Dana White on FBI Gambling Ring, White House Fight, & Francis Ngannou Beef Explained

Summary

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Flagrant Podcast Summary: "Dana White on FBI Gambling Ring, White House Fight, & Francis Ngannou Beef Explained"

Date: November 18, 2025
Hosts: Andrew Schulz, Akaash Singh, AlexxMedia, Mark Gagnon
Guest: Dana White (UFC President)

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Episode Overview

In this unfiltered, high-energy episode of Flagrant, Dana White returns to the couch for a wide-ranging, candid discussion. From the unprecedented UFC event planned at the White House, to addressing FBI investigations into gambling within the sport, Dana pulls no punches. He dishes on the challenges of promoting fights in an era of fragmented attention, offers behind-the-scenes stories about Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and Francis Ngannou, and talks openly about his relationship with Donald Trump, the future of boxing, and the strategy behind maintaining UFC’s global dominance. Throughout, Schulz and the gang keep the conversation spicy, irreverent, and insightful.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. UFC at the White House: Logistics and Vision

• [00:00–06:24] Dana reveals ongoing logistics for staging a UFC event on the White House lawn, spearheaded by President Trump.
  • Fighters will make their walkouts from the Oval Office for maximum spectacle.
  • The White House itself will serve as the fight’s iconic backdrop, with no expense spared on the aesthetic.
  • Most attendees will be members of the military: “That is the plan. The president wants to do it for the military.” (Dana, [05:56])
  • Event will be privately funded: “We’re paying for everything, the government isn’t paying for anything.” (Dana, [04:48])
  • Dana’s goal: "This will be the most watched fight of all time." ([06:20])

2. Fighter Booking and Dream Matchups

• [06:42–08:13] Discussion of booking stars like Jon Jones and Conor McGregor for the White House card.
  • Dana emphasizes he hasn't made decisions yet and the card will be “what the fans want to see...the dream, what people expect to be at the White House.” ([08:13])
  • On Jon Jones: “I can't put Jon Jones in a position where he can, you know..." referencing the risk if Jones pulls out or the card is jeopardized. ([06:45])
  • On McGregor: "You can say whatever you want about Conor. Conor’s been that guy, you know." ([07:35])

3. Boxing vs. UFC and Bringing Order to Boxing

• [01:14–01:30], [26:16–33:54]
  • Dana critiques ‘Saudi money’ distorting sports economics and the unsustainable “every single fight for sale” model in boxing.
  • His ambition: “rip it apart and build it from the ground up” with a UFC-style format in boxing, reducing belts and creating clear stakes.
  • “There’s too many belts...I don't give a shit about the Dodgers and the Blue Jays...But if it’s Game 7, there’s so much at stake and people start giving a shit.” ([35:38–36:23])
  • UFC’s model keeps fans invested, starting from the prelims due to better matchmaking and clear stakes.

4. Monoculture, Fragmented Attention, and Modern Promotion

• [27:01–33:54]
  • Panel discusses the demise of monoculture: there’s so much content, people no longer experience big events together, e.g. summer blockbuster movies.
  • Dana observes movies lack “must-see” status now—“I don’t even know when new movies come out, dude.” ([29:35])
  • Relates to fighting: “How do you get people to care about a fight? What’s at stake?” Main job as a promoter is building stakes for viewers.

5. Addressing the FBI Gambling Investigation and Sports Integrity

• [00:39; 65:02–70:00]
  • Dana tells the story of contacting the FBI directly when a betting system spotted “irregular shit” on a recent fight: “I literally went in the back and called the FBI.” ([00:39], [67:38])
  • Only two fights flagged, contrary to internet clickbait.
  • Dana’s uncompromising stance: “I will be the one that will bury you. I will bury you.” ([67:40])
  • He supports legalized, regulated gambling for its transparency: “The more data you can collect, the better. Now, everything gets flagged.”
  • Fighters caught fixing fights will be banned and face federal prison.

6. Dana White on Gambling and Las Vegas Casinos

• [98:45–104:10]
  • Shares notorious tales of Las Vegas casinos limiting his action despite promises, and his ongoing personal “war” with Bellagio (“I have not lost since September 1st.” [100:41]), and why he avoids gambling at the Wynn.
  • “If you fuck around with those fucking casinos, you’re crazy. You might as well go out back and light your money on fire.” ([99:33])

7. Behind the Scenes: Fighters, Beefs, and the UFC Business

• Francis Ngannou Beef ([55:33–59:44]):

  • Dana claims: “Francis Ngannou is a bad guy. He tries to come off like he's a nice guy. No, there's no fucking language barrier with this guy. He's a bad guy. I told my guys I wanted to cut him early.” ([55:43, 57:32])
  • Shares stories of Ngannou allegedly grabbing Dana and another UFC exec aggressively over contract disputes.
  • On why he doesn’t air dirty laundry: “It's not something you just run around talking about...you got to keep, what is it, family politics with the family.” ([76:00])

• Jon Jones & Conor McGregor ([50:10–51:49]):

  • Even withdrawn from a marquee fight, Dana praises Jones: “Jon Jones is the greatest of all fucking time. It’s not like Jon Jones has done so many great things for my business...Jon Jones is the fucking greatest of all time.” ([50:53, 50:57])
  • McGregor’s reliability praised: “Conor’s been that guy, you know.” ([07:35])

8. Building and Identifying Superstar Fighters

• [80:53–84:09]
  • What Dana looks for: “The key is when you find somebody…Can he be a world champion? That’s the…if you want to find these kids, male or female, that you think have the potential to be world champions…” (Dana, [81:50])
  • How Ronda Rousey changed the game for women in MMA: “She opened the door for women. It would have never happened [otherwise].” ([84:13])
  • How backlash turned to triumph when Ronda headlined a card.

9. The Power (and Simplicity) of Power Slap

• [92:22–94:29]
  • Dana’s bullish on Power Slap as the next global viral combat entertainment: “Power Slap will be bigger than the UFC…everybody understands a fucking slap.” ([92:22])
  • Analytics: 30 million followers in three years, massive views with every post.

10. The Nature of Fighting and Dana’s Operational Mindset

• [46:39–47:17, 77:21–78:25]
  • “Every day I get out of bed I strap the shit on, and I go in and go to war.” ([46:39])
  • Never resting on laurels: “You can’t be living on what you did yesterday. You gotta prove yourself every day.” ([77:15])

11. Political Loyalty, Media, and Interactions with Trump

• [11:05–13:22, 19:05–24:53]
  • Dana expresses unwavering loyalty to Trump, citing personal kindness, loyalty, and stories (including dinners with Bill Maher and Kid Rock at the White House.)
  • Candid about the scrutiny: “Do you find it difficult to even say that now? Because everything around him is so radioactive? I’ve been saying it for 10 years. It’s always been that way.” ([12:11])
  • Says Trump is personally charming and that anyone dining with him would “laugh your fucking ass off for 45 minutes.” ([19:05])

12. Fighter Safety in Boxing vs. UFC

• [61:11–63:14]
  • UFC spends heavily on fighter health and safety to avoid serious injury or death. “In almost 30 years, there’s never been a death or serious injury [in UFC]. In boxing, three, four, five guys die a year.” ([61:11])
  • Prevention includes mandatory MRIs, regular doctor checks, and pulling fighters from cards if issues are flagged before an event.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On White House UFC Event:
  “I don’t give a shit what this structure costs. I want to see the White House.” – Dana White ([04:17])

• On Gambling Regulation and Sports Integrity:
  “I called the FBI. I called the FBI. It’s like, it’s so crazy.” ([68:42])

• On Francis Ngannou:
  "Francis Ngannou is a bad guy. He’s not a good guy. He plays the whole, 'I don’t understand the language,' and tries to come off like he’s a fucking nice guy...There’s no fucking language barrier with this guy. He’s a bad guy." ([55:43])

• On Being a Fighter:
  “Every day I get out of bed and I strap the shit on and I go to war.” ([46:39])

• On Jon Jones:
  "He's the greatest of all fucking time...Jon Jones is the fucking greatest of all time." ([50:53], [50:57])

• On Promoter’s Duty:
  “What I’m always selling is what’s at stake here…If I’m not invested, why? It’s like a movie—if I miss this movie in the theaters, in two weeks it will be streaming. What's at stake?” ([35:34], [36:38])

• On Never Getting Comfortable:
  "You can't be living on what you did yesterday. You gotta prove yourself every day." ([77:15])

• On Power Slap:
  “Power Slap will be bigger than the UFC…everybody understands a fucking slap.” ([92:22])

• On the Casino Business:
  "If you fuck around with those fucking casinos, you’re crazy. You know what I mean? You might as well go out back and light your money on fucking fire." ([99:33])

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Major Timestamps

• 00:00–06:24 – White House UFC event vision/logistics
• 26:16–36:38 – Rethinking boxing: new model, stakes in sports
• 50:10–52:11 – Jon Jones, Conor McGregor, and the “GOAT” debate
• 55:33–59:44 – Francis Ngannou beef explained
• 61:11–63:14 – Comparing health/safety: UFC vs Boxing
• 65:02–68:42 – Gambling ring flagged, calling in FBI
• 77:21–78:25 – Never resting on past wins, daily pressure
• 92:22–94:29 – Power Slap’s rise and global appeal
• 98:45–104:10 – Las Vegas casinos, Dana’s war stories

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Final Thoughts

This episode typifies Flagrant: brash, uncensored, and loaded with candid industry insights. Dana White comes across as relentless, self-aware, and strategic—committed to keeping UFC on top and unafraid of fighting entrenched interests in boxing, Vegas, or Washington. Listeners hear both the high-level business strategy and the gritty stories fueling one of sport’s most interesting empires.

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Transcript

[Dana White]

I mean, the fighters are literally gonna walk from the Oval Office.

[Co-host 1]

Really?

[Dana White]

Yeah, fighter. I mean, walk from the Oval Office.

[Co-host 2]

Why don't they pass a couple executive orders?

[Dana White]

It's gonna cost us a million bucks to replace the lawn. Wow.

[Co-host 1]

There was only some people that weren't deported that could do that for Donald. Put ice on hold for like a few more months. Do you want to dwarf the Super Bowl?

[Dana White]

No, I want to dwarf fucking soccer. Give me 30 fucking million in credit, let me bet a million dollars a hand and let's go. Me versus you. If you with any of those fucking casinos, you're crazy. You might as well go out back and light your money on fucking fire. So this guy basically lied and said.

[Co-host 1]

I saw you talking about the gambling.

[Dana White]

Yeah. The day of the fight, which was a couple weeks ago, the BET monitoring system hit us up. They said there's some irregular shit going on with this fight. I literally went in the back and called the FBI.

[Co-host 1]

Holy.

[Dana White]

Trust me, I've had my moments with plenty of fighters. Why?

[Co-host 1]

A little story for us, I guess.

[Dana White]

The one I will tell you is when you think about where boxing is right now, how up the sport is.

[Co-host 1]

Start the pod. Start the pod. Right here.

[Dana White]

Saudi money to make these kind of fights. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Money that makes no sense financially as far as a business goes.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

You cannot run a business like that.

[Co-host 1]

But you're. You're going to change it.

[Dana White]

I'm gonna try.

[Co-host 1]

You're gonna try to change it?

[Dana White]

I'm gonna try.

[Co-host 3]

Let's figure out how.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah. How do you. How do you do it?

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

What did they say about ripped apart.

[Dana White]

And build it from the ground up?

[Co-host 1]

There was like, every single fight is going sale.

[Dana White]

That's exactly what it is. You know what I mean? Let's get as much money from all the guys on this couch as we can and.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And let's not make them feel like they. They got what they paid for at the end of the night, you know?

[Co-host 1]

Were you surprised at the Crawford victory?

[Dana White]

Every guy who knows about boxing told me Crawford would win.

[Co-host 2]

Yeah, same.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. So, yeah, here's the thing. I was at Canelo Mayweather in Vegas. Like I saw it live and I wasn't surprised because I. I was just the biggest Mayweather fan. I mean, this is the greatest great that I've ever seen. Right. But I thought the narrative after that fight and for the next, whatever, 10 years, whatever it was, is that Canelo learned so much from that. And you saw it, like, he was fantastic. Like, somehow he Carried power coming up. And weight. Like it was all this. And it was. It was. If he was right back in the ring with Mayweather, it was amazing.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

What Crawford did.

[Dana White]

Crawford is that good.

[Co-host 1]

He's that good.

[Dana White]

Yeah, he's that good.

[Co-host 2]

My boy who boxed, Matt McCoy almost boxed in the Olympics. Well, tried to, but he was like, crawford is the best I've ever seen. Just the stuff he does, the iq, it's the power. It's insane.

[Co-host 1]

I thought that.

[Dana White]

I thought, great dude, too. I. I actually really enjoyed working with him.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Yeah. He's a good guy.

[Co-host 1]

Fun guy.

[Dana White]

Yeah, He's a good guy. Team. Bunch of good people. It was great. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

It's so easy to work with people when they get paid. There's always people who work with.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Guys, we got Dana White back on the pod.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Let's go.

[Co-host 1]

Dana came in hot. I'm not going to lie. We got about 20 minutes of the craziest stories you've ever heard. None of them will end up on this podcast.

[Dana White]

You got to give us the other podcast.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, fair enough, Fair enough. But we got to get something. You did promise us you'd tell us the whole UFC White House card, so that's really good.

