‘Aspinall IS My Heavyweight!’ Dana White On Fighting Eddie Hearn, UFC White House Boxers & More

Summary

Podcast Summary: Piers Morgan Uncensored – ‘Aspinall IS My Heavyweight!’ Dana White On Fighting Eddie Hearn, UFC White House Boxers & More
Date: March 5, 2026
Host: Piers Morgan | Guest: Dana White (UFC President and Zufa Boxing Head)

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Episode Overview

This episode features a candid, fast-paced, and often combative conversation between Piers Morgan and UFC/Zufa Boxing boss Dana White. The central theme is Dana White’s increasingly disruptive impact on the world of boxing, his high-profile feud with promoter Eddie Hearn (“Pussygate”), the future of UFC—including a historic fight card at the White House—and his perspective on sports, business, family, money, and his friendship with Donald Trump. The episode is full of behind-the-scenes insights, notable banter, and several exclusive teases.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. The Eddie Hearn Feud and “Pussygate”

• Dana White’s Criticism of Eddie Hearn

  • Opens with a repeated slam: “Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn?” (00:00)
  • White explains the fallout with Hearn after Conor Benn left Hearn’s Matchroom for Zufa Boxing (01:39).
  • On Hearn’s complaint of betrayal:
    • “I wasn’t gonna mess with Eddie at all. You know, I liked him… but this has been absolutely crazy.” (01:39)
    • White argues Hearn should have matched Zufa’s offer if he truly wanted to keep Benn.

• On Business vs. Personal Relationships

  • Dana: “I wouldn’t confuse business with the personal relationship either.” (04:06)
  • Explains there’s an unwritten code: “If there’s a guy under contract, you don’t mess with him. When contracts are up and somebody has the right to negotiate, all's fair.” (04:56)

• Notable Quote:

  • “Eddie Hearn and his father are incredibly wealthy... Conor is going to make some good money for him and his family. You should be happy for him if they’re that close.” – Dana White (02:31)

2. Zufa Boxing’s Strategy

• Building from the Ground Up

  • Dana emphasizes targeting up-and-coming stars rather than established champions:
    • “I’m going to go after the up and coming stars. This is what I like, building things from the ground up.” (05:23)

• Critique of Other Promoters

  • Calls out Oscar De La Hoya for suing fighters who want to leave:
    • “You’re running a bad business when you’re suing your people to stay with you.” (06:06)

• Legal Threats from Frank Warren

  • Dana dismisses Warren’s talk of lawsuits:
    • “Sue me. Sue me for what? I mean, I’m in the business just like they’re in the business. We haven’t messed with any fighters under contract.” (09:10)

3. Boxing Trends: Entertainment vs. Real Competition

• On “Celebrity” Fights

  • Dana distances himself from spectacle bouts (e.g., Jake Paul, Tyson, Mayweather):
    • “If you find two guys that are famous and want to fight... that’s always going to happen. But that’s not what I do. What I do is I put the absolute best vs. the best…” (11:14)
    • “I am one of those boxing purists, so I would agree with that.” (12:05)

• Jake Paul and Influencer Boxing

  • Dana gives partial respect to Jake Paul’s business acumen:
    • “He plays the heel perfectly... people tune in to see him get knocked out. He’s built himself a business and made a lot of money.” (12:17, 13:09)

• Zufa’s Recruiting Philosophy

  • “I want all the best up and coming guys… that we believe can be world champions someday. No different than when I built the UFC.” (14:16)

4. Dana White’s Business Approach & Reflections on Success

• Money, Happiness, and Trust

  • Dana reflects on life before and after riches:
    • “Money ruins everything... if you’re not a happy person when you’re broke, you are definitely not going to be happy when you have a lot of money.” (16:53)
  • On lending money:
    • “That money’s never coming back. … I always just try to make sure the money doesn’t destroy any of my relationships that I care about.” (18:07)

• Work-Life Balance & Leadership

  • White’s philosophy:
    • “I don’t care when they get their job done. It could be at 3 in the afternoon, or it can be at 3 in the morning… If your kid has a game, a play, a parent teacher conference, get the hell out of here and go.” (19:33)

• Family and Parenting

  • On advice to his kids:
    • “I just want my kids to live happy, full lives. That’s it.” (21:51)

5. Politics, Trump, and Public Perception

• Dana’s Friendship with Trump

  • “Donald Trump is a very good friend of mine and he’s a great human being. He is literally the hardest working guy I know.” (23:27)
  • On the division caused by politics:
    • “Back when we grew up, you didn’t talk about religion or politics. Now… it’s a different world.” (23:27)

• On Iran and Political Issues

  • Reluctant to publicly discuss:
    • “Not really… not anything I would talk about publicly… the United States is doing what the United States is going to do.” (25:10)

