THE HERD - Hour 3 - Dana White in studio!

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd – Hour 3: Dana White In-Studio!

Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Colin Cowherd
Guest: Dana White (UFC President & CEO)
Producer: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Overview

This episode of The Herd features a lively, in-depth studio interview with Dana White, President and CEO of the UFC. White discusses the evolution and future of combat sports, UFC’s new media strategies, the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford boxing super-fight, finding and developing talent, as well as the business and cultural forces shaping both the UFC and Las Vegas. There's also candid conversation about White's friendship with Donald Trump, his board role at Meta, and his personal approach to risk and leadership.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. UFC’s Move Away from Pay-Per-View (08:20–09:28)

• UFC's Deal with Paramount: Dana confirms UFC is moving away from the traditional pay-per-view model to a broader streaming partnership with Paramount, aiming to make live events more accessible and affordable for fans.
  • Quote: “The world is changing now...streaming services, you can have tons of great programming, but live sports, you have to tune in at a certain time.” (Dana White, 08:53)
• White frames this as a reward to loyal UFC fans who have paid for costly PPVs for decades.
  • Colin: “Finally, somebody rewards the fans… when you made that decision, it’s counter to what boxing and UFC has been my entire life.”

2. The Revival and Future of Boxing (10:04–12:06)

• Is Boxing Dead? Dana pushes back: “Every time you think that boxing’s dead, a big fight will pop up again… but it’s every once in a blue moon. We, at the UFC, go every Saturday ... in boxing, it’s here and there.” (Dana White, 10:04)
• Canelo vs. Crawford Fight: White is promoting this mega-fight, dubbing it, “the best fight in five to six years.” He praises both Canelo as a generational icon and Crawford’s willingness to move up in weight, calling it “the stuff” for fight fans.
  • Colin: “Canelo Alvarez is the fighter of his generation... never been knocked down.”
  • Dana: “I love this fight. The fact that Crawford is willing to risk moving up in weight to fight him... If you’re a fight fan, this is the stuff.” (10:34)
• White's Boxing Ambitions: Launching a new boxing league in 2026, hoping to develop up-and-coming talent, akin to UFC’s Contender Series. “Take these up and coming guys… and like the undercard of Canelo vs. Crawford, the whole card is incredible. Not just the main event.” (Dana White, 11:34)

3. Talent Identification and Business Resilience (12:06–13:18)

• White and Colin relate the thrill of discovering young talent to their own business models.
• Cowherd draws a comparison with Amazon and Meta, noting long stretches of unprofitability and adversity before mainstream success.
• The toughest moments in White’s rise: When the Fertitta brothers considered leaving the UFC after massive losses (“maybe $40 million in”), White says, “I always thought it was going to work, you know, just…was the timing right?” (Dana White, 13:18)
  • Fertittas stuck with it: “He literally called me the next morning... ‘let’s keep going.’ Thank God. Here we are today.” (Dana White, 13:49)

4. Finding the Next Jon Jones & the Talent Pipeline (18:48–20:02)

• White declares Jon Jones to be the best fighter in UFC history (“pound for pound, probably the best, in my opinion” - Dana, 18:48).
• Contrasts boxing's culture of protecting undefeated records with UFC’s ethic of matching best versus best in every division.
• Is there ever a shortage of talent? Not anymore: “As the sport gets bigger, there’s more and more people that realize they can make millions fighting... There's plenty of talent out there.” (Dana White, 19:40)

5. On Friendship with Trump & Political Optics (20:08–22:15)

• Dana discusses being close with Trump for 25+ years, both as a friend and supporter of UFC, not a political move: “It’s not like I was getting political... this guy’s my friend. He’s been my friend forever... he’s a huge UFC fan.” (Dana White, 20:33)
• White comments on both his and Trump’s legendary work ethic and lack of sleep: “I literally sleep four or five hours a night, and I can tell you right now, Donald Trump sleeps less.” (Dana White, 22:15)

6. Staging a UFC Event at the White House (22:28–24:09)

• White is coordinating a UFC event on the White House lawn for next summer. Security, logistics, and scale (“under 5,000” live attendees; possibly 85,000 in a connected park) are all in play.
  • “Now all the work starts... the Secret Service’s job is to protect the President, and… I don’t know how it’s going to work out... we’re going to take over Washington, D.C. that whole week.” (Dana White, 23:01)

7. The Global Expansion & Experience of UFC Events (24:44–28:38)

• UFC has yet to visit Spain but is otherwise “wide open” globally.
• Details on two huge simultaneous events: Noche UFC in San Antonio (sold out, record-breaking) and Canelo-Crawford in Vegas (third-biggest boxing gate in history).
• White critiques stadium fights for lackluster live fan experiences and is focused on perfecting every aspect of the in-person experience (“I want everything to go smooth with the live event... expensive for fans, need to make it worth it.”—Dana White, 30:31–31:14)
• He refutes the narrative that Vegas is struggling: “Vegas is always doing well, Vegas is booming this weekend. There’s going to be over 60,000 people coming in for this fight.” (Dana White, 31:23)
• Las Vegas then and now: From cheap buffets to world-class dining and shopping, with sports as a new anchor.