[Co-host 3]

Yeah, that was appreciated.

[Dana White]

So, right now, we're dealing with all the logistics for this thing, which is.

[Co-host 1]

Is it true that Trump is remodeling the White House just for you?

[Dana White]

That's all I need.

[Co-host 1]

No.

[Dana White]

You know, he told me I need a UFC rig.

[Co-host 1]

Donnie.

[Dana White]

No. When he was starting this project, he told me, he said, listen, this place has needed a ballroom forever, and the place needed, you know, to be touched up.

[Co-host 1]

This is crazy.

[Dana White]

It hasn't been done in a hundred years.

[Co-host 1]

When you're looking at the AI image, it's a crazy.

[Dana White]

Badass. I love it. We're literally building that. That thing. Because what I didn't want was a. A lighting grid blocking out the White House. I want the whole White House to be the background of this fight.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

This tape, this fight will live forever.

[Co-host 2]

I mean. Yeah, it will.

[Dana White]

You know what I mean? You don't want to not see the White House. I said, I don't give a shit what this structure costs.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

I want to see the White House.

[Co-host 1]

And then are you at all concerned about the card itself? Like, a lot of things need to lead up to this. Right? Like, certain fighters need to be healthy.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Matchups need to be exciting.

[Dana White]

Listen, I can't worry about that. That type of stuff, you know, we deal with that every day.

[Co-host 2]

So I don't think all Americans, I think all non Americans knock out of the night. Golden visa.

[Co-host 1]

Let's go give a golden visa to the winners, the non American winners, and then remove citizenship from the American loser. I love that the rest of your.

[Dana White]

Life in dagest people are so critical of everything. Believe me when I tell you, you know, we're paying for everything. The government isn't paying for anything. You know, even I, I, I had said earlier it's going to cost us a million bucks to replace the lawn that we're going to tear up. Oh, wow.

[Co-host 1]

Wow.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

There was only some people that weren't deported that could do that for. These prices are going crazy. Donald. Put ICE on hold for like a few more months. Wait until July or something. A million bucks for another lawn.

[Dana White]

It's going to be a million bucks. Okay, obviously you're getting crazy, but we have to. So the south lawn slopes like this, right? So we have to build it up and make it all level, too. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The logistics on this thing is insane.

[Co-host 3]

I mean, security must be crazy.

[Dana White]

Security is going to be crazy. There'll be under, under 4,000 people there. And I don't even know how people are going to get selected yet. We have to work that out.

[Co-host 2]

Can I tell you a nice PR move? Pack it with as much military as possible.

[Dana White]

Well, that is the plan. The plan is that the president wants to do it for the military.

[Co-host 2]

I actually love that because I'm like an immigrant kid. And I was like, man, I don't know what. The White House symbolizes all the most dignified aspects of America. And having sports there, I was like, I don't know. But, you know, it'd be fire if it was the people who serve the country.

[Dana White]

That's exactly what the president wants to do.

[Co-host 1]

That would be a cool. Because then it's kind of hard to hate on it.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

You know what I mean?

[Dana White]

Listen, this will be the most watched fight of all time. I mean, people from all over the world are gonna watch this. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

What are you gonna do when I ask you for six tickets? What are you gonna say?

[Dana White]

Everybody's asking me for tickets. Are you already getting hit up? Oh, hell yeah.

[Co-host 2]

He's gonna say, serve your country.

[Dana White]

Get a ticket to the White House.

[Co-host 1]

Jon Jones is even willing to be there.

[Dana White]

He's willing to come out of retirement.

[Co-host 1]

Are you saying no to Jones? What's the.

[Dana White]

I haven't said yes or no to anybody yet. But I can't put Jon Jones in a position where he can, you know.

[Co-host 1]

Right. You can't. You can't let this get canceled.

[Dana White]

I had a deal with him. We had a deal to fight Tom Aspinall.

[Co-host 3]

Really?

[Dana White]

Oh, we had a deal. What happened? And he said, you know what? I'm not going to do it.

[Co-host 1]

He didn't want to do it.

[Dana White]

Yeah. I can't be in that position. I got to have somebody. You know, people talk shit about McGregor. McGregor. McGregor. When you walk in the room and you're three days out from the fight and you're like, your opponent fell out.

[Co-host 1]

There's a great video of this to you.

[Dana White]

Well, I'm going to the gym. When I get done, let me know. I'm fighting. Don't give a shit. Doesn't want any input. Doesn't get dirty people on the phone. What do you think about this? What do you think?

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

Just let me know. I'm fighting, you know, so you can say whatever you want about Conor. Conor's been that guy, you know.

[Co-host 1]

How badly do you want Conor to be at that fight?

[Dana White]

Well, I don't. Listen, the rest of this year has to play out. Big fight on Saturday night.

[Co-host 1]

Yes.

[Dana White]

We're recording this year and we'll start making these decisions in February, But I'm gonna do.

[Co-host 1]

So no decisions yet. There's no, like, okay, we need to have Pereira at this or something. I'm sure everybody's asking about this. I even feel like a little hacky asking you. But I need to know because I'm curious. You know what I mean? There's gotta be, like an ideal situation.

[Dana White]

What does from the White House like, what would be the dream I'm going to put on, obviously, the card that people expect to be at the White House. That's what I'm going to put together.

[Co-host 1]

So it's going to be. Patrick, it's always about the fans that.

[Dana White]

What do the fans want to see? And what would get everybody excited? Yeah, I mean, the fighters are literally going to walk from the Oval Office.

[Co-host 1]

Really?

[Dana White]

Yeah. I mean, if you're a fighter, I mean, yeah, they're going to walk from the Oval Office.

[Co-host 2]

Why don't they smash a couple executive orders?

[Dana White]

They will walk from the Oval Office. So when I took my team out there to pitch the President, okay, So I was telling my team, you know, there's this right offside, the off the Oval Office. The assistance is where they say. And then there's a big conference room.

[Co-host 2]

Trump guys. I mean, Clinton got his dick sucked there, dude. Was it the old place yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, okay.

[Dana White]

Not in that office. That's a. That's a different one. Yeah. So there's an office. This, you know, when you first walk into the Oval Office, the assistants sit there, you get into the Oval, and then once you go down, there's another hallway there on the left hand side, that's that office. And then there's. The presidents have another office back there. So I was telling my team, I said, and this is what one of the million things I love about Trump, But I said, this is probably going to be in the conference room, but I'll make sure you guys get to see the Oval Office. No, he did it in the Oval Office. The whole presentation was in the Oval Office. It was incredible. And like, my team was like geeking out for two weeks that they actually had a meeting.

[Co-host 1]

And so he's stoked about it. Now, is he doing this because he loves ufc or is he doing it because you're like one of his kids almost? This guy is.

[Dana White]

He loves. We're sitting there one day, he says, if you go to the White House, right? Nobody is more proud of the White House than President Trump, right? He tours everybody. He does all these things. He loves it. You know, he said that they've tearing it down. They've needed. He said they've needed a ballroom for a hundred years, they've needed a ballroom there. They don't have enough space. And he goes, and some of the stuff that's going on right now needed to be done, but none of these other presidents know how to do it. He's like, this is what I do, dude.

[Co-host 1]

This is one of those things where it's. Again, obviously, everything is a whole fucking political story. There'll be somebody even clipping this whole thing. But if there was one issue that you wouldn't think people would care about, it's the guy with a career in real estate doing renovations at the White House. If there's one thing that you would just go, yeah, maybe we look at something else. It was the guy who's been renovating buildings for the last 50 years.

[Dana White]

Renovating a building. Anything he does, they're going to go after anyway. Did you see the thing with the Osbornes?

[Co-host 3]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that was really sweet.

[Dana White]

You guys see this? So the Osbournes are doing, like their podcast or whatever it is, and they're like, should we play the message? And it says, the Osbourne's out. President Trump, or whatever they were saying, like he did something, you know, terrible. And they play the voicemail and it's him saying, I'm sorry to hear about Ozzy. He was a good guy, obviously very talented, you know, and says, you know, he called the.

[Co-host 1]

To.

[Dana White]

To give condolences. And. And. And then Sharon Osborne says, this man has never treated me and your father with anything but respect. And she goes, and the crazier part is I'm not American. Never voted, never will vote, don't want to vote. So the guy doesn't need anything from me. And I've been saying this about Trump for 10 years.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

I mean, you know, anytime, anything, he would call, and he just. He is the best guy.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

You know, he's a good guy.

[Co-host 1]

Do you find it difficult to even say that now? Because everything around him is so radioactive.

[Dana White]

I've been saying it for 10 years.

[Co-host 1]

I know you have.

[Dana White]

It's always been that way.

[Co-host 1]

I know that's what your loyalty is. And you strike me like loyalty.

[Dana White]

It's like if somebody was talking shit about him.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

They'd be.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

Right.

[Co-host 1]

They might be.

[Dana White]

But you know what? I'm. Somebody was talking about somebody that you know very well. Yes. And know who exactly who they are. You would go out and you would.

[Co-host 1]

Tell the truth 100.

[Dana White]

And understand this. When I was doing this, everybody absolutely, positively guaranteed me.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

That he would not win. This guy's never going to be the President of the United States. It's never going to happen.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And you're going to put yourself out there. And I said, yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Because you got nothing to lose. He's nothing to lose.

[Dana White]

I love the guy. It's legit.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Not lying. I'm not trying to be. Get my buddy to become the fucking President of the United States.

[Co-host 1]

He asked me to. Tell me you care about.

[Dana White]

Yeah. Everybody told me not to fucking do it. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck that.

[Co-host 1]

I'm sure they said the same thing to Tyson and like Tyson to this day, has always defended him.

[Dana White]

You ask anybody that's known Trump for a long time, they'll all tell you the same thing.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And it's the truth. And even brilliant move by Kid Rock. Kid Rock calls me and says, hey, I need a favor. I. I sent this bill Maher, Trump, you know, dinner up. And I'm kind of freaking out now. He says, if this thing goes south, not good. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

He goes, will you come to this dinner, too?

[Co-host 1]

Oh, you were at the dinner?

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 2]

And I said, oh, that's crazy.

[Dana White]

And I said. I said, yeah, I'll come, but I'll just fucking show up at the White House.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

So I call him And I said, hey, Kid Rock wants me to come to this dinner on Monday with Bill Maher. And he says, yeah, if you want to come, come. So we go to the dinner. It was incredible to be at this thing. So Bill Maher. So one of the things that the President busts my balls about all the time is I don't wear suits, right? So I don't wear suits. I go fucking showing up there. And he's literally bust my balls all day. Even at Mar A Lago, when you go to fucking Mar A. Have any of you been to Mar A Lago? You go to Mar A Lago. It's like. It's like a Tuesday at dinner. People are wearing tuxedos and shit at this place, right? And I show up, you know, in jeans and tennis shoes, and he's like.

[Co-host 1]

Get out of here.

[Dana White]

So Bill Maher walks into the Oval Office, and it's. And it's me and the President, Bill Maher, and Bill's mark. I don't know where Kid Rock was. He was doing something. But he walks in, and Bill Maher is himself. He's like, there's no way I wasn't wearing a suit to this thing. And he goes. He looks at me and he goes, that's definitely from the Zelensky collection. And he's like, I need a drink. And anytime you need a drink, the President will get you a Coke, you know? And he's like, no, I need something harder than a Coke. So he starts drinking, and he brings in this list of all the things the President has called him over the last 30 years. And I said, this is awesome. And I had them. I literally had them both sign it, and I have it, and I both signed it, and it hangs in the front. We come up the elevators of the UFC to the executive offices.

[Co-host 1]

I heard Bill tell this story. I thought that he kept it. You have it?

[Dana White]

There were two. He brought two copies.

[Co-host 1]

He brought two copies?

[Dana White]

Yes.

[Co-host 1]

Yo, Rhode island, my bad. I missed you guys last time. But we're coming back, okay? We're coming back. Providence, Rhode Island, March 28th. This is the only show that I have on schedule right now. Providence Performing Arts Center. Great comedy festival they got going on out there. I'll be honest, this might be their first year. I. I'm not exactly sure, but we're gonna be there. We'll see you out there. March 28th. TheAndrewSholts.com for ticks. Peace.

[Co-host 2]

Also, guys, tour dates. There's only one I care about right now. This is a literal dream Come true Radio fucking City Musical. Thank everybody who watch this podcast. Thank all of y'.

[Dana White]

All.

[Co-host 2]

I love you guys.

[Co-host 1]

April 18th, we're pulling up.

[Co-host 2]

Sell that shit out.

[Co-host 1]

Let's pull it up.

[Co-host 2]

I promise you it's gonna be the best show I've ever done. Hopefully the best show you've ever been. To Akash Singh.com for tickets. Presale is live now. Use the code Akash. I love y'.

[Co-host 1]

All.

[Co-host 2]

Let's get back to the show live now.

[Co-host 1]

Suck it. Suck. Suck his dick. But for real, light it up. Go get those tickets right now. We're all showing up. April 18th, 18th, Radio City Music Hall.

[Dana White]

Let's do it.

[Co-host 3]

Hey, what's up, guys? Just really quick.

[Dana White]

I'm going on the road.

[Co-host 3]

I'm being Philadelphia, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

[Co-host 1]

Is that it?