6. UFC at the White House – Historic Event Teased

• White House Card Details (June 14, Trump’s 80th birthday)
  • “We’ve kept this card so private and secret… I’m staring at all six fights. We were going to do six fights. I might actually do seven.” (27:27)
  • Speculation about Jon Jones, Alex Pereira, Conor McGregor – Dana teases but won’t confirm:
    • “Interesting… I’ll announce.” (27:45)
  • On whether President Trump is involved in picking fights:
    • “The President’s got more important shit to do right now than worry about the card. He’s a big UFC fan… he trusts me.” (28:37)

7. Dana White vs. Eddie Hearn in the Ring?

• Would Dana Fight Eddie?
  • Playful talk moves to potential charity bout:
    • “If Eddie wants to box, we can box. I don’t think Eddie wants to box.” (30:28)
    • “Absolutely” if Hearn is up for it. (30:56)
  • “That would have to be like a Jake Paul Netflix card... Or we could both fight Jake Paul. We’re in his age bracket now.” (29:36)

8. Tom Aspinall’s Status in UFC

• On Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall
  • Piers: “He is your heavyweight champion. Right?”
  • Dana: “He is my heavyweight champion.” (31:14–31:17)
  • Addresses rumors he’s slighted Aspinall:
    • “Never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about it… I like him very much and respect him.” (31:31)
  • White expects Aspinall will fight again:
    • “If you ask me, do I think Tom Aspinall will compete again, I would say yes.” (32:47)

9. Dana White’s Future Ambitions and Power Slap

• On Building a Global Sports Empire
  • White sees streaming as opening an 8-billion-person audience:
    • “The ceiling is 8 billion people… I just love the idea of that… just building this absolute machine that has never been done before.” (33:32–34:29)
  • Remarks on critics doubting Power Slap, compares it to UFC’s early days:
    • “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh my God, Power Slap is ridiculous.’ … I don’t need everybody to like it—there’s 8 billion people on earth. I only need this many to like it.” (35:41–36:43)

10. Zufa Boxing Championship Belt Fights

• Preview for the Upcoming Zufa Cruiserweight Championship
  • “Jayo Pattaya is the best cruiserweight in the world… He’s 29–0 with 23 knockouts, and he’s taking on Brandon Glanton… I’m super excited for this fight and it’s for the first ever Zufa belt.” (36:54)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On boxing rivalry and business:
  • “If Eddie wants to box, we can box.” – Dana White (00:13, 30:28)
  • “I want all the best up and coming guys… No different than when I built the UFC.” (14:16)
• On life and money:
  • “Some of the greatest times of my life were when I was broke. I had a blast when I was broke.” (16:53)
  • “Money ruins everything… if you’re not a happy person when you’re broke, you are definitely not going to be happy when you have a lot of money.” (16:53)
• On President Trump:
  • “He is literally the hardest working guy I know. He loves this country and he cares about people.” (23:27)
• On streaming’s future:
  • “Your ceiling is 8 billion people. And I just love the idea of that.” (34:29)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – Dana White on Eddie Hearn (“Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn?”)
• 01:39 – White discusses fallout with Hearn & Benn’s transfer
• 04:56 – On boxing’s unwritten rules/business code
• 09:10 – Legal threats from Frank Warren; Dana’s competitive mission
• 11:14 – Dana’s views on “celebrity”/entertainment fights in boxing
• 12:17 – Comments on Jake Paul and influencer boxing
• 16:53 – White’s philosophy on money and happiness
• 19:33 – White’s staff management/work-life balance philosophy
• 23:27 – White on his friendship with Donald Trump and political polarization
• 25:10 – Refuses to discuss Iran publicly
• 27:27 – Teasing the secret UFC White House card
• 29:36 – Jokes about a Dana vs. Eddie charity match, “We could both fight Jake Paul.”
• 31:14 – Tom Aspinall’s status and White’s respect for him
• 32:47 – White expects Aspinall to return
• 33:32–34:29 – Vision for combat sports in the streaming age
• 35:41–36:43 – Power Slap’s explosive growth, Dana’s entrepreneurial drive
• 36:54 – Zufa cruiserweight title preview

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Conclusion

This episode offers a raw, animated look at Dana White’s current impact on both combat sports and business, his philosophy about building talent, deals, and rivalries. He continues to challenge traditional boxing, stands by his partners, and remains undeterred by critics or competitors. White’s reflections on wealth, leadership, family, and politics—as well as teases about UFC’s historic White House event—make this an especially engaging and revealing interview for fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Dana White]

Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn? He was quite upset. Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn?

[Piers Morgan]

There's been a lot of pussy talk this week, Dana.

[Dana White]

It's crazy.

[Piers Morgan]

You are the biggest animal in world sport.

[Dana White]

Listen, if Eddie wants to box, we can box.

[Piers Morgan]

If it actually happened, who would win? Would you be confident? What is the state of play with Tom?

[Dana White]

Tom and I obviously need to talk.

[Piers Morgan]

What do you think of what is happening at the moment with Iran? Do you have a view about it?

