car that's in the hole, yells yeah. And I've always been fascinated with it. And now I'm one of those guys. But like I told you earlier when we started talking, I have a crazy high tolerance for risk.
I clearly I love risk. And do you give yourself a limit? Says Okay, I'm going to here. I'm gonna play whatever the case may be. A million dollars. If a million dollars, I'm out. If I win a million dollars, I'm out.
Yes.
So my strategy is always this, let me bet as much as I possibly can. Right, Let's say it's a three hundred thousand dollars hand, right, you win two or three hens and you leave.
Didn't let you do that? Yeah? Yeah, you don't stay there and play for hours. Uh uh.
And what a lot of these casinos try to do. And this is the reason that I'm not allowed to play in some of these. So I beat the Palms twice for one point six million dollars. I got kicked out both times. I literally have the heavyweight championship belt they gave me in there. I was sixteen and oh one point six million, and they asked me to leave twice. And the way that they ask you to leave is they drop your limits so that you can't pat that much anymore. So they did it the Mirage did it to me. The win they're the worst. Go to eat it the win, eat it the win and hang out. They'll get the greatest restaurants, but gambling at the win. They're the biggest pussies on the strip in my opinion, for what a big casino they are. But Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio and the Venetian, those are the three real real casinos in town that you can play big in and they don't sweat you, they don't act weird when you win or any of that stuff.
But yeah, I don't.
Oh So what I was saying is what most of the casinos do. They fly you in, they put you up in a hotel, and then they make you play for a certain amount of hours.
Yeah. Fuck that.
I'll go in and buy my own room, I'll pay for my own dinner, and I'll walk out when I want to. It's me versus you, Right, I'm one little guy, you're a big casino company. Me versus you, one on one, and I'll play one, two or five hands if I want to.
So you do realize that you could potentially mess up their quarterly report?
It just happened. Yes, I do realize that, And it just happened. And you love that too. I love it. When we're off camera, I'll.
Show you the quote during their Ernie's Call that that that this just happened. Wow, in the month of April, I fucked up their entire quarter.
Do you have a word about getting canceled, Dana?
What does that mean? Actually canceled? Canceled by who?
You know what I mean?
Canceled by who I obviously have in the UFC, and in life, you have a fan base. Yeah, people that love you regardless and do whatever it is you know, that are in with you. Outside of those people in my circle that I give a shit about, I could care less. I could care less, and and I've seen people talk about, oh well he has fuck you money and all that other stuff. I equate it to being gay. Okay, think about this in life back in the eighties, if you came out and said you were gay, it could destroy your career. It could destroy imagine living a life where you can't.
Be who you really are.
Correct, It's it's got to be a horrible thing, right, fuck that I am who I am. If you like it or you don't like it, I don't give him a fuck. That's your problem, not mine. So you're going to have people who who do like you and don't like you. This whole trying to cancel people thing, even the thing when when when I did the the roast, No, the interview with theovon and the guy from Peloton. I don't know if you saw this, but the guy who was running Peloton was sponsoring his show. He just stepped down from Peloton actually within the last month, and he had.
Theovonne had.
Kennedy on his podcast, right, they called and said, you need to take that episode down. What he's a fucking Kennedy and he's a Democrat, and he's an American citizen, and he has the right saying fucking think whatever he thinks. You sell stationary fucking bikes for a living, and you think because you spend money with THEO Vaughn, you have the right to tell him to take another fucking American down off his platform. Who the fuck do you think you are? You arrogant, fucking piece of shit. Now, I'm not trying to cancel Peloton or tell people, but I ripped the Pelotons out of my fucking gym here at UFC.
Did you rip them out of the gym that day? You know what I mean?
I can't stand that stuff. That stuff makes me.
You don't like you don't like corporations of companies that bully people and dictate what someone can say and what they can show.
Say, show talk about, promote, vote for any of that stuff. Man, It's like I you know, I was very liberal when I was younger. I lean more conservatively now because I'm all in for common sense. I want common sense. But I don't judge anybody by the politics. I don't discriminate against people. You know who, I discriminate against douchebags. Okay, if you're a douchebag, I probably don't like it.
Okay.
But other than that, all this political bullshit and trying to cancel people, I'm I'm not.
I'm not in man, not in.
Do could you see yourself being a part owner of another professionals like an NFL team or an NBA team?
Not really, I'm not.
I'm not.
I couldn't see myself in that, in that sort of corporate structure. What me and the Fertitas like to do, Yeah, we take sports, niche sports that nobody thinks will work, and we build them into billion dollar businesses.
That's what we do.
Is it true that you move the birthdate of your child for a chulkladale fight.
I did.
Yeah, so my son was supposed to be born, you know, they give you the due date when you think it's gonna happen, And it was a big chucolate l fight, And I'm like, yeah, that's not gonna work for me.
We're gonna have to we're gonna have to We're gonna have to go and pull him out a little early.
When people they saw the incident and you and your wife, what happened with you and your wife? How were you able to get past that, Dana, Because that had to be the toughest time that you had ever gone through in your life.
There wasn't.
COVID was really Yeah, COVID was way tougher than that. But the thing was, it wasn't about getting through it publicly, yes, it was about getting through it personally with my kids. Me and my wife. Me and my wife were fine. Me and my wife had whatever we you know, my kids, the kids had never seen that before. It was on the world stage. We embarrassed them, you know, and no kids want to see that. No, with your parents, everybody else can go fuck themselves. Okay, it had nothing to do with them. It was about my family. That's what's important. The people who know me and know her, they know us and we're fine. It was it was my kids. That was something personal between me and my family. So listen, people are going to have their people still talk about it, and people I would have an opinion too.
I would have an opinion seeing that. You know what I mean.
If that happened there on New Year's Eve, basically on stage at a club in Mexico, that probably isn't the first rodeo.
You know what I mean?
I would say the same thing. But I know exactly who I am. My kids know who I am. I put my circle of people that I give a shit about know who I am, and that's what mattered to me.
He's Dana White, not Joe Rogan Freig bro.
All my life, grunting.
All my life, sacrifice, hustle, peg the price, want a slice, got the all my life? I'll be grunting all my life, all my life, in.
All my life.
Second price us who play the price on the slice that you brought the dice? The swap all my life. I'd be grinding all my life.
Mm hmm