[Dana White]

Damn, I thought that.

[Co-host 1]

Okay.

[Dana White]

I'm also going to Chicago, Hoboken and a bunch of other cities. I'll see you guys there.

[Co-host 1]

Thanks so much.

[Dana White]

Markagnonlive.com Extra value meals are back. That means 10 tender juicy McNuggets and medium fries and a drink are just $8 only at McDonald's for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California.

[Co-host 1]

And for delivery, I commend Bill for going, by the way, 100%, I think. Listen to this.

[Dana White]

So then, you know, he goes in, you know, we, we sit down for dinner and they're going back and forth, you know, on, on policies and what they agree with, what they don't agree with. We go through the whole dinner. And then after dinner, Trump gives Bill Maher a full tour of the White House. Like, wow, incredible tour. Now think about how long this guy has been supporting Democrats. Whatever. Nobody's ever invited him out and toured him the White House, right? Yeah, President Trump did. And again, to Bill's credit, he went on his air and said, well, I can tell you this, the guy I've hated for 30 years was not present at this dinner. And you know, he told the truth.

[Co-host 1]

But that is the case whenever you meet people in person, right. You get like a three dimensional view of who that person is as a human being. And I think that's the tricky thing when that is the scary thing for people, when they're individuals that are platformed, like even Trump coming on the podcast or even Bernie coming out of that, whoever comes on our pod. It's scary when you see someone that you don't like look friendly and nice.

[Co-host 2]

It's terrifying.

[Co-host 1]

And there's an actual challenge.

[Co-host 2]

All my Thoughts exactly.

[Co-host 1]

It's like, well, I was supposed to hate this person, and then it turns out that, like, they're kind of a good dad. I don't want to hate someone who's a kind of a good dad. You know what I mean? And I think that's that visceral reaction where you start going, like, I need to hold on to my view of this person that I hate, and I will fight tooth and nail to do it.

[Co-host 3]

People know him politically, and people can agree or disagree because that's politics, 100%. But then you know him personally, you're dead on. What do people misunderstand about him as a person? That when you see him talking at, like, a political thing, you go, oh, they're missing this.

[Dana White]

Everybody in this room, Everybody in this building. Everybody in this fucking city. If I took you to dinner with Trump and we. We had dinner for an hour, you would laugh your fucking ass off for 45 minutes. And then when we got up and left dinner, you guys would walk outside and go, holy shit. You know, that was awesome. And I love this guy. This guy's hilarious.

[Co-host 1]

We did the. Did you see. Can you see if you can get that clip up of him? This is the funniest shit where the guy who runs Syria came on, came to the White House and had him in the Oval Office.

[Dana White]

This guy. Is it the. How many wives he has in the cologne?

[Co-host 1]

Okay, okay. So this guy used to be like.

[Dana White]

I'm the one that came out today, said, where are all my gays for Trumps? And the guy goes, woo. And he goes, you know, you don't look gay. Hold on, play this.

[Co-host 1]

Play this clip.

[Dana White]

Yeah, this is it.

[Co-host 1]

It's the best fragrance.

[Dana White]

Come here.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, back. So what we'll do is just take that, Joe, put it in, and then the other one.

[Dana White]

Is your wife.

[Co-host 1]

With you guys?

[Co-host 2]

I never know with you guys, but.

[Dana White]

It is a so funny.

[Co-host 1]

But it is like, it just neutralizes the room, right? Like he's in it. There's gonna be this, like, stick up. This guy was probably, I think, on like a terror watch list or something at one point, right? The guy was running Syria. I think he was part of something like that. It was something like that. Now he's running the country, so you're gonna have to. You're gonna have to have a meeting with this person who's running a fucking country, right? And I'm spraying you down with fucking cologne the second you walk in so far. And. But you look at his demeanor, like he's serious and Trump is spraying him with cologne and he just starts to break. Yeah. And there. I think there's a lot of utility in that. Like, wouldn't you rather kind of, I would imagine, like, negotiate with someone that you feel like there's some level of rapport. Yeah.

[Dana White]

Look at everything he's got done in the last eight, nine months.

[Co-host 1]

Some people are very upset about that. There's, like, there's this thing with. With. With Trump where it's just like, even the people that don't like him will watch that and then they'll laugh. Right. So there is this version where I don't think people want Trump gone. I think they want him to be like, you get to live in the White House, and we'll move the White House to another building. And then we're just. You get to still be there, and you meet with all the dignitaries and everybody and just have the best time.

[Co-host 2]

He's like a king or a queen in England. Like, you're there, you represent, and you're just. We have fun this year.

[Co-host 1]

You don't even have to tell him he's not president anymore.

[Dana White]

He's getting shit done. No, he's getting shit done, man.

[Co-host 3]

Have you ever, like, seen something you did politically and disagreed and then talked to him in person? Been like, yo, Donald.

[Dana White]

No. No. So obviously, it's like friends that you'll have or family members. You don't necessarily agree with everything they believe in or agree with or like, or whatever it is. But, you know, it's the same with any president, though. I mean, Nobody ever agrees 100% with the President of the United States and all their policies and whatever it might be, but I'm an American and they're the president. It's like the whole time when Biden was president, people were like, he's not my president. I got some bad news for you. He is your president. If you're an American, this is the President of the United States, and it's going to be what it's going to be for the next four years, and then we all go out and vote.

[Co-host 2]

I remember that. That feeling going away around George W. Bush or Barack Obama. People be like, that's not my president. And I always, again, I'm like, old school in that way. I was like, nah, that's your.

[Dana White]

That.

[Co-host 2]

Whether you voted for him or not. I don't like a lot of what Trump is doing politically. That is the president and meeting him. Charming, warm, brilliant, like eq, genius level. Unbelievable. I got nothing bad to say about him personally.

[Dana White]

So When I was at the inauguration, there were all these memes that were going around that I was mad dogging because I was sitting right behind all the ex presidents at the inauguration. And who are you mad dogging? Obama. They said I was mad dogging Obama.

[Guest or Additional Host]

You sizing them up.

[Dana White]

Obama was the only president turned around and said to me, hey, Dana, congratulations on all your success.

[Co-host 1]

No way.

[Dana White]

I said, thank you, Mr. President. I shook his hand, and he couldn't have been any nicer.

[Co-host 1]

Well, that's the thing. I mean, you could. You could tell with Obama that you would immediately like him anytime you got to meet him.

[Dana White]

100%.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Absolute charming guy and, you know, speaks well, you know, the whole.

[Co-host 1]

A brilliant representation of America. I think that's what, like, I was on Rogan recently. We had that conversation. It was one of those things where you felt like, wow, this person is a brilliant representation of America, and you felt very comfortable with how he was viewed. Yeah, I think Trump is more polarizing. There are people that love him and there are people that hate him. And don't get me wrong, Obama was polarizing, too, but in terms of the rest of the world outside of racist places, they were like, wait, how? I think that they were like, oh, wow, this guy is a great representation of the office. Trump does it in a completely different way.

[Dana White]

And Trump's a guy that can roll into any country and get a deal done. And, you know, and the thing about Trump that, you know, I don't know how you can hate it is he is America first man. He is.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah. Well, I think you're starting to see that, like, both sides of the political aisle want America to be first. It's a very cool thing that is happening in that regard. I think, unfortunately, it comes from a place of people are struggling, you know, and it's like, when you're struggling, you're like, I would like us to be the priority, not anybody else. When you're flush, it's like, hey, let's give everybody a little something.

[Dana White]

So true.

[Co-host 1]

But when you're struggling. Yeah.

[Co-host 3]

Have you learned anything from him? Like, have you ever seen him operate.

[Co-host 1]

In a way where you're like, oh.

[Co-host 3]

Wow, that's a very savvy business move.

[Dana White]

Yeah. One of the things that. That I like about him is, you know, everybody thinks it's the opposite, but it's completely not true. If you look at what they did to that guy leading up to this election and the last one, it's pretty crazy. And when he would talk about drain in the swamp. Yeah. And in D.C. you know, he hasn't been, he hasn't been as, you know, like, going after the people that went after him. Yeah. The way that people said he would and whatever. The first thing I did was started meeting with all these people and, and again, there are certain situations that I know about personally that, you know, to be honest with you, I don't know if I would have met with some of these guys that have been like, them meet with these guys. You know what I mean? And he's, he's not like, that takes everybody's call, meets with everybody and, you.

[Co-host 1]

Know, give us one name as soon.

[Dana White]

As the podcast over.

[Co-host 1]

Does it rhyme with Billery?

[Dana White]

I don't know anything about, about her or his relationship with her, but I'm assuming that's not good and never will be. That's. That goes both ways. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

All right, so there's this thing that's happening where, like, you keep on grabbing another thing to build up to be the biggest thing in the world. Right. And are you afraid that if you don't have a thing to make the biggest thing in the world, that, like, you'll just die or something? Like, I'm genuinely curious.

[Dana White]

So what happened to me was, you know, my whole Gary Brecker story, I'm that Gary Brecker.

[Co-host 1]

I know it got my health in order.

[Dana White]

And once that happened. Yeah, once that happened, Popeye, like, changed everything.

[Co-host 1]

I, I now you got your life back here.

[Dana White]

I feel like I'm 30 again.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

And I want to take on more things. And yeah, I enjoy doing it.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. So I'm, I'm curious your take on this. Like, you've seen a lot of movies struggling, I imagine, recently.

[Dana White]

Literally been talking about this for two years.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, good, good. Okay, let's get into this because this is like, it's one of my favorite topics, especially recently.

[Co-host 2]

He's been talking about this for three days at least.

[Dana White]

It's not just fascinating.

[Co-host 1]

It's not just movies, I think were no longer existing in what we grew up with, which was monoculture. A thing happened and everyone was aware of it. There was much less outlets, and there's much less overall conversation now. Things have become so siloed. And now specifically, the difference between TikTok and Instagram. Instagram is the people you follow and their content. TikTok, you don't even have to follow anybody. It's just what the algorithm sends you. It has really kind of diversified our knowledge set. And movies, there's an issue, obviously, because, like, going to the theater is Kind of antiquated. But it's not even that it's antiquated. It's like everybody doesn't know about the same thing. And I'm very curious your take on this because you put on events. How do you find a way in a place where we are divided into a thousand different silos to get everybody on board with a singular event?

[Dana White]

So think about this. So when we were kids, you had a handful of studios, right? And all these scripts would come into these studios and they would pick the best of the best. Those were the movies that they invested in and they made. So I was, I saw this thing on, on social media not too long ago, was showing like the movie, the summer lineup, remember? So you had the Christmas lineup, Thanksgiving, summer.

[Co-host 1]

Summer was Will Smith. We watched Will Smith Take All Fourth of July, every single year.

[Dana White]

It was, you know, you had like a summer where, you know, Top Gun and like every movie was like, holy shit, those are all badass classic movies. Now there's so much fucking garbage being made because there's so many different ways to consume content. Whether it's, you know, the streaming services or social media or whatever it is. I think that, you know, they're just pumping out a lot of garbage now. And like, I agree with 100% with what you said. We're not all aligned like we used to be. And you know, because if a blockbuster movie was coming out, you would fucking hear about it. Everybody knew and it was a must see.

[Co-host 2]

You gotta go see it at the theater, sell out. You couldn't get tickets.

[Dana White]

Exactly.

[Co-host 1]

And if you weren't there, you felt a little bit of fomo, right? There was like this sensation of everybody's going to see this thing and I'm not.

[Dana White]

Saw it. You saw it? You saw it? I didn't see it. No, you didn't see it. It's great. Now I got to go see it.

[Co-host 1]

Right?

[Dana White]

There's absolutely none of that. I don't even know when, when new movies come out, dude. But I will tell you this in the car, we were just driving over here and on my Instagram was the. So I was telling a story like a couple months ago around the Crawford Canela fight. So I had just discovered this new artist who I think is going to be big. Her name is Billie Eilish.

[Co-host 1]

And there's.

[Dana White]

This video of her. And I guess it's right when she came out, everyone was busting my balls on social media because I didn't know the Reading festival was in England. But she comes out, she's a young kid that wrote this song, probably in her fucking bedroom, and comes out and I don't know if you've ever seen this video, the Reading Festival of her, and she sings that song, bad Guy. It's fucking awesome. I love when creative people create something and the whole fucking world just consume it. There's this thing about when it hits and everybody's into it that's just really cool, no matter what. Like, I'd never heard of Billie Eilish before. I'm not in the demo. I'm sure she doesn't want me in her demo. Look at this. Wow. And listen, they're all singing it. What was big about this was she wasn't the. Like, the main event. She was like in the afternoon and nobody was expecting the crowd that she got, you know? And when you watch this clip, it's really badass. And I was like, this is amazing. And then on the way over here, I saw the trailer for the Devil Wears Prada too, dude. How fucking cool is that?

[Co-host 1]

So I love that there's no more of that shit.

[Dana White]

You don't see things that are that good and that creative. Now, again, we're not the Delaware's Product two demo.

[Co-host 1]

When you see something that reluctantly. This is not what I thought you were looking at. He's like, yo, Billy Eilish, Devil Wears product badass. And Hathaway's still stunning. Beautiful, beautiful.

[Co-host 2]

Got it.

[Co-host 1]

Okay.