[Dana White]

Not anything that I would talk about publicly. Donald Trump is a very good friend of mine. I was just with him last week again, and he's hilarious, and he's an animal.

[Piers Morgan]

There's going to be this big UFC event at the White House. A lot of speculation about who may be on that bill. Are you looking at the name Jon Jones as you stare at that white ball?

[Dana White]

Interesting.

[Piers Morgan]

Can you give me the scoop? Dana White is world famous for turning UFC into a global juggernaut, making some very powerful friends and some powerful enemies along the way. He's now bringing his unique brand of strategic shock therapy to the world of boxing, where it's fair to say not everyone's enjoying the challenge. Last month, Conor Benn, a very familiar face to Uncensored viewers, left Eddie Hearn's matchroom to join Dana's Zufa boxing, a decision which left Eddie Hearn furious. Well, Dana White joins me now. Dana, welcome back to uncensored.

[Dana White]

Good to see you, buddy.

[Piers Morgan]

There's been a lot of pussy talk this week. Dana, you called Eddie Hearn a pussy. He's responded to the pussy claim by saying he kind of takes it as a compliment because you're talking about him. Explain why you think he's a massive pussy.

[Dana White]

I'm talking about him. This guy hasn't shut up since the day I got into this sport. It's crazy. Eddie and I had a relationship, and I literally didn't see that coming. And to be honest with you, I wasn't gonna mess with Eddie at all. You know, I liked him, and just. I mean, that's just. It's been. It's been absolutely crazy. I'm talking about him. This guy has shut up since the day I got into the sport. The reason I'm actually, you know, listen. And Eddie said, oh, this is great. I look forward to competing with him. And there's a lot of things he doesn't know about boxing that he's going to learn the hard way. And, Eddie, I've been in this business for 30 years, and you know, the whole Connor Ben thing. Apparently they're supposed to be really close and Eddie's supposed to be hurt by this and all this stuff. Eddie Hearn and his father are incredibly wealthy and will be for the rest of their lives. Conor, who they care about, is going to make some good money for him and his family. You should be happy for him if they're that friendly and that close. Or he should have matched the deal, which he could have done. He obviously has the money and he could have matched or beat it.

[Piers Morgan]

See, that's at the nub of this, isn't it? Because you and his Excellency Turki Al Sheikh from Cella, who I know well, you've come storming into boxing, you've grabbed it by the horns. And in the UK in particular, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn with their different companies are used to kind of being quite dominant there. Eddie, I think his position would be, I've known him a long time, is that he nurtured Conor Benn, but it wasn't that that hurt him. It's that when Conor Benn was going through his big drug scandal problem, which ultimately he came through, of course, but when he was going through it and everyone else was tossing him on the bonfire and throwing him to the wolves, Eddie stood by him and. And he felt that when it came to him defecting to you, he didn't really even give him the courtesy of a phone call. As somebody who's had to manage your own roster of people, could you understand why if you stand by somebody who goes through a really tough time, it's that. That's the betrayal. Not just someone moving, management.

[Dana White]

Yeah, it happens. I wouldn't confuse business with, you know, the personal relationship either. You know, when we signed Jaya Pattaya, who's fighting this weekend for us, Eddie. Eddie came out and said, you know what? He never sold anything anyway. I couldn't sell anything with Jai.

[Piers Morgan]

Oh.

[Dana White]

Jai's job is. Your job is to sell. So when you sign a guy, his job is to be a badass. Your job is to figure out how to make him and you as much money as you possibly can.

[Piers Morgan]

Are there any rules in the fight game from your perspective? I mean, is there any, like, gentleman's code between you all? And is the kind of stuff we've seen between you and Eddie this week, is that all part of the theater? If you're honest, Dana?

[Dana White]

Yeah. If there's a guy under contract, you don't mess with him. When contracts are up and somebody has the right to negotiate All's there.

[Piers Morgan]

The reports are that you offered Conor Ben $15 million for one fight. Can you confirm that?

[Dana White]

I cannot.

[Piers Morgan]

Because it's not true or because you don't want to talk about it?

[Dana White]

Yeah. Eddie Hearn had him under contract and Eddie Hearn when his contract was up. Eddie Hearn has the right to match and has the right to negotiate for his fighter. He could have kept. He could have kept him if he wanted to. In terms of all these guys, the way you guys, hey, so. So you got all these guys that are talking smack. I didn't say anything. I sat back and we're getting into the game. I'm gonna, you know, build it from the ground up. I'm gonna, you know, I'm not just going. I'm not going after like Usyk and, you know, you know, all these type of guys. I'm going to go after the up and coming stars. This is what I like, building things from the ground up. And that was what I said. I don't know if everybody took that as, you know, that's all I would do or whatever it was, you know. So Oscar De La Hoya, Oscar De La Hoya is suing his fighters to try to make them stay with him. You know, you're running a bad business when you're suing your people to stay with you. And listen, anybody who ever gets into business and says that they want to compete, I don't take anybody lightly and I don't overlook anybody. And all of these guys apparently felt that way about me. They underestimated me or I don't know. And here we are.