[Dana White]

This doesn't happen anymore. People don't. This will decide native things anymore that make you go, fuck, I gotta see that movie.

[Co-host 1]

This will decide if this. If movies are done in the theaters. This movie right here. Because the existing IP movies still work.

[Dana White]

The other thing is, when you went to see movies, part of the appeal too was the fucking trailers. You didn't want to miss the trailers in the beginning of the big movies that were coming out.

[Co-host 1]

Alex, the trailers happen before the movie. You show up 20 minutes late to every single movie. If there's many movies before the movie, I'm missing out on movies.

[Dana White]

What's that? When you. When you think about that, all that shit goes away.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, because we're watching on Instagram, you're watching on YouTube.

[Dana White]

It's just the business.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Co-host 2]

It's just the whole experience is watered down.

[Guest or Additional Host]

But this is existing ip. I'm talking about, like, new movies. What gets people excited about new movies.

[Dana White]

You're exactly right about that is they don't make any new creative movies that you go, oh, shit, I gotta go see that. No, they do Dana or three or.

[Co-host 1]

You know, Dana, they just had a movie with Leo made by, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It was called One Battle After Another. One Battle After Another. And it was by all accounts an absolutely sensational movie. I think it probably grossed like $100 million right now. It's probably on track to lose 100 or $200 million. But it is a fantastic movie with a superstar director, superstar lead actor, but it doesn't penetrate culture.

[Dana White]

What's it called? I didn't even.

[Co-host 1]

Exactly One Battle After Another. But this is Leo.

[Dana White]

I just heard about fucking Billy Billie.

[Co-host 3]

Eilish videos from 2019.

[Co-host 1]

So what I'm trying. But what I'm trying to understand is like, does this also affect fights like Canelo Crawford? We're talking about the biggest fight in the world. That's how big something needs to be for all of us to go, I'. Locking and I'm watching it. The White House is another one where you, if you insert politics into this also, it's like politics, the last thing that kind of brings everybody together. And I think that's why a lot of people are talking about it all the time, because that's the way you can get like the biggest mouthpiece you can get to the most, you know, ears and eyeballs. But like, when you think about that with promoting a fight, you guys are putting fights on almost every single week. How do you penetrate a thousand different silos? Do you do a thousand different podcasts? Or is there a way to shine a light bright enough on every single one?

[Dana White]

Well, we're lucky is that we have, you know, a built in fan base that knows what's going on every weekend. And, you know, it goes like this. I was in the Middle east and I was doing Power Slap and I was with Nina Drama and we were doing a stream live. They said, why does next week's card suck so bad?

[Co-host 1]

Who said that?

[Dana White]

One of the people in the stream. And I said, oh, I saw this clip when it didn't even happen yet. Watch it on Saturday. If it sucks, then fuck. And how many UFC cards fucking suck all the time?

[Co-host 1]

So this is.

[Dana White]

You know what I mean?

[Co-host 1]

So, yeah, this is where with your business is really different than boxing, which I hope you change about boxing. I've been a lifelong boxer. Like my dad covered boxing back in the day. Used to go to Ollie's camp in the Poconos. Like Generation Boxing super fan. I would go to boxing fights and the thing would be absolutely empty until the last fight. Yep, like empty. You remember, like maybe the last two people start trickling in with the ufc. People are there for the fucking prelims, which is like not even a thing that exists in boxing.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

And I think it is because a UFC fight, even with people that you don't know, an MMA fight is more entertaining than a superstar boxer fighting. Some tomato can have had their record.

[Dana White]

It's because of the matchmaking. So you have to. You have to build fights. There's a couple of things that you have to have in the equation to build something. First of all, you have to have talented people fighting at the right time. And there always has to be what's at stake.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

What I'm always selling is what's at stake here.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Too many belts.

[Dana White]

Let me tell you what. I don't give a shit about the fucking Dodgers and the Blue Jays, okay? I could give a flying about any of that. Who wins or whatever happens. But guess what happened. They went 18 innings. So Tawny gets on base nine times.

[Co-host 2]

I hate baseball.

[Dana White]

That game seven happens, me and all my friends, as soon as we got back from Middle east, we watched game seven, locked in, game seven pulled. We watched everybody second of game seven. You know why? Because there was so much at stake and so many big things happened and so many stars and records that could be broken and all these other things. And guess what? People start giving a shit.

[Co-host 1]

So is that what you're. That's really interesting. So with matchmaking, are those the conversations?

[Dana White]

A hundred percent.

[Co-host 1]

You're going, what are the stakes of this? Two undefeated guys? This is going to be the future division. And you're doing that with as many cards on or many fights on the card as possible.

[Dana White]

100%. That's really stake.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah. Because if I'm not invested, why. It's the movie. It's like if I miss this movie in the theaters in two weeks, it will be streaming y what's at stake.

[Dana White]

And that's how boxing. And that's the. Huh.

[Guest or Additional Host]

How do you do that?

[Co-host 1]

Boxing.

[Guest or Additional Host]

But I mean, with all the promotions, the different.

[Co-host 1]

Well, he's. He's carving.

[Dana White]

Yeah. No belts. You're going to. You'll fight for our belts.

[Co-host 1]

He's ufcing box.

[Dana White]

You sign all the ground up and rebuild it. Wow. But everything in life and getting people invested is what's at stake. Yeah. You know, and when you think about something like if it's not the Red Sox or the Yankees or the. You know, especially in baseball, Baseball is, you know, is getting a lot older and, you know, the game takes forever, especially in the regular season. There's 100 and something games and, you know, it's not built for this day and age, yet they. They pulled a massive number on game seven. And I'm just being honest. I'm a guy who could give a same.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

About any. But I was excited every second of game seven. Yeah. Because there was so much at stake.

[Co-host 1]

All right, guys, let's take a break for a second. You show up to a blood drive. Person in charge.

[Co-host 2]

Who is he?

[Co-host 1]

A vampire.

[Co-host 2]

Oh, my God.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, no. Fantastic job for a person at a blood drive. If you were a vampire. Right? Yeah, but alcoholic, working at a bar.

[Co-host 2]

Yeah, but what happens? One sip and then what?

[Co-host 1]

Your donation is gone. Oh. It doesn't go to someone in need. It doesn't go to someone who needs your blood in their body. It goes right to the vampire. He devours it.

[Co-host 3]

Dr. Akula.

[Co-host 1]

Damn, Mark, that was crazy. Dracula, that. Yeah, we got it. We got it, Mark. We got it. We got what you're talking about.

[Co-host 2]

You didn't even believe in yourself when you did it.

[Co-host 3]

Dude, I missed it.

[Co-host 1]

There's a reason why you wouldn't let a vampire run the blood drive. Just like there's a reason why Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm.

[Dana White]

Ah.

[Co-host 1]

When you have a problem, you want the experts to be on your side. Not like some vampire in a disguise at the blood drive.

[Co-host 3]

Oh, he's in disguise.

[Dana White]

That's how he got away with it.

[Co-host 1]

He's upside down. Wasn't in a disguise, you would know it. Exactly. And then you wouldn't give him your blood. Are you crazy? Mark, if you showed up and there was a vampire in the blood drive, you think you would give him your blood?

[Co-host 3]

I was expecting 10 Jamaican women, but actually it's a Transylvanian guy in a cape.

[Co-host 1]

I was like, man.

[Dana White]

Why is there. What?

[Co-host 1]

The blood clot is going on over here? Morgan and Morgan has a proven track record of fighting vampires for the people. Over 35 years now.

[Co-host 2]

And non vampires.

[Co-host 1]

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[Co-host 2]

Get the fuck out of here.

[Co-host 1]

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[Dana White]

Or. Or.

[Co-host 1]

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[Co-host 1]

When we were younger, There were these 247documentaries on HBO for boxing.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

You remember those?

[Dana White]

Yep, of course.

[Co-host 1]

And what I think they did is they created stakes for boxing casuals and people that weren't even boxing fans. All of a sudden, they started to, like, fall in love with these people and realize what was on the line.

[Co-host 3]

And F1 kind of did this also.

[Co-host 1]

Dude, F1 did it. And you found, like, Americans never gave a fuck about Formula One, and they put out this drive to survive. And all of a sudden, you know, chicks are finding the driver's cute, and are they going to get married to this girlfriend that they're estranged with? Yeah. Inserting stakes. I wonder if that's how do you.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Just do away with all these promotional teams? Because that's a lot of money. There have fighters under their contract and stuff like that. Like, how are you going to just.

[Dana White]

Be like, well, you know, if you look at the whole world, there's lots of up and coming guys. So when you talk about them having these guys under contract, they got guys that are, you know, you know, you got Tyson and, you know, Tyson Fury and all these other guys that are already big stars and everybody knows I'm going for all the guys that are going to be stars in five years. You know, you build this thing from the ground up. Get rid of all the sanctioning organizations. I'm not going to deal with, with the WBC and the IBF and the wba.

[Co-host 1]

Wow. What type of pushback are you receiving from them?

[Dana White]

Them, I don't give a. Yeah, they don't matter to me.

[Co-host 1]

But what is there?

[Dana White]

They can still run their business. There's still going to be Eddie Hearn and all these other guys out there that still do it. Yeah. And we'll play by their rules.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, but there's only a lot of.

[Co-host 3]

People that don't want this to happen.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Co-host 3]

And money behind this to stop it from happening.

[Dana White]

We'll see. We'll see how it plays out. But you're not wrong. You're, you're not wrong. You're right. There's going to be.

[Co-host 1]

You need, that's what I'm starting to realize. You need dangerous happen. Happening in your life constantly.

[Dana White]

And that's, that's part of the fun of it.

[Co-host 1]

What if everybody one day just started loving you, Dana? What would you do? Would you just retire?

[Dana White]

Well, I saw, I saw a clip.

[Co-host 3]

Of you talking recently about how you wanted to be a fighter. And then you're like, ah, you know, I don't, I don't have it to be a fighter. I think you're wrong. I think you are a fighter in a different arena.

[Dana White]

Everybody is in some way. I mean, you guys all, we all fight different things every day in our normal life and in our professional life.

[Co-host 1]

Mark has to fight to keep cocks out of his ass. No, that's not true. Hold on.

[Co-host 3]

I don't fight it. This guy talking.

[Co-host 1]

You don't look gay. What did Trump say? You don't look gay.

[Dana White]

He has a losing recorder. It's just such another level.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, it's insane, dude.

[Dana White]

That normal people can't understand the way.

[Co-host 3]

That these, but this pressure of like going up against these institutions of boxing is a different level. That a lot of, you know, even fighters probably wouldn't want to deal with.

[Guest or Additional Host]

People are going to want to kill you.

[Dana White]

Yeah, I don't know about that.

[Co-host 1]

You don't.

[Guest or Additional Host]

You don't have that much money that you're going to just be taken away from an industry.

[Dana White]

You don't think. Yeah, but is that, like.

[Guest or Additional Host]

You're not worried about that, do you?

[Dana White]

No.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. Does that go through your head when, like, you are starting to. Not when you're starting to disrupt. Disrupt business. When you're starting to disrupt these institutions? Obviously not everybody just says it out loud, you know, like, are there people that are trying to. They'll send bots at you. They'll try to make you look bad. They'll try to. Are there these other ways that they can try to malign you?

[Dana White]

There's no doubt about it. Yeah. That happens every day. I mean, the way that I look at my life and my job and everything I say, every day I get out of bed and I strap the shit on, and I go in and go to war. I mean, that's like a lesbian, what we do every day.

[Co-host 1]

Strap the shit on.

[Dana White]

That's it.

[Co-host 1]

But that's the idea. Every single day, you're like, I'm getting after this, and it's going to be a fight every single day. And then you take a vacation, and it's probably miserable because you don't have to fight every single day.

[Dana White]

My biggest trip is probably every year. I go to Italy for, like, 10 days. And, yeah, by. By day six or seven, I'm chomping at the bit to get back to work. Yeah.

[Co-host 3]

What's the biggest challenge with taking the UFC model to boxing? Is it these specific people? Is it the quality of the fights?

[Dana White]

I don't think that there's a real challenge in it. I think that you're going to see over the next couple of months, there's a lot of people that are going to want to be with me. One of the things that I do is the money gets spread out to everybody in boxing, A lot of these guys that are trying to, you know, make it. Make hundreds of dollars around to fight, and, you know, there's. There's really this narrative out there that, you know, our fighters don't get paid and.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

There's been plenty of competition for the UFC over the last 25 years, but everybody always ends up with us. And why is that?

[Co-host 2]

Because they're scared of you?

[Dana White]

There's plenty.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Yeah. I mean, the PFL is out there right now. These guys have been. I mean, I don't know how much money they're upside down. I know the.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, you're saying other businesses.

[Dana White]

One Fighting Championship is hundreds of millions of dollars that they've spent. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

And who's propping it up?

[Dana White]

I don't know. I don't know. Can't be fun, though.

[Co-host 1]

So an interesting thing about, like, about MMA specifically, I don't know if this is something that you guys kind of created, but this is different than boxing, and I'm curious if you change this for boxing, is that losses on your record does not deprive you of a career.

[Dana White]

Yeah, exactly. So when, you know, when I told you about ripping it down and rebuilding it when we were building the ufc, one of the things that I noticed is that, you know, Arturo Gotti kept signing contracts with hbo, win, lose or draw. And the reason is because people want to see great fights. And what I always talk about is I sell holy shit moments for a living. That's what I do. And. And when you guys stay home, first of all, I got to get you to stay home every fucking Saturday. Yeah, right. And when you do, you know, you're. You're putting off other things, whether it's going out that night, taking the wife out, doing stuff with the kids. So what I can have happen every Saturday is you go, he got me again. I should have done something else. Which was terrible.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, we gotta feel like we're robbing you. Fight's gotta be so amazing that we're like, holy. It's gotta be the World Series. It's gotta be.

[Dana White]

Turn it off. And you're like, fuck, those were. And it doesn't have to be every fight. I need three or four of those. Yeah, exactly. Three or four of those moments. And watch some good fights, a variety of different things. There were some knockouts, some submissions, you know, some fights that went the distance.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And. And. And at the end of the night, you felt, whether you came to the event live, you stayed home and watched it, or you went to a bar and watched it, you feel like you got what you came to see.

[Co-host 1]

Is there a guy.

[Co-host 2]

He asked him that. That reminded me of something you said earlier. You said, Jon Jones pulled out of the Aspenol fight. Is it because he's holding? And I. I love Jon Jones, but is it because he's holding on to that zero loss in the lost column, or you didn't say why?

[Dana White]

Yeah, listen, there. There's a lot of things about Jon Jones, you know, if you look at a lot of the things that he's done outside of the octagon. Jon Jones doesn't run from guys. Jon Jones doesn't.

[Co-host 1]

I don't think Jon is afraid of a single human being on this planet.

[Dana White]

It. And here's the thing. It's funny because people go after me for saying, john's the goat. What has John done that makes my business life so much easier?

[Co-host 1]

Why would they go after you for. Is that a controversial statement to say?

[Dana White]

Who knows? They're like, oh, Dana's glazing Jon Jones, and he's this and that. He's the greatest of all fucking time. You know what I mean? It's not like Jon Jones has done so many great things for my business and to prop Jon Jones up again. And, you know, Jon Jones is the fucking greatest of all time. And for those of you that, you.

[Co-host 1]

Know, have to deal with it. I sat next to him with the sphere. Fight him and his brothers. Rip. One of them, actually, I think one of them pissed. Passed. Yeah.

[Dana White]

Yeah. His brother just passed away.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I don't think he's afraid at all. But it is interesting that the White House event elicits that. Maybe it's stakes, maybe it's the excitement, maybe for a guy like him, where he is in his career, what gets him up? Was it you that posted the Marvin Hagler thing? Yeah, I love Hagler, by the way.

[Dana White]

Me too.

[Co-host 1]

Me too. And also did it right, like, goes to Italy, becomes an actor, like, gets the. Anyway, but, yeah, maybe that's what he needs. Maybe he needs an event that big for him to go, okay, I'm gonna dedicate myself the way I need to dedicate myself to get my body in shape, to get my mind in shape, to really prepare. Like, maybe he needs stakes to be that high.

[Dana White]

And Jones has. I mean, you've seen it so many times. Has that dark side to him. Like when him and Cormier don't think they're on camera and they're talking, they can hear each other getting ready to go on sports or something. And. And. And Cormier goes, I ought to come over there and spit in your face. And. And Jones goes, you know, I'd kill you, right? And DC Goes, you could never kill me. He goes, daniel, I'd kill you if you ever spit in my face. A kid. And you look at Jon Jones and there's another Jon Jones one where he's, like, all happy, and he's at, like, some sponsored event, a sponsor, and some guy comes up and starts talking to him, and John's got like this whole, Jesus Christ, is this really happening here? And he's laughing and whatever. And then the guy says something about his brothers and you see the switch man, and John goes, don't hold him back. Stop holding him back. Let him go. And then the guy that's trying to act, whatever, he wasn't pushing as hard as he was, you know what I mean? It's a great clip. You got that one.

[Co-host 1]

Hey, see if you can get that up. Joe, is there, is there any, is there any fighter throughout your entire career that you've been afraid of?

[Dana White]

Like, I mean, you know, you know, we get up there and we do the face offs. It's like some of these guys, like Derek Lewis, when Derrick Lewis, you know, he goes deep when they go to Face Off. And then I try to put like some pressure on these guys so they don't touch each other. And when you get two of these heavyweights like Derrick Lewis and most of these other fucking heavyweights. Yeah, you can just feel, it's like, what the. It's just, hopefully it's just the level of respect that they won't go fucking great. Yeah, I'll end up in like the ninth row. You're saying you could powerful.

[Co-host 1]

You could feel like the tension between them.

[Dana White]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[Co-host 1]

So you don't think that those moments are manufactured, like they really are trying to get after it in those moments.

[Dana White]

So you've been away from your family, you're not eating, you're fucking cutting weight. You know, you got the pressure of the fight coming up. It's like at that moment when they face off at the fucking weigh ins, it's like they're so ready to go. And you just, you know, our whole job is to cause what fans love is that fucking face off. Who looks scared, who looks fucking, you know, who looks in shape, who looks good. Watch this. Everyone here knows you're a ticket.

[Co-host 1]

Like, go.

[Dana White]

And that's what he backed up. Don't hold him back.

[Co-host 1]

We need to hold him back immediately.

[Co-host 2]

We need to get him back.

[Dana White]

How easy it was for that guy.

[Co-host 1]

To just go, hey, let's move very easily.

[Co-host 3]

You're right.

[Dana White]

Yeah. John looks at him and says, don't hold him back anymore.

[Co-host 1]

Whoa, that's crazy.

[Guest or Additional Host]

That's scary.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, so, so Derek, it was just pure. Like there's size here and God forbid he swung, he clips you, you're, you're gone. But has there even been a fighter where you're like, I don't know, like, I don't Know if this guy likes me. And I. I don't know if.

[Dana White]

I mean, I don't know if any of them like me. I. Trust me. I've had my moments with plenty of fighters and. And, you know. Yeah. I don't ever talk about Dana White.

[Co-host 1]

Got a little story for us behind.

[Dana White]

The scenes, goes on every week.

[Co-host 2]

Really?

[Dana White]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Is there anything you could bestow upon the boys?

[Dana White]

I. I guess. I guess the one I will tell you is, you know, some of them have been public and most of them have not. But, you know, everybody has this thing about Francis and Gania. Francis Ngannou is a bad guy. He's not a good guy. He plays the whole. I don't understand the language, and he tries to come off like he's a fucking nice guy. You know what I mean? And people go. The language barrier, probably. No, there's no fucking language barrier with this guy. He's a bad guy. And I told my guys, you know, I wanted to cut him early. And two of my matchmaker guys were like, oh, no, you don't understand the guys. Let me tell you a story. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them. Believe them. And this guy has shown. So he's going in to fight Stipe Miocic in Boston, and he knows he's gonna kill Stipe, right? So after the press conference, we're walking down this hallway, and he comes over to me and he grabs me and he says, let me tell you what's gonna happen. His English is great, okay? No language barrier whatsoever. When this fight's over, you're gonna book me a private plane to Paris. And I said. I laughed. And so, yeah, he goes, I'm not joking. You're gonna book me a private plane to Paris. Okay. So we. We go our own ways. Stipe Miocic beats the fucking shit out of him. Beats the out of him. So that ended that whole conversation, and I should have cut him that day. Then he comes up. So when this guy was.

[Co-host 1]

So this is the first time they.

[Dana White]

Yeah, this is our first. Sort of.

[Co-host 1]

Steve.

[Dana White]

Sort of running. Yeah, the first. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

So then, you know, when you're an athlete that's signed by the ufc, you, you know, you get full access to the. To the Apex Performance Institute. And, you know, you can eat there for free. Everything's free. And do all this stuff. This guy was living there, right? And he had just fought, and he comes up to my office, and, you know, he's in the hallway or whatever hanging out, and I said, come on, what's going on? And he was pissed off that he didn't get a fifty thousand dollar bonus in, in his, in his last fight, that he didn't get the bonus of the night. And I said, well, Francis, you didn't get it because this, that. And he's in my office and he's arguing with me and I'm like, yeah, this guy got this, this guy got that. And this is why. So the conversation's over. I'm starting to leave and he grabs me by my shirt. Fuck. And like pushes me back in my office. And I said, dude, dude, get your hands off me.

[Co-host 1]

Those were the words that came out of you when Francis and God grabbed you by the shirt?

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Wow.

[Dana White]

And you know, I would have been like, I hated this.

[Co-host 1]

Shirt.

[Dana White]

But it's. No, I, I could see in this guy's face and in his eyes and the way he's acting, who this guy really is, you know, and, you know, then, then my guy Hunter was. They were talking about something. It might even have been the same thing. And when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him back. Said, we're not done talking yet. Wow. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

So there's a lot that went into your dissolved relationship.

[Dana White]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So this guy's not a good guy, he's a bad guy. And, and if you look now, now he's over and he's done a deal with PFL and Saudi Arabia and now he's asking to fight. You know, me and Jon Jones need to fight and fucking, you know, I'm sure they wish they never fucking signed him. You know what I mean?

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And I don't have to hear one word from any of those guys over there to know because I know, I've dealt with him, I know who he really is.

[Co-host 1]

And.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, that's unfortunate.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

It's always. Those are the tricky things when you, like, you have an idea.

[Dana White]

And I never talk about this type of shit publicly, but I feel, felt like after the conversation in the hall and all the other shit, you gotta.

[Co-host 1]

Give us a little one.

[Dana White]

I'm willing to give you. I guess it's that one.

[Co-host 1]

I mean, yeah, I can imagine that that's gotta be the truth.

[Dana White]

But these type of things happen, you know, we're in the killer business, man. These guys are fucking killers. And, you know, are there certain guys.

[Co-host 1]

That you think, think they don't have the kill instinct in them, but they're incredible athletes and amazing martial artists.

[Dana White]

100.

[Co-host 1]

So like a Wonder boy, for example. Like, maybe he's. Maybe he's a dark dude on another side, right? Like, amazing.

[Dana White]

He's probably a bad example. He. He's a talented, great, amazingly talented and.

[Co-host 1]

Seems like a good dude. And, like, I feel like if he permanently injured someone in the ring, he would probably feel a little bad about it. Like, I think he sees. I think he'd feel a lot of bad about it.

[Dana White]

I mean, one of the things that. That, you know, I'm going into, into boxing. In the almost 30 year history of the UFC, there's never been a death or serious injury. You know, we spend a shitload of money on health and safety to make sure that these guys are, whatever. Now, in boxing, you know, three, four, five guys die a year, dude, it's.

[Co-host 1]

Wow, how are you going to stop that?

[Dana White]

Spend the money on health and safety. So we make sure that we know most of the damage that happens to these guys is training for the fight. So, you know how much shit we catch in the UFC by making sure that these guys do all the right shit, and it's not cheap. What do you mean? MRIs and, you know.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, so this is the advantage of having that fight facility?

[Dana White]

Well, no, it's fucking expensive. You spend shitloads of money to make sure that these guys go to the doctors and get. Get all the proper shit done so that, you know, a healthy guy or girl is stepping into the octagon.

[Co-host 1]

But it's huge for the business. I mean, like, it's everything.

[Dana White]

It's obviously huge for the business, but it's huge for me, personally. I don't know how I would react to that happening. I don't know if I could deal with that, you know, and I don't want to. I don't ever want to fucking know.

[Co-host 1]

Boxing. Boxing is peculiar in that way, so.

[Dana White]

We will spend the money, but it's.

[Co-host 1]

Also like, the nature of UFC is like, when you concuss somebody, they'll probably. They might get hit one more time if the ref doesn't jump in, but that fight is pretty much over. With boxing, they'd let you get back up.

[Dana White]

Well, and it's not even that as much as it is leading up to a big fight, right? How many punches do you take? You're talking about, like, sparring, preparing for that fight.

[Co-host 1]

Gym warriors.

[Dana White]

What happens with the UFC guys is they're going to do some sparring, but they're doing grappling and they're fucking, you know, all this.

[Co-host 1]

Hundreds of rounds a.

[Dana White]

Week, three months, and do hundreds of.

[Co-host 1]

Rounds and you see the unfortunate damage on guys like the guys who get a little bit punchy. Yeah, it is a different. It makes sense.

[Guest or Additional Host]

It's like that's your league. You're investing in your players. So just like NBA, NFL, you got.

[Co-host 1]

To keep them healthy.

[Co-host 2]

But like you said, the sparring is throwing punches. So how do you do you limit the sparring? What would you do?

[Co-host 1]

There's no.

[Dana White]

You can't limit the sparring. What you do is you just, just, you have to stay on top of the health and safety issues and make.

[Co-host 1]

Sure that we know some guys do it less. Max was saying that he.

[Dana White]

Most of the people that die are the guys that, that, that go in and have a pre existing thing from sparring and getting ready for the fight.

[Co-host 1]

Their brain bleed already there.

[Dana White]

And we do notice these things with UFC guys. Yeah. I mean, we've had guys who have had aneurysms and all kinds of, you know, leading up to a fight, we catch it and we pull the fight.

[Co-host 1]

Okay.