[Piers Morgan]

Well, for viewers who've not been following Pussygate this week, I just want to play what you said about Eddie first and then what he said in his response. So let's take a look.

[Dana White]

Okay. Well, I think you saw this week, I am really beating up babies. Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn? He was quite upset that Conor Ben left it. Is there a bigger pussy than Eddie Hearn? This guy is supposed to be your friend. You're fucking crying. He made more money. He's going to make more money and he had the right to match it. He could have matched it.

[Eddie Hearn]

I think he said he tried.

[Dana White]

And Connor Ben wouldn't return his calls. What a crock of shit. Yeah. We're literally beating up babies. Thanks, Darren. Yeah.

[Eddie Hearn]

I don't look at Dana White. There's nothing. It's not like, you know, he comes out of the press. That surprised me, right, Eddie, have you ever known to be A pussy. I'm like, fucking hell. I mean, firstly, this is so good for me. Like, you're sitting at your UFC press conference and you're talking about me, right? So in terms of me building a profile and a brand in the US this is golden. The more they talk about me, the better. But I don't go away from that going, I can't believe he called me a pussy.

[Piers Morgan]

So you're helping his career, he's saying in America, Dana.

[Dana White]

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see how those careers being helped in America. Yeah, I'll tell you what, you know, you and I will obviously talk again in the future. When we talk a year from now, let's see how well his brand's looking in America.

[Piers Morgan]

I mean, are you guys, you know, Frank Warren, obviously, full disclosure, another longtime friend of mine, I've known him a long time. Frank, he says he's considering legal action against you and your company, tko, and against seller Turkey Alice, Sheikh's company. What is your reaction to that potential legal action? And on a sort of wider scale, is your mission, if you're honest, to wipe these guys out? Do you want to completely dominate world boxing in a way that doesn't leave room for people like Fred, Frank Warren, or Eddie Hearn to operate in the way that they used to?

[Dana White]

Let me ask you a question. And I like the Warrens. You haven't heard me say anything about them. Always been nice guys. Anytime I've ever, you know, dealt with them, they haven't come out and really said anything. Sue me. Sue me for what? I mean, I'm in the business just like they're in the business. What have I done other than compete to be sued by the Warrens? We haven't messed with any of their fighters that are under contract or tried to steal anybody or do anything like that. And we won't to any of the promoters. I'm in here to compete. I mean, all the sanctioning organizations are going crazy. Eddie Hearn absolutely lost his mind. You know, the Warrens haven't said anything and, you know, but they're talking about legal action. You know, I don't know what they have, you know, think they have with Turkey Ala Sheikh, you know, that's. That's their relationship. But I don't know what I have done to the Warrens that they think I should be sued other than compete.

[Piers Morgan]

What do you feel, Dane? Yeah, on a, on a big picture scale, some boxing purists, and it may be that they're slightly dinosaur in this thinking, but they look at the kind of fights that are coming along which are generating the really big money, whether it involves Jake Paul and Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather getting back in with Manny Pacquiao, whatever it may be. And they say, look, these aren't real fights. These are like entertainment bouts purely for entertainment. And because they make such big money, there are going to be more and more of them. And that the purity of actual boxing gets diminished along the way. And the parallel they use is that you wouldn't do this in ufc, for example. UFC has got a purity about it where when you put on a UFC night, you want the best of the best competing at the elite level. You wouldn't have a bunch of, you know, older guys in the mix. What do you say to that?

[Dana White]

I agree with that. I would be one of those guys that agrees with that. But the. That type of stuff is always going to happen. If you find two guys that, you know are famous and want to fight each other, you know, there's always going to be an interest in that. But that's not what I do. What I do is I put the absolute best versus the best against each other every weekend. Literally every weekend I do it. So that's what I'm bringing back to boxing, is that these guys, almost everybody's undefeated in the sport, right, because they're not fighting anybody. The best will fight the best. I mean, I've only done three shows and I don't know off the top of my head, but a lot of undefeated kids have already fought each other in Zufa boxing. And I am one of those boxing purists, so I would agree with that.

[Piers Morgan]

What do you think of the likes of Jake Paul, kind of influencers who are trying the fight game? I mean, obviously he's got better, but do you think he's an asset to the sport or not?

[Dana White]

Well, listen, Jake Paul is doing his thing. He's, you know, guys obviously made a lot of money and, you know, people have been interested in. And he plays the heel perfectly, you know, even if you don't, if you don't. If you hate what he's doing and you hate all the stuff about him, you hate him so bad that you're tuning in to see him get knocked out. So he's played the thing the right way. And I'll tell you this, he got hit. If you look at what AJ did to Francis and Ganyu, right? And Jake, it was a terrible fight. And, you know, he kept trying to tackle him. He did everything he could to avoid a fight. But once he got hit with that shot and he went down, broke his jaw, AJ didn't knock him out. He definitely didn't knock him out the way he knocked Francis out. So if I give Jake Paul any credit, I'll give him that. And that he's, you know, he's built himself a business and he's made a lot of money.