[Dana White]

Dude, we've had people retire.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, so there's, there's. I saw you talking about that, the Bulgarian guy and the gambling.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

And you've seen it happen with the NBA. We had like shams on here and stuff like that. Do you know who he is? He's the guy who like drops all the breaks, all the information, like this guy's getting traded, yada, yada, yada. An interesting thing happens with the, with the shams kind of interview. And also this John Tay Porter guy, I don't know if you heard of him, but he was playing for the Raptors and he did like, some stuff. So there's these things that exist now, these prop bets. Right. Especially in sports, like under four rebounds or something. If you're like a bench player, it's very easy to get three rebounds. Pull yourself out of the game, be like, ah, my back hurts. I want to sit. What is interesting about like the, the idea of like the fixing of these sporting events coming out is that I don't think that people gambling knew that the gambling companies were aware of big money being put. Do you know what I'm talking about? So, like, for example, when they see big money being put on an obscure bet that's flagged in a system. So a lot of people are talking about, like gambling in sports as, oh, my God, this is a big deal. And there are going to be fights that are fixed or whatever it is, which I want to get your take on. Yeah, but is there a version where, like, this is the reason why you want to make gambling legal, not illegal. Because now you can flag this type.

[Dana White]

Of activity 100%, the more data that you can collect. You know, you have these bet monitoring systems out there and they see irregular stuff happening. You know, there's the goofy clickbait that's all over the Internet. We're hearing that hundreds of fights are being. No, they're not.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

There were two. Okay, Two that. That were being checked out.

[Co-host 1]

What was the other one? It was one of them.

[Dana White]

This was one of them. And I can't remember the other one, but it was connected to a whole team of guys. Yeah. And James Krause was the coach of all these guys. He's being looked at in this whole thing.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Could you break that down? Because I don't get what.

[Co-host 1]

Actually.

[Dana White]

Yeah, so what happened was the day of the fight, which was a couple weeks ago, the bet monitoring system hit us up at like one o' clock in the afternoon. And they said there's some irregular shit going on with this fight. You know, there's big bets on this kid to lose in the first round.

[Co-host 1]

This is not like a big name in the sport. Right, right.

[Dana White]

Like it was a fight night at the apex.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, wow.

[Dana White]

And it was, you know, it wasn't a high level fight.

[Co-host 2]

Okay.

[Dana White]

So. But the odds were huge. The guy that they were betting on to lose in the first round was like a 4 to 1 favorite, a 3 to 1 favorite or something like that to win the fight.

[Co-host 1]

Got it. So only somebody that might know a little something would put that kind of bread on a bet like that.

[Dana White]

So they called us and told us, and our lawyer called the fighter and his lawyer, they're already at the apex and, you know, warming up and said, there's some regular betting going on on you right now losing the first round. Are you hurt? Because guy could be hurt and guys in his team know it, but nobody else knows it. Do you owe anybody money? Does anybody ask you to fight?

[Co-host 1]

You asked him this before the fight?

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 2]

Whoa.

[Dana White]

Before the fight.

[Co-host 1]

Holy shit.

[Dana White]

And his lawyer, right?

[Co-host 1]

Oh, wow.

[Dana White]

So then they said, fuck, no. What? This is weird. No, absolutely not. I'm gonna kill this guy. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So we said, okay. So we let the fight go. And then we're sitting there, there, and the fight goes to the ground. The kid gets his back. And I'm like, he's got him in a rear naked joke. So I call my chief operating officer. I said, he's got his back. Oh, he got out of it. Oh, no, he's back in it. Oh, that fight's over. Finished. And, and my chief operating officer goes. I literally went in the back and called the FBI. Oh, wow.

[Co-host 1]

Holy. Okay. Okay.

[Dana White]

Went right in the back and called the FBI. Okay. The FBI showed up, you know, on Monday. We walked them through everything and now there's a full blown investigation. I will be the one that will bury you. I will bury you.

[Co-host 1]

If you. Yeah, you need to.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Because it protects the brand. You need to protect the sport to.

[Dana White]

To, to, to come into any league and start fixing or throwing, you know, fucking fights or games or any of that shit.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Yeah, I can't imagine that's the first time. Like you haven't had other instances.

[Dana White]

Yeah. So one other time that, that something was flagged and that was the, the James Kraus camp thing that I was telling you about. And that's what sort of kick started this whole thing. Now once we, once the betting service, you know, calls us and lets us know there's some regular activity. Yeah, we're all over it.

[Co-host 1]

So that's. So that's a thing.

[Dana White]

So it's not like, you know, you see things online. They're like, the FBI is investigating them.

[Co-host 1]

And now 100 fight, all this.

[Dana White]

I called the FBI. I called the FBI. It's like, it's, it's so crazy.

[Co-host 1]

Also, sometimes you don't even need to. Like with the NBA, the FBI was notified first and they started notifying the teams and they set up something where like they saw the irregular betting pattern happen once and they didn't clip the guy and they waited for it to happen again. And on the second time they arrested and there was another player where it happened once and then he never did it again. So they weren't able. They were like sitting there waiting for almost like a sting operation for him to do the betting.

[Dana White]

So betting is so regulated.

[Co-host 1]

So this is.

[Dana White]

Okay. And like you were saying when you started this whole thing, when you have more of like, if it's a guy.

[Co-host 1]

With a leather jacket in a bar and you're doing a prop bet.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

You could fix things easier when you have these things that are itemized and you know the exact volume of the bets and something gets irregular, it's gonna be flagged. But I do think it's important for you to speak on that because people don't maybe understand why it is actually safer and how like, I think the people that are fix, trying to fix these things and the fighter trying to throw it, they're too stupid to Realize that it's gonna get flagged. The more people that realize this stuff gets flagged won't bet on legitimate betting platforms because they'll be worried they'll get caug.

[Dana White]

So. So when we sat down and talked to the FBI, the FBI already fucking knows where they bet. What they just. You, you know, fucking stupid. You have to be.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

To do this and to be a fighter.

[Co-host 1]

So how do you punish them?

[Dana White]

To throw a fight?

[Co-host 1]

Is that like lifetime ban from any.

[Dana White]

Of me out there saying federal fucking prison. Yeah. You're going to go to federal prison.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Yeah. And that ain't like going to the fucking, you know, the jail down here. Federal prisoners.

[Co-host 1]

Feds is better than jail. Feds is kind of nice compared to jail. Jail's a little wild. That's what they say. Fed time is a little nicer than.

[Dana White]

Well, if you're talking about fed time being like the white collar crime you're.

[Co-host 1]

Talking about, that isn't where you're at. We gotta fight it for you.

[Dana White]

Yeah. This isn't a white collar facility. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

All right, guys, take a break for a second. Today's episode is brought to you by Kraken. Yeah, your go to for all things investing. Me and the boys, we've been rocking with Kraken since last year. Why? It's simple, secure, it's fast. And when bitcoin starts flying, you want a platform that doesn't fold. Kraken's been around longer than most of these random coins and they're still killing it. Now listen to this. Kraken is giving away a full bitcoin. Not a little piece of the bitcoin, not a hundred dollars worth of bitcoin. A full. That's over $100,000 right now. Someone look up how much that is worth. As we are reading this, all you gotta do is trade $1 on the app. That's it. Every dollar traded. Shit. It just went under 100 grand. But still, it's close. Maybe by the time this comes back, it's over 100 grand. But that's the beauty of this business. Diamond hands.

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[Guest or Additional Host]

I saw this clip the other day of Nick Diaz saying, and Nate Diaz saying that he got into it with you, like at a club or something.

[Dana White]

Yeah, yeah. Nick Diaz was actually the, the one in the middle of it, cooling everything down. Yeah, yeah. We were drinking and. Yeah, yeah, that was. But this, it's, it's like when, when, when he said that and that clip went viral, everybody's like, oh, this happens every week. Yes. Not, not stupid in a bar like that. But we were, we were out for the, when the Ultimate Fighter would end, I would take everybody out and you know, he was with one of the teams and, and that's how that went down. But, but yeah, goes on every week. And, and this is the stuff that you have to assume we're in the fight business. So the crazy goes on in this business, but it's not something you just run around talking about, about, you know.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, that's like, you got to keep, what is it, family politics with the family.

[Dana White]

100%. Yeah.

[Guest or Additional Host]

How is the Paramount deal changing the league?

[Dana White]

So what I love about the param. There's a lot of things I love about the Paramount deal. But yeah, you know, if you look at the investment they've made, what does that tell you? Tells you they're going to do everything they can to help make, you know, the brand and sport bigger. And these guys are so fired up to be in business with us, the whole team, from CBS to Paramount. And it's really been a great experience already. And we haven't even started working together yet, so I'm really looking forward to it. I was just doing an interview with a student the other day from usc and in the interview he said, wow, you know, you're Dana White. You did the ufc. You don't have to prove yourself. Myself. I said, you're wrong. I, I literally, I'm coming out of a seven year relationship, going into a new seven year relationship with a duff with, with, with a different partner. And yeah, I gotta prove myself all over again. I'm going into boxing. Gotta prove yourself again. You know, everybody's on power slapping. It's not gonna be, I'm prove myself over here. We just started a jiu Jitsu league. Gotta prove every day when you get up, you, you can't be living on you did yesterday. You gotta, you gotta prove yourself every day.

[Co-host 1]

Do you feel, do you feel proud of yourself? You ever feel proud of yourself?

[Dana White]

I don't know if I, I would say I feel proud. I'm always looking at what's next. What aren't we doing right now?

[Co-host 2]

Do you allow yourself to look at what you've done and be like, God damn, that's crazy from where I came to where I am?

[Dana White]

Yeah, I guess so. Not really. But.

[Co-host 1]

Like, is there not a moment where you're looking at, like, an Instagram post of the Paramount deal and you're just looking at the size of it and you just go, wow. Like, I went through a lot of. And built something with a lot of great.

[Dana White]

How about we bought our way onto TV for $10 million?

[Co-host 1]

I mean, that story is awesome.

[Dana White]

Yeah. But, like, is there not enough stories and whatever? But, but yeah, and, and, and yeah, we, we, we got 7.7 billion, but now we got to go deliver for the next seven years. That's how I look at it.

[Co-host 1]

So now the monkey's on your back.

[Dana White]

It's not like, yay, we got seven, you know, it's like, now we got to deliver.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

The President of the United States looked at me and said, why don't we do a fight at the White House? And I said, yes, now, now we have to deliver.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

You know, it's never about. I, I, you know, oh, I'm so proud of myself for. Wow, look at what we.

[Co-host 2]

No, I mean, personally, I want you to be proud of yourself, but as a fan, don't.

[Co-host 1]

Firstly, I want that for you, but.

[Co-host 2]

As a fan, to feel unfulfilled.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Are you worried at all that now that there's no more pay per view, like, maybe there's less excitement to have to tune in on a Saturday because they know, like, oh, I can get it for free.

[Dana White]

Nah. I mean, if you look at the fans are not stupid.

[Co-host 1]

Stupid.

[Dana White]

Right. Fans know what's up. It's like, you're always gonna have the, the dildo from the. I was talking about the guy from the stream the other day that's talking about a fight. Yes.

[Co-host 1]

Right in Mark's chest.

[Dana White]

When a card ends, John. And if it's bad, I'll be the first one to say it's bad. But as we get into this new deal and it's on Paramount every Saturday, the fans know when there's good. Everybody's buzzing about this Saturday as they should be. This card is incredible.

[Co-host 1]

I actually think for consumption patterns now, the fact that if you already have the streaming platform, you'll be able to consume it, opposed to a pay per view model, I actually think that that would be huge for viewership.

[Dana White]

Way bigger. First of all. Yeah, the ESPN plus model, you had to pay for espn, then you had to pay for the pay per views. It was like 1200 bucks a year to be a UFC fan. Yeah, it's 100 bucks a year to be a UFC fan now.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, it's. It's fantastic. But just in terms of like the fact that there's so many different things to consume. Back to what we were talking about, like movies, we're so bifurcated in what we're consuming. The fact that I know I can watch the UFC and stream it immediately, there's no hang ups, nothing in the way. It's almost like what I felt with watching football games on YouTube TV or watching basketball games. It's like it was so easily accessible right on my phone, no matter where I was. Yeah, I think this will be huge.

[Dana White]

Huge.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Is this gonna affect fighter pay?

[Dana White]

Cause like didn't.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Sometimes they would get a piece of the pay per view or you didn't get.

[Dana White]

Yes, they did. But we can work that out for seven points.

[Co-host 2]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Now.

[Guest or Additional Host]

How are you going to.

[Dana White]

Yeah. So, you know, when you start breaking down how it used to work if you were a world champion, the, you know, you can do the math to figure out there's a bare min for.

[Co-host 1]

What a world champ gets. But now that can.

[Co-host 2]

Going back to something Andrew was bringing up earlier. I think one of the things that helps the sport grow and, and penetrate all cultures is like superstars. I don't know. Kia Nud's a great fighter, blah, blah, blah, blah. Who do you think is a superstar that's coming? Like a Conor McGregor type, a Jon Jones type who's a young fighter that you're like that guy. Got it. Because apparently, Conor, you knew right away.

[Dana White]

When we do the. Yeah, well, Connor and Rhonda are like. And Chuck Liddell was that for me too. The old owners of the UFC didn't like Chuck Liddell and didn't like his mohawk and bunch of other weird shit. But I always thought Chuck would be a big star and more important, I knew Chuck could fight.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And that's really the key. The key is when you find somebody. Conor was the. Was the. Was, you know, the.