[Piers Morgan]

And will you watch Mayweather, Pacquiao, the rematch?

[Dana White]

I don't know. I mean, it's one of those things that depends on. I'm not going to be like, oh, my God, I have to be home on Saturday to see this. But if I'm home, I'd probably watch it. Yeah, and that's the thing with those type of fights. If you're not doing anything, you're not going to go out of your way to try to stay home to watch it. But if you're home, you're definitely going to watch it.

[Piers Morgan]

Who do you want at Zufa that you don't currently have? Who's on your wish?

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[Dana White]

My thing is, right now, in this building phase is I want all the best up and coming guys and people that we can. That we believe can be world champions someday. No different than understand this, right? When I built the ufc, I took everything that I loved about boxing and everything that I hated about boxing and building this business, so. And look how well it's worked. So how well do you think it's going to work for boxing?

[Piers Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, I, as you know, I've said it to your face before, but I'm a massive admirer of the whole UFC business you built. And I remember the early days, how you were mocked and reviled for it. People didn't think it would ever last. And here you are with this multibillion dollar brand that is incredibly popular, and when you watch it, you know, you're watching supreme athletes at the peak of their game. As a sports fan of any sport, that's what I love to watch. You know, I watch the. The recent Winter Olympics, once every four years. If I believe I'm watching the best skiers in the world. Right. I don't think I'd watch two has beens get it on on a mountain side. So I think like that. As a sports fan, I agree.

[Dana White]

I do too. You know, and you know, when you have the best versus the best, you know, people know it, people feel it. And when you get the right fight in the right place at the right time, everybody wants to watch it. Think about this. So when I got into this, you were just saying about the business. When I got into this, everybody was telling me, this will never work. You know, nobody's going to ever care about ufc. You'll never be bigger than boxing. You'll never get Saturday nights, because boxing owns Saturday nights. Well, here we are. And now I'm getting into boxing.

[Piers Morgan]

You've become staggeringly rich, Dana. And I mean that as a compliment. And you gave a fascinating, you gave a fascinating interview in the street, in the street recently to a random guy that just stopped you and asked you about kind of life lessons. It was really interesting because you talked about that you had some of the happiest moments of your life when you were broke, when you had nothing. And yet whenever I've met you or interviewed you, and it's a number of times, and I see it as a great honor to talk to you because I think you're one of the significant figures in world sport. I just get a feeling of a guy who, yeah, you're stinking rich, but you're actually a happy guy and you're quite a well adjusted guy. I think I don't know you as well as you know yourself, but, you know, it looks to me like money hasn't corrupted you like it has a lot of people.

[Dana White]

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, you know, money, money ruins everything. When a lot of money gets involved, you know, everybody thinks that the answer and the key to happiness in their life is going to be if they can make a lot of money. You know, you know what money does. Money doesn't make you sweat the things that regular people sweat. How am I going to pay the mortgage, the car payment, you know, you know, it's what that stuff. But money brings a lot of other problems to your life. And if you're not a happy person who loves your life when you're broke, you are definitely not going to be a happy person that loves your life when you have a lot of money. I can guarantee you that. And yes, you know, I told that Kid, Some of the greatest times of my life or when I was broke. I had a blast when I was broke.

[Piers Morgan]

What's the best and worst thing about being highly successful and very wealthy?

[Dana White]

You know, there's a lot of things that people don't see a lot of people coming at you all the time. You really can't trust people. You can't let your guard down with anybody, you know, and everybody needs to buy money. Everybody needs the ball money. There's people in line every. You know, Pierce, I'm sure, you know, you deal with it.

[Piers Morgan]

Yeah.

[Dana White]

And here's the other thing. Somebody says to you, hey, I want to borrow some money. That money's never coming back. Okay? There's no such thing as borrowing money. So you just got to say, here you go. And, you know, and you try to make sure that the money doesn't destroy relationships is what I really try to focus on in my life. I care more about people than I do money. So I always just try to make sure the money doesn't destroy any of my relationships that I care about.

[Piers Morgan]

It was interesting. You gave another interview where you were talking about how you run your business, and you were saying that, you know, you don't care whether people get in at two minutes past nine, as long as they do the work right. So if they finish it at 9 o' clock at night, that's fine. But also you said that, you know, if they've got a. If they've got a family and they've got a kid who's, you know, got a school match or a play or whatever it may be, you want them to feel they can go to those things. And I thought that was such a refreshing attitude for a boss of a major company to have, because so many bosses, I think, have a sort of negative view of that kind of thing. You got to be in there. You've got to be in there five days a week, nine to eight. You know, there's no time. If your family comes first, you. You're not for us. You seem to have that work life balance for you and your team the way it should be.