[Co-host 2]

A unicorn maybe?

[Dana White]

Yeah, in a way. Because.

[Co-host 1]

Full package.

[Dana White]

I didn't know if he could fight. But when I had dinner with him, his fucking personality was so off the charts. I'm like, everybody's going to love this fucking guy, you know, and if he can even fight a little bit, he can be big. The question is, like I told you guys earlier, what's at stake? Can he be a world champion? That's the, you know, if you want to find these kids, male and female, that, that you think have the potential to be world champions. Now, the first time I ever met Ronda Rousey, she grabbed me at a weigh in and said, could you give me 10 minutes? And I had known who she was because I'd seen her, you know, and I knew she could fight.

[Co-host 1]

Fight.

[Dana White]

So we went back into the back room in the green room at the, at the arena, and we talked for probably 20 minutes. And I was. There was no way I was doing women's fighting. Now what you have to remember at this time is I was still trying to sell men to get on tv and none of the fucking networks wanted it. Who wants to see this pretty girl up against the fence getting her fucking fake face smashed in with elbows? Yeah. I'm like, you know, people hate seeing the guys that this happened to. So that was my mindset back then.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

I was the guy that was flying around, meeting with all. Just think about it. I'm flying around meeting with all these 65 year old editors of the paper, of the newspaper.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

When that. Yeah, that still existed when we started with this thing.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And they're all ball and stick guys. They know boxing. They're never gonna get ufc.

[Co-host 1]

They.

[Dana White]

Yeah, and my attitude was this, these guys are all going to be fucking gone. You know what I mean, within the next 10 years. And there'll be a whole group of younger guys that hopefully we can.

[Co-host 1]

Burt Sugar. The guy with the cigar. Exactly.

[Dana White]

So if you think about what I was dealing with at that time, and then to think about women. So I go in and I start talking to rhonda for like 20 minutes. 10 minutes into the conversation, I'm like, holy shit, stop, star. I might do this. She's the one. I think she's the one that if I'm gonna bring women into the ufc, I can launch the whole thing with her.

[Co-host 1]

I didn't know that that's what. The role she played in female ufc.

[Dana White]

She. She opened the door for women.

[Co-host 2]

What is it about?

[Dana White]

It would have never happened. Everything about her, the confidence in herself, the way she talked, the. The things she said she was going to do. I've dealt with those type of personalities before. And I knew 10 minutes in, as soon as I walked out of the meeting with her, I called Lorenzo and I said, you know, I'm gonna believe this. I think I'm gonna do this women's thing, man. I'm gonna do it.

[Co-host 1]

That's awesome.

[Dana White]

I think this, the, the, this, this woman Rhonda is, is the one to do it with. So then when I move forward with it and I made her the headliner and, and, and, and in Anaheim and the co main event was Dan Henderson and I think Machida, I don't remember.

[Co-host 1]

But I remember her being the backlash.

[Dana White]

That I got from that was like, holy. Yeah. I guess women do deal with some. That I got from this thing.

[Co-host 1]

Wasn't until that moment. No, seriously, kind of got a rough.

[Dana White]

No, seriously, the that was being said.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Online about that fact that these women.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Were, were the headliner of this.

[Co-host 1]

Why did you make it? Was it not a championship out between Leoto and was that the point in time where you needed to be a championship?

[Dana White]

I don't think it was. Yeah. I don't think it was a championship fight. And the championship fight's always going to headline and if you're gonna go, go. Right. So leading up to that thing, the backlash and all the people talking and all this stuff, then that night, we're in Anaheim, sold out. Right. And the minute she walked out, I was like, like, you made the right decision. Place erupted and went crazy. And when she won, the place went crazy. And then Ronda Rousey was a rocket ship after that, you know, but yeah, it was pretty weird to, you know, I, I, I did not expect that type of backlash.

[Co-host 1]

You thought that they were going to support you.

[Dana White]

You're so aggressive. I didn't know if it was going to be supportive or if it was going to work or whatever.

[Co-host 2]

You think it'll happen and maybe there's some backlash, but then the level probably.

[Dana White]

Is like, oh, I knew if I was going to do it, she was the one to do it with and launch the whole thing. And then behind her came Joanne Jack, who's a bad little. You know what I mean? And you, you just started to see women's boxing was always more like a novelty, like they had no defense. Yeah. So then these girls are coming out, out. Their technique is unbelievable. Knocking girls out and finishes.

[Co-host 1]

I think finishes are huge. And you weren't seeing that in female boxing. Dude.

[Dana White]

You would see the co main event this Saturday.

[Co-host 1]

That's what I was about to say.

[Dana White]

Shevchenko versus Whaley. And when you talk about a super fight, you're talking about two different girls in two different weight classes that are agreeing to it. And the number one versus number two, pound for pound in the world. That's a fucking super fight.

[Co-host 1]

Which fight is fixed weekend? Both women are nasty. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, can we get that whole card up? Because what do you think about Jack?

[Dana White]

I think the kid's unbelievable. He hasn't lost a fight in 10 years. Yeah, he's on an 18 fight win streak. Islam is on like a 15 fight win streak. He's about to tie the UFC record for, you know, consecutive victory.

[Co-host 1]

But Islam's coming up, and Jack, let's.

[Dana White]

Not forget that he just, he just beat Bilal Muhammad, you know, who's a tough, durable dude.

[Co-host 1]

I was.

[Dana White]

And a problem for. For everybody. He fought before Jack.

[Co-host 1]

I was impressed at Jack's ability to keep it standing. And if he can manage to do that with Islam, not wrong. That is going to be. Now Islam can strike, too. That's the thing that I think a lot of people aren't considering with this. Like, there's this idea that, like, oh, he's Dagestani. It's just the wrestling. Like, no, no, Islam's. Islam's got striking. This is. Khabib and Islam are different fighters.

[Dana White]

And the question is about Islam, too. Will he be even more of a beast because he doesn't have to cut all that weight?

[Co-host 1]

That's. Yeah, Leon's back there. Sean. I love Sean Brady, man.

[Dana White]

Yeah, this, this, this Pradas Edwards fight.

[Co-host 1]

So awesome. Pradas is another one. You have these guys that come up, these like, characters that are just so fucking endearing. Merab's another one of them. Like, like, there's something about them where, I don't know, like, you know very little about these guys. You see them in like, tiny little interviews. You see them on like a little thing on TikTok, but they are incredibly charismatic. And I don't know if that adds to stakes, but, like, once you actually feel like you're rooting for somebody, which is not like a decision you make, I think your kind of body naturally decides if you like somebody and want them to win. Yeah, you're kind of like invested in their entire career. Career. Like, Holland is another guy. Like, I watch every time Holland fights.

[Dana White]

Yep, he's fun, isn't he?

[Co-host 1]

And you have him fighting like 40 times a year or something like that. It's unbelievable.

[Dana White]

So, you know, it's incredible. So Kevin Holland story. Kevin Holland Fights on in the very, very early days of the Contender Series, and he's literally talking shit the whole time he's fighting, and it was driving me crazy. And I called him Big Mouth.

[Co-host 1]

It was great.

[Dana White]

And I didn't take him. Him, right?

[Co-host 1]

Oh, you didn't?

[Dana White]

No, I didn't sign him. I was like, I don't want this guy. He's got a big mouth. He's out there acting like he's a world champion while he's trying to get his way into the ufc. I'm. I'm not interested the way the fate plays out. I mean, a fight falls out on one of the cards coming up, like that week or the next week or whatever, and it's in his weight class. Do you remember? And I said to the matchmakers, I said, said, call Big Mouth. See if Big Mouth will take this fight. Wow. He agrees. He comes in on short notice, takes the fight, and the rest is history.

[Co-host 1]

Who'd he fight?

[Dana White]

And you want to talk about a guy that's made a shitload of fucking money, Shitload of money. But he shows up, and people love him.

[Co-host 1]

He shows up, though, people love him. You call him, he'll show up, and you need guys you can rely on. But wait, who? Do you remember who he fought?

[Dana White]

I don't. I don't remember.

[Co-host 1]

Joey, can you bring up the list of the fights, though?

[Dana White]

His first fight in the ufc.

[Co-host 1]

See, I want to know the Cowds for the Jack Islam fight.

[Dana White]

See, if you guys didn't have this last time I was here, this is great.

[Co-host 1]

We're looking at some things. So what do we got?

[Co-host 2]

71% Islam, I think.

[Co-host 3]

Yeah, Islam is a pretty heavy favorite on culture.

[Dana White]

Oh, wow. Yeah. Is that.

[Co-host 1]

Would you say that that's how you feel about it? You think Islam heavy favorite?

[Dana White]

No, I disagree.

[Co-host 1]

I think it's a closer.

[Dana White]

Way closer. Yeah, way closer. I agree.

[Co-host 1]

Why are people sleeping on track?

[Dana White]

We did the whole poly market thing today, too, and it was the same. It was way off, in my opinion. But these fucking things are pretty good.

[Co-host 1]

I mean, they are.

[Dana White]

I mean, these prediction market things are pretty fucking good.

[Co-host 3]

We've just seen guys with devastating ground game just dominate strikers before. So I think people get. People get swayed by that. But all you need is Jackson, who.

[Dana White]

Was Kevin Holland's first fight in the ufc.

[Co-host 3]

You need someone like Jack just to connect once, and the fight changes.

[Dana White]

And can he keep it standing? Like he was saying? Can he stop Islam's takedown? Yeah, it's gonna be a whole different fight if he Can I saw something.

[Co-host 3]

Interesting that Islam, when he's striking, he'll go back directly backwards.

[Co-host 1]

Oh.

[Co-host 3]

Which creates a problem for him.

[Dana White]

If Jack is Santos, who's a bad motherfucker. That's right. He came in and fought Thiago.

[Co-host 1]

Go. I remember when he fought Ja. Do you remember that fight?

[Dana White]

Yes. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Ja Where?

[Dana White]

Knocked him out from the bottom.

[Co-host 1]

From the bottom.

[Dana White]

Yes.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah. Mark does that all the time.

[Dana White]

Come on.

[Co-host 3]

My child's been watching this right now.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, sorry. Won't do that at all.

[Guest or Additional Host]

You do so much, much stuff. What are you most excited about right now?

[Dana White]

I'm obviously very excited to head into the Paramount deal for a lot of different reasons. You know, first of all, how into the sport they are and how much they've invested in it. My. My long term goal is to take this thing everywhere. I believe that this works everywhere. And like I always say, and I'm sure I said it last time I was on the show, but if I didn't, I'll say it now. Power Slap will be bigger than the UFC. You think you don't have to train for 10 years and be this elite athlete and all this stuff to do it. And guess what? People all over the world, when the fight goes to the ground, not everybody understands it. Not everybody's gonna like it. Everybody understands a fucking slap. And when I tell you I sell holy shit moments for a living, we could watch Touch the whole card on Saturday and maybe we don't get one. In Power Slap, it's one, two. Holy.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Co-host 2]

Every slap is a holy shit.

[Dana White]

And when you look at so everybody that talks shit about Power Slap in the early days, I mean, we have like 30 million followers in less than three years, you know, so I mean.

[Co-host 1]

It'S the perfect thing to follow on Instagram because every time you see it, I listen. I'm not a Power Slap fan, but every time a Power Slap video comes up on my feed, I will watch it to completion.

[Dana White]

And that's what I know noticed about myself. Yeah, I'm the most jaded ever when it comes to sport. When it comes to moen guy, right.

[Co-host 1]

Slapping a hill, I would watch the.

[Dana White]

Slap reels over and over again to see who won. Yeah, right? And then when I first started this thing, you know, I had all. All these guys that are smart guys whom I respect saying, yeah, it's short, snackable content that people are gonna watch. But no, people are hitting follow, and they're following it.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

You know, so. And now people are showing up to it, and it's Starting to. And I've already been through this. I already know how this works. And we continue to pull massive numbers. We're gonna double what we did last year. So maybe it's just as far views go.

[Co-host 1]

Maybe we're not invested in the characters yet. Maybe we're not invested in.

[Dana White]

And it's a much younger demographic too, which I love. And that's what you need, right? It was the same thing with the ufc too.

[Co-host 1]

Interest.

[Dana White]

The UFC was a much younger demographic, right? You had the fucking boxing guys, the baseball guys, and the football guys. And we had a much younger demo. And for that time period that that demographic was online, there used to be this, this. This site you go to and you could talk everything MMA and fighters would go in there. It was called the underground, and everybody was in there talking about ufc. And realistically back then, then that was our only form of advertising. So when. When Twitter and social media started. Let's, let's. I mean, that was my.

[Co-host 1]

You know, do you. It's so funny, like UFC when it. Or MMA in its early stages. I remember it being this like rebellious martial art form. Like just. You didn't even know if it was totally martial arts. Some of these guys look like they were coming out of some, like, backyard brawl. Just absolute tough guys. Some guys in fucking GI's. It was just so ab. It felt like on some street fighter shit. In a lot of ways, right now, you guys are the dominant fight sport, right? I think that you've passed boxing right now. Yes, there's going to be a boxing fight that, you know, clips some crazy number, but in terms of, like, regularity and interest.

[Dana White]

Completely inconsistent, the boxing shit. And when a big one comes, people like, oh, we should probably see.

[Co-host 1]

We should get in. That's fair. It's.