[Dana White]

Well, thank you. Yeah, it's very important to me. So my team that works here we go every Saturday. There's a lot of traveling involved. And in the summertime, I throw big parties out back here. I do like carnivals and stuff. And I want them to bring their kids to the office and see where their parents work and, you know, make it a fun place, you know, for their families, too. On this board here, I got fights. March 7th is this weekend. And then we go all the way to June 20th that we lay out. And once we start getting into this, you know, you get into the year, it's just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Now my kids. My kids are. My two boys are 23 and 24. My daughter is 19 and they're all out of my house. And it went by so fast. Now everybody that works here is an animal. I have a building full of animals here. My team is incredible. And they're all grownups. They know what they need to do. They know what needs to be done. And I don't care when they get their job done. It could be at 3 in the afternoon, or it can be at 3 in the morning. This building's 24 hours. And if your kid has a game, a play, a parent teacher conference, anything like that, get the hell out of here and go, Go do that stuff and be there for your kids and enjoy these moments with your family because it's going to go by quick. And I'm all about that. You know, there's no, hey, it's 9:05. Where's Eric? Why is he not at the office yet? If I need Eric, I'll find Eric and I'll track him down and, you know, but, yeah, I don't want people to sacrifice their relationship with their kids and their families for work.

[Piers Morgan]

Did you think you're a good father, Dana?

[Dana White]

Try to be. It's important to me. It's important to me. So it's a very high priority on my list. So I try to be.

[Piers Morgan]

My dad's given me two pieces of advice that I can remember. He's still with us. And one was always be polite to police officers. And the other one was always drink the best French wine you can afford. Both excellent pieces of advice. But what advice do you try and give? What advice do you try and give your kids?

[Dana White]

I always try to tell my kids, you know, I don't ever want my kids to feel like they have to compete with anything that I've ever done in my life. I want my kids to choose their own path. And the only thing I care about is that they're happy. If my kids came and told me, dad, I want to pump gas for a living because I love getting up early in the morning. I love the smell. I love the, you know, love it. Knock yourself out. I'm not trying to have my kids be doctors or lawyers or businessmen or. I just want my kids to live happy, full lives. And that's it.

[Piers Morgan]

One of the things you mentioned, that money can ruin relationships, which is obviously so true, but so can politics. And there's nobody that is more divisive in that sense, I guess, than Donald Trump. You and I have been friends of his for a couple of decades, and we've, you know, we've seen the good, bad and ugly of him. And, you know, he's a unique character. As my daughter put it, he's almost too unique. But, you know, he's someone we've known very well for a long time. If you say you're a friend of Donald Trump, as you've discovered, and I discover, there's a lot of people that instantly that, that puts their shackles up. They, they hate you, they want to judge you for it. And I've seen families break, you know, break down over this. Relationships, friendships, work colleagues, all falling out over Trump. Politics generally, but particularly Trump. You must get that all the time because you speak out in support of him. How do you deal with that? What's your view of that?

[Dana White]

It's a fascinating thing because I have a lot of relationships, obviously with people who are very conservative, but I have really good relationships with, with people who are very liberal, too. You know, back, back we grew up, you didn't talk about religion or politics. You know, now I think, I think these things have changed everything. So it just, you know, it's a different world we live in. But I'm not as political as everybody thinks I am. So when I'm around, I don't really talk a lot of politics. And anytime that I've ever spoke at the Republican convention or for Trump or at any of his rallies, you never hear me putting down the other side. I never put down the other side or any of that type of stuff. I can have my opinion. And Donald Trump is a very good friend of mine and he's a great human being. And I love the guy. I mean, every time I, I was just with him last week again, and for two days after I left him, I was cracking up laughing about stuff that he said while I was there. He's hilarious and he's an animal. He is literally the hardest working guy I know. He loves this country and he cares about people. And, you know, how he is being portrayed by the media is actually gross. It's gross the way that they portray him, because he's the furthest thing from it. But is he an alpha male? He is an alpha male and he's a tough guy, man.

[Piers Morgan]

What do you think of what is happening at the moment? With Iran, it's the big news story at the moment. Do you have a view about it?

[Dana White]

Not really. I mean, I do in ways, but again, not anything that I would talk about publicly. It's what I'm talking about politically, whether it's, listen, the United States is doing what the United States is going to do. Regular citizens like us, you can support it or not support it or feel however you want to feel about it, but it's going to happen. That's that. Just deal with it.

[Piers Morgan]

On June 14, which happens to be Donald Trump's 80th birthday, as part of America's celebrations of the 250th year, of that shameful moment when you gained independence from us, which I have to say, we don't celebrate in quite the same way.

[Dana White]

Dana, Every Fourth of July, I text Michael Bisping some funny meme about leaving England. It's awesome. I love it.

[Piers Morgan]

You know, you could have had King Piers the first if you played your cards right, but instead you went your own lonely furrow. But there's going to be this big UFC event at the White House in front of 5,000 people on the White House South Lawn. A lot of, I mean, completely unprecedented and I mean amazing spectacle. A lot of speculation about who may be on that bill, particularly that Jon Jones, who I think last time I spoke to you said was the greatest of all the UFC fighters, that he might come out of retirement to take on Alex Pereira. Can you confirm that? Can you give me the scoop?

[Dana White]

Not in estiempo para serie es largas

[Piers Morgan]

in TikTok I short dramas infinitos paraver

[Dana White]

cuando quieras rapidos faciles de segiri addictivos descartes. So I'm literally, I'm in the war room right now. All the fights, like I told you, March 7, all the way to June 20, are laid out. We've kept this card so private and secret. Linnae in my head of PR is sitting right across from me, and behind her is this big whiteboard that we moved in here. And the whole card is laid out right here on the whiteboard.

[Piers Morgan]

So you know who it is.

[Dana White]

I'm looking at it right now. I'm staring at all six fights. We're scheduled to do six.

[Piers Morgan]

Are you looking. Are you looking at the name? Are you looking at the name Jon Jones as you stare at that white ball?

[Dana White]

We were going to do six fights. I might actually do seven. I might add one more. But, yeah, I'm excited. I'll announce. I'll announce.

[Piers Morgan]

Well, the word is. The word is your surprise edition may be Conor McGregor.

[Dana White]

Interesting. You know, it's funny, every day when I wake up, you know, somebody will send me leaked this car. This fight's happening. Like all these guys on the, on the Internet are putting like every fight that is possible to make out there, that is going to happen at the White House. I think they think if they keep throwing enough out there, something's going to stick and eventually they have to be right. You know what I mean? There's only everybody in each weight class, the top 15. You know, they keep putting together every fight that's possible. So eventually they're going to be right. Yeah.

[Piers Morgan]

Are you having to. Are you. Are you going to answer that? It'll be announced this week. No. And have you had to clear the names with the President? Is he taking an active.

[Dana White]

No role in this? Listen, listen, the President's got more important shit to do right now than worry about the card. He's a big UFC fan and obviously he trusts me and knows that I'm going to bring the best available card and the best production anybody's ever seen. The production on this fight is so incredible. It is going to be a one of one special event. And not just for the fighters and the fans, but for my staff that gets to work this event, it's going to be incredible.

[Piers Morgan]

Any chance of an eighth bout in the ring between you and Eddie Hearn?

[Dana White]

No, no, I'm too. How old Daddy Hearn? How old daddy? In his 40s or something. He's still pretty young.

[Piers Morgan]

I mean, he's a. He's a big unit. He probably fancies.

[Dana White]

Yeah, he's huge.

[Piers Morgan]

He did box. He did box. He boxed his dad. Yeah. I mean, who do you think would win if you. If you had a fight? He boxed his dad. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dana White]

Well, let's put it this way. We were talking about this earlier. First of all, we're both too old. That would have to be like a, A Jake Paul Netflix card. Okay. Or we could both fight Jake Paul. We're actually. We're in his age bracket. Of what? Of guys he likes to fight. Yeah. I don't know. Does that. Eddie Hearn boxed his dad. And who won?

[Piers Morgan]

He actually got in the ring, you know, when Eddie was. It was in his teens. He got in the ring with his dad and they went about three or four rounds and I think Eddie. Eddie won and Barry walked away. But the age difference then was a little bit more than it is between you and Eddie now. Eddie has a ten year advantage. Over you. He's got the youth, but you are Dana White. You are the biggest animal in world sport. You know, if it actually happened, who would win?

[Dana White]

Listen, if Eddie wants to box, we can box. We can box. If Eddie wants to box. I don't think Eddie wants to box.

[Piers Morgan]

Would you be. Would you be confident?

[Dana White]

Yeah. Listen, I used to, you know, back in the day, I used to box with all the guys, you know, boxers and. And UFC guys. I. I have boxed.

[Piers Morgan]

So if Eddie Hearn's up for it, you're on for it?

[Dana White]

Absolutely.

[Piers Morgan]

I might promote that. I want to talk to you just about somebody that I interviewed, Dana, a while ago, Tom Aspinall. He obviously. He was your heavyweight champion. He's recovering from double eye surgery.

[Dana White]

He is my heavyweight champion.

[Piers Morgan]

He is your heavyweight champion. Right. What is the situation with Tom, because he had this eye surgery? My understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that you've not had any personal contact with him since then. What is the current state of play with Tom?