[Dana White]

It's like we won't see another one for three years.

[Co-host 1]

Top Gun Maverick comes out. Oh, my God. Movies are back. It's like, not really. That's Top Gun. This is like a legacy.

[Dana White]

It's a great point.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, but is it weird not being the rebellious one? Is it weird being the legacy legacy sport now? You're this guy who's constantly fighting against.

[Dana White]

Something, but I think we still are that. That we still have that.

[Co-host 1]

You have the spirit, but you won.

[Dana White]

We're one of the big major brands, but we still have that in a. Know we went through Covid. You know, I'm always first with shit that other.

[Co-host 1]

So you find other things to fight about won't do.

[Dana White]

You know what I mean?

[Co-host 1]

Okay.

[Dana White]

We announced the poly Market deal today.

[Co-host 1]

Oh, right. Okay.

[Dana White]

You know, and how we're going to integrate it into the television show and all that stuff. We still do things that the older stiff, you know, leagues won't do.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. So in terms of. Of how you see yourself, you see yourself. You still see yourself as rebellious in terms of the behavior and the actions on behalf of the business, but you do recognize that, like, you guys are the thing. Is that weird for you to even say?

[Dana White]

No, no, it's.

[Co-host 1]

What am I feeling right now? For me, what is this hesitation?

[Dana White]

That's not how I look at things. I don't look at things like, oh, we're. We're the thing. We're the. We're there. We made it.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

There's still a lot of work to do.

[Co-host 1]

Because then you stop. I mean, that's an interesting perspective. It's like, then you. You rest on your laurels. It's like. It's the Marvin Hagler thing, dude. It's like, if you want to get busy, you want to fight, you got to put yourself in prison. Yeah. I mean, that's what he was saying, right?

[Dana White]

Yeah, 100%. There's still a lot of work to be done. When I tell you that I want to be the dominant sport, I'm not talking about goofy other leagues, like PFL and all this other shit.

[Co-host 1]

You want to dominate sport.

[Co-host 2]

Sport.

[Co-host 1]

So the fact that there's the NFL, the fact that the super bowl is the biggest event of the year, you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Dana White]

I never looked at all the other combat sports guys as my competitors. I always looked at. Because even from the, from the. I'm trying to get. I was trying to get in the paper. You know what I mean? So if I'm in la, I'm competing with the Dodgers, the Rams, the, you know, the Lakers, the. That's. That has always been my competition in my mind.

[Co-host 1]

Do you want to dwarf the Super Bowl?

[Dana White]

I want to beat every out. No, I want to dwarf soccer.

[Co-host 1]

The World Cup.

[Dana White]

Yeah, those are. Those are what I set my standards at, are who's my competition, not these other goofy leagues. And. And like that. I don't even think about those guys.

[Co-host 1]

Guys.

[Co-host 3]

Yeah, I mean, speaking of battles, last time you were here, you were talking about your. Your war with Caesars.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, you were up 16 milli on him. Have they got you back at all?

[Dana White]

Yeah, I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm in a war right now with. With the Bellagio.

[Co-host 1]

Wait, have you gone off of Caesars you were so.

[Dana White]

I'm a Caesars guy. Love Caesars.

[Co-host 1]

I'm saying, last time you were here, you were like, listen, I. I almost don't gamble anywhere else. They take care of me no matter what. I won't say the brand, but, like, you even say, like, sometimes casinos do some sneaky shit with where they say that they'll extend a certain amount of money.

[Dana White]

Yeah, that was some fucking shithole up in.

[Co-host 1]

The river. The waterfall, the buffalo.

[Dana White]

Yeah, Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls, exactly. If you fuck around with any of those fucking casinos, you're crazy. You know what I mean? You might as well go out back and light your money on fucking fire.

[Co-host 1]

Can you explain? It's kind of a hustle. It's like they say that they'll extend a certain amount of money to you.

[Dana White]

Yeah. So this guy basically lied and said, said, you know, I said, you know, let's say a million dollars. I don't remember what the number was now. It was so long ago, but I said, can I get a million dollar credit line? And the guy said, yeah, no problem. So then we show up there and he gives me like 200,000 in credit. And I said, no, I want a million. He goes, well, yeah, you got 200. If you lose, then. Then we'll go another 200. We'll go, you know, we'll get you to a million. I said, okay, right, because I'm from Vegas. You don't fucking say that in Vegas and then not deliver. It's just. It's impossible that that would happen. Yeah, and this motherfucker did it and literally said, ah, that's all we can do. And, you know, you're in one of those situations where it's like this fucking. This scummy piece of shit place and this fucking scumbag just lied to me.

[Co-host 1]

You know, and there's nothing you can do. There's no recourse.

[Dana White]

If you live anywhere near Niagara Falls and you're playing in any of those casinos, be careful. You'd be better off taking the money that you're going to lose and fly to Vegas and play there.

[Co-host 3]

And so what's happening with the Blago now?

[Dana White]

So I. I September 1st, I started playing Bakarat over there with these guys. You know, I jump around here and there and. And I have not lost since September 1st. Wow. Can you say. Or the first week of September, like the first week.

[Co-host 1]

Can you say how much?

[Dana White]

I ain't doing this shit. What if we bleep it?

[Co-host 1]

What if we bleep?

[Dana White]

Yeah, okay, okay. Believe it.

[Co-host 1]

100%. Believe it.

[Co-host 2]

Believe it.

[Co-host 1]

Wow.

[Dana White]

Since the first week, how much was Ocean's 11?

[Co-host 1]

This is George Clooney back at it.

[Dana White]

Wow.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Wow.

[Dana White]

Yeah. Since the first week of September.

[Co-host 1]

Now, hold on. At a certain point in time, do you go, all right, let me chill for the.

[Dana White]

Well, I think I told you guys, I. I look at every year. Year as, like, a war.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

There's different battles inside the war that year that. That you go through. You know, the war in 2025 is going to end very well. And then I go into 26.

[Co-host 2]

Buddy, you're a fighter. It doesn't matter what you're doing. You're a fighter. Every year is a war. Backgammon, but whatever.

[Dana White]

Back around.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. All right. So when you're up. I know, I know. He's got to go. Okay, so when you're up, because you got to get out of here. But when you're up. Crazy. What is the energy like when you're walking into the casino?

[Dana White]

Hey, Elliot, bring my phone in here. I like this. Yeah. I mean, when we go in, I got my whole crew that I roll with every night when we go in and. And. And. And when we. When we get in there, you know, there's that hyped up.

[Co-host 2]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

Then, you know, like, a fight.

[Co-host 1]

All right. While you get that up. When you're down and you're walking around the casino, though, what is the energy?

[Dana White]

You know, it's.

[Co-host 1]

It's.

[Dana White]

It's. It's. Again, you could say it's like a fight. It's the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. The problem is for people who. Who gamble that. That, you know, get depressed, and, you know, you can't do that. You got to be ready to. You know, you got to get back in it. This was the night before we came here.

[Co-host 1]

Jesus Christ. Hold on. Y.

[Co-host 2]

That's nuts, dude.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. Can bleep it again. What is that right. Right there? Bleep.

[Dana White]

So this is.

[Co-host 1]

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. And that's in duffel bags?

[Dana White]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes suitcases, you know, depending on how.

[Co-host 1]

The bag, you make them count it out so you can walk. You don't leave the credit there, right?

[Dana White]

You want no credit? I want cash.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dana White]

You like, man, I like cash. Don't wire me. Give me my cash. Cash, bro.

[Co-host 1]

And then when you're walking with the cash out of the casin, you have the bags, right? Like, people know you. You're. You're like mayor of Vegas, right? Like, yeah.

[Dana White]

Where we Go though. We. We go. But is there a part of you.

[Co-host 1]

That just wants to walk right through the main. No money left in the casino, guys.

[Dana White]

There's not.

[Co-host 1]

Not a little bit.

[Dana White]

No. No. I mean, he's trying to leave a lot.

[Co-host 1]

Tell me. Tell me if this is just right before you leave. Tell me if this is just pure. Pure clickbait like Tiktoks and like that or this is. Or you felt it. I've seen these people on TikTok saying like Vegas is having a rough time. Do you think that that's true? Are there too many casinos? Is that pure bullshit and just people.

[Co-host 2]

I can't afford you.

[Dana White]

So we were. We were just in Vegas, you know, a few days ago and we were at the Bellagio. Packed fucking wall to wall.

[Co-host 1]

So this is bullshit. This.

[Dana White]

There's so much bullshit that comes. I used to love the Vegas. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

[Co-host 1]

Now it's like.

[Dana White]

Like there's all this, you know, clickbait bullshit.

[Co-host 1]

Right.

[Dana White]

Like there is everywhere else now. Vegas has become like its own celebrity that gets attacked and you know what I mean? It's pretty weird.

[Co-host 1]

Like as an. It has its own identity that you have to be. Now is it possible that there's so many casinos that some aren't as busy as others and they're trying to point it.

[Dana White]

I think what people point at is. Is things that. Which I agree with 100% that, that I hate about Vegas and I love that fucking city. City paying for parking.

[Co-host 1]

I saw a video about this too.

[Dana White]

Absolute, bro.

[Co-host 1]

Taxis used to be free.

[Dana White]

Any of these casinos that are charging for parking is disgusting. And listen, if. If. If you're a Vegas guy and you like to go to Vegas, then stay at station casinos. Any of the. The Fertitas properties. They don't charge for parking. It's like old school Vegas and resort fees, they're. They're hitting people with resort fees. Which is another dirt. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

You know, I think that was the sentiment that they felt like, especially if.

[Dana White]

You'Re maybe nickel and dimed.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah. Well, the beautiful thing about Vegas is somebody that didn't have a lot of money got to go and feel like someone special.

[Dana White]

Yeah. But they, they still do have places. But they do have places that you go where you can play five dollar tables. And that's what I can do. All that.

[Co-host 3]

I made 45.

[Co-host 1]

I'll show you a photo.

[Dana White]

But you know, but you know, you're not wrong because I was that guy too. I used to play the. I love that. And you can't take that away from Vegas or you're gonna hurt the city. But there still are places like if you go downtown, you could play at the D, you could play at Circa. And there's great places downtown. You can still get great food at great prices. So you're not rolling into Bellagio. The win are the biggest pussies in the world. Listen, if you, you, when you're in Vegas, you don't gamble at the win.

[Co-host 1]

Tell me, tell me.

[Dana White]

You eat there.

[Co-host 1]

You eat there.

[Dana White]

So the win. What I. Because the Win does. They'll do everything they can to make sure you lose when you play there. They're the worst. How they have the best restaurants in town. Go eat there and then leave and go play at Caesars or Bellagio or one of those places. How can they make it if you play? Big mistake.

[Co-host 1]

Money.

[Dana White]

What they'll do is the same that I was talking about over at the. The hole place. They won't let you bet enough. They won't give you big enough limits. You know, they play these little games that you can play.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

To make sure that you know. And if you listen everybody who plays, you know, there's the nights you go in and you get in a hole. If they stack the deck against you as far as how much you can bet per hand. Yeah. Or what your. What your credit limit is.

[Co-host 1]

You're gonna lose.

[Dana White]

It's hard to get out of that hole 100%.

[Co-host 1]

But I know you want to take them down because I know after this Bellagio thing is done, I know that you got your eyes set on something.

[Dana White]

Oh, that. I. I wouldn't even. I wouldn't even ask to play at the win. No way. No way. No way. The chicken that they've done over the last 10 years is fast forward five years.

[Co-host 1]

Dana White buys the win. Wait, they've done shit to you over the last five years? All the money you brough even I.

[Dana White]

Had a buddy of mine who was running the casino and he's like, no, we're not going to let you play the way you play here. They. Wow.

[Co-host 1]

They wouldn't let you bet what you normally bet and they wouldn't extend the credits what you normally do. So word is getting around.

[Dana White]

So my thing is give me as much, give me 30 million in credit, let me bet a million dollars a hand and let's go. Me versus you. I'm working on a whole deal with this thing right now.

[Co-host 1]

Is this the Netflix thing that there's.

[Dana White]

Yeah, well, so the Netflix thing is different. I'm Doing a documentary on Vegas. And yes, some of my shit's in there, but not like it's being. But yeah, I'm doing that. But I want to do another thing with Netflix too.

[Co-host 1]

You versus the casino. You versus the house.

[Dana White]

You come in like a title fight, you know what I mean? And me versus they show all the odds on why they should win, I should win. And we go one night, a million a hand.

[Co-host 1]

What's the odds? And boxes rot.

[Dana White]

What do you mean, what are the odds?

[Co-host 1]

House Vers. It's 100% even. Well, they have to have a little advance.

[Dana White]

It's as close to even as you'll get on any game on Bakarat.

[Co-host 1]

So you have a chance.

[Dana White]

Yeah. Baccarat is a fascinating game. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

So you hand 30 million dollar credit line.

[Dana White]

Yes.

[Co-host 1]

At one night.

[Dana White]

Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

And we just live stream it on Netflix.

[Dana White]

We do a Netflix show like a. Like. Like you would do, you know, like we did the Canelo Crawford fight. Yeah.

[Co-host 1]

Wow. Wow. I'm in. Yeah. Dana White, everybody. Thank you, brother. Thanks for having me and Doug here.

[Dana White]

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[Co-host 1]

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[Dana White]

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