[Dana White]

Yeah, the company is. The company has talked to him. I haven't talked to him. And Tom and I obviously need to talk. You know, he came out recently, or his dad, too, saying that, you know, they felt like I was, you know, I don't know how they said it, but that I had sort of shit on him. And the way that I had spoke about, you know, his eye injury, which was absolutely, positively not the case. Tom Aspinall is a guy that I respect. He's been great, you know, to work with, you know, the whole time he's been here in the ufc, and, you know, never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about it. I said something once that I said, I think he's okay, and I think he's going to be good. And they came out and said, no, that's not the case. And he said, I haven't even talked today. And I don't know why he would say that, but, you know, obviously my medical team is talking to him, and that was what I had thought, and they thought that I had knocked him in some way, which I absolutely, positively did. And wouldn't. I like him very much and respect him. I've never had a problem with Tom Aspinall.

[Piers Morgan]

Do you think he'll fight again?

[Dana White]

I do.

[Piers Morgan]

Is that from conversations his team have had with your team?

[Dana White]

Well, you know, he's still dealing with whatever's going on with his eyes, you know, and obviously, over the last 30 years of being in this business, I've seen, you know, Injuries that I questioned whether guys would come back from. And. And they always have, including eye pokes, but who knows? But if you ask me, sitting right here right now, do I think Tom Aspinall will compete again? I would say yes.

[Piers Morgan]

Just finally, Dana, what ambitions do you have left? You conquered ufc, you're conquering boxing. Is there a bigger ambition for you, either professionally or personally, that you can talk about?

[Dana White]

Well, as we continue to build tko, when you think about what we've done already has never been done in the history of combat sports. Now, getting into boxing, and I've always had this. This. I don't know what you'd call a goal, I guess when I grew up here in the United States, we had channel 3, channel 5, channel 8, channel 13. And then cable came when I was in High School. 30 channels, and then the rest is history. We all know, I believe the Channel 3, Channel 5, Channel 8 and 13 will exist again, but globally. And who are the players gonna be? Paramount's making big moves right now. Netflix is a monster, you know, so when you think about my business, right, the fight business as a whole, I got slapped, which is absolutely killing it. UFC is killing it. Boxing's on the right track. And when you think about the ceiling for combat sports, there's 8 billion people in the world, and now we're getting to a point in our lives where streaming is becoming a reality globally. So when you put on the right fight in the right place with the right guys, what is your ceiling? Your ceiling is 8 billion people. And I just love the idea of that. And. And I love the idea of just building this absolute machine that. That has never been done before. Plus all the people that have told me for the last 25 years that this can't be done. That can't be done. Even when I started Power Slap, everybody was like, this is stupid. This is never going to work. This is never going to. You know, and it's the same things they said to me about UFC and Pierce. I love that stuff. I love it, love it. It's what gets me out of bed,

[Piers Morgan]

you know, I've got to be honest. I've got to be honest. If you come to me with the idea of Power slap, I'd have thought you'd lost your mind. I'd have said, there's absolutely no way that is ever going to catch on. And yet now it's one of the biggest money spinners in world sport, right?

[Dana White]

Yeah. No, it's crazy. It's been incredibly successful. In just two years, we have over 30 million followers. Our YouTube channel, which I'm a big believer in building your own channels out there. And our YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers for Power Slap and growing. So I sort of have this feeling, I get gut, you could call it. When I started watching Power Slap on Instagram, what fascinated me is that I'm so jaded by the fight business. I would stick around to the end. I wanted to see who won and how. And, you know, I'm like, if I feel like this, lots of other people. And again, Piers, the world is getting smaller every year. So, you know, everybody thinks that, oh, my God, Power Slap is ridiculous. This thing is silly. Well, I don't need everybody to like it. There's 8 billion people on earth. I only need this many people to like it. And it's incredibly successful.

[Piers Morgan]

Yeah, it's so true. This Sunday, you've got your Zufa boxing championship belt being contested for the very first time. Just. Just give me a bit of meat on the bone about that.

[Dana White]

Yeah. So Jayo Pattaya is, you know, the best cruiserweight in the world and one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world. He's 29 and, oh, he's got 23 knockouts and he's taken on Brandon Glanton, who's 21 and three with 18 knockouts and coming off a big upset win and his last fight. Both of these guys, like, Glanton's got like an 86% knockout ratio and Jaya Pattaya has got an 80% knockout ratio. I'm super excited for this fight and it's for the first ever Zufa belt. So one of these guys is going to walk out the Zufa cruiserweight champion this weekend.

[Piers Morgan]

Well, exciting. Dana, it's always great to talk to you. Thank you very much for taking time out of your ridiculous schedule to come back on Uncensored. I appreciate it.

[Dana White]

Always a pleasure, my friend. Have a great day.

[Piers Morgan]

Piers Morgan Uncensored is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask for only one simple thing. Hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Piers Morgan Uncensored on Spotify and Apple podcasts. And in return, we will continue our mission to inform, irritate and entertain, and we'll do it all for free. Independent uncensored media has never been more critical and we couldn't do it without you.