8. White’s Personal Style: Risk, Leadership, and Life (27:39–30:01, 32:38)

• White is newly energized by his appointment to the Meta board: “It blew me away… you go into one of these board meetings... these people are all just brilliant and badass. When Zuckerberg comes in... I am literally on the edge of the seat the whole time.” (Dana White, 27:39)
• Discusses his high-stakes gambling (baccarat, betting up to $1 million a hand), risk-taking, and always being “aggressive.” (Dana White, 29:04–29:43)

9. Vegas Culture & White’s Recommendations (32:13–33:38)

• White recommends “Carbone” as Vegas’s must-dine Italian restaurant—the city a mecca for the best global restaurants.
• “With Raiders games, Patriots fans fly in... have a blast, go to the game, then fly home. That’s the new Vegas.” (Dana White & Colin, 33:25)

10. Dana White: Lifelong Patriots Fan (33:36–34:00)

• Not torn when Patriots play in Vegas: “It’s New England. Not torn at all.” (Dana White, 33:36)
• Adds: “I’m close to Max Crosby. So if we’re going to get beat by anybody, at least it’s Max Crosby. Nobody better in the league.” (Dana White, 33:53, 33:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On moving away from PPV:
  “Finally, somebody rewards the fans.” (Colin, 08:23)
  “The world is changing now. All these streaming services… but live sports, you have to tune in at a certain time.” (Dana White, 08:53)
• On Canelo-Crawford:
  “If you’re a fight fan, this is the stuff.” (Dana White, 10:35)
  “He’s willing to risk moving up in weight to fight him. That's what makes this fight so great.” (Dana White, 10:34)
• On UFC business struggles:
  “I always thought it was going to work… just was the timing right... we were probably $40 million in at that time. Maybe $30 million.” (Dana White, 13:18)
  “He literally called me the next morning… ‘let’s keep going.’” (Dana White, 13:49)
• On talent:
  “As the sport gets bigger, there’s more and more people that realize they can make millions of dollars fighting.... There’s plenty of talent out there.” (Dana White, 19:51)
• On Trump friendship:
  “It wasn’t really a political move for me.” (Dana White, 20:33)
• On White House UFC event security:
  “The Secret Service’s job is to protect the President... I don’t know how it’s going to work out... we're going to take over Washington, D.C. that whole week.” (Dana White, 23:01)
• On Meta board meetings:
  “When Zuckerberg comes in... I am literally on the edge of my seat the whole time... these board meetings... he’s got every minute dialed in.” (Dana White, 27:39)
• On risk and personality:
  “Were you always a risk taker? Is this just who you are?” (Colin, 29:43)
  “Yeah, I guess. Yeah.” (Dana White, 29:46)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment Topic | Time Stamp | |--------------------------------------------------------|----------------| | UFC News Headlines and Bo Nix/Raiders/Seahawks talk | 02:32–08:20 | | Dana White joins; moving away from PPV | 08:20–09:28 | | The Health of Boxing; Canelo-Crawford Promotion | 10:04–12:06 | | Talent scouting, UFC vs. boxing model | 12:06–13:18 | | UFC business adversity and resilience | 13:18–14:02 | | On finding next Jon Jones; state of global talent | 18:48–20:02 | | White’s Trump connection, politics in sports | 20:08–22:15 | | White House fight; managing security/logistics | 22:28–24:09 | | UFC global reach; biggest events; fan experience | 24:44–31:14 | | Las Vegas business and food recommendations | 31:23–33:38 | | Patriots vs. Vegas loyalty | 33:36–34:00 |

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Tone & Atmosphere

• Upbeat, candid, direct: Both Dana White and Colin Cowherd are brash, unfiltered, and willing to tackle controversial or non-standard ideas in the worlds of sports, business, and media. The tone is conversational with occasional humor, honesty about failures and risk, and excitement over the upcoming events.

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This summary covers the core topics, best quotes, and notable moments from Dana White’s in-studio appearance, maintaining the direct and insightful style of The Herd.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

I thought he hung in there. He battled, made some, some critical plays.

[B]

For us in the second half.

[A]

And so obviously he'll be disappointed with the turnovers. But, you know, it was a gutsy performance, you know, and we got to. This is pretty usual week one.

[B]

For the record, one of the interceptions was a throw to Cortland Sutton. It was just a great play by the db. Oh, stop it. It was a great play. It was a go either way play. Not every interception's a terrible decision. Are you seeing this line? Come on. Broncos. Colts. How are the Broncos underdogs here? They're a playoff team. The Colts are garbage. What am I missing? No, Broncos is my second favorite number on the board. Bo Nix is not losing to this Colts defense that confounded tua. No, no. I think Broncos body bag. Colts here. Well, I think they beat them. But not every. Daniel Jones. Not every interception is a bad throw. Brock Purdy has had throws. I mean, not just. Just throw Brock Purdy up. Queue up the fumble. Do we have. No, I'm just pants. No, I'm saying. But not every turnovers. I mean, a terrible throat. Bo Nix, one of the picks was a. Was a throw to Cortland Sutton and was a jump ball. Can you apply that to Brock Purdy, please? His winning touchdown, by the way, as you said, was an anticipatory throw. There was nobody open. Let's move on to another AFC west team, the Raiders. They beat the Patriots. But the bad news was Brock Bowers went down early with a knee injury. Pete Carroll just said at the podium they're taking it day to day but it helps them that they have a Monday Night Football matchup with the Raiders Raiders against the Chargers on Monday Night Football. So that's an extra day for Brock Bowers. They listen. They need him. Colin if they want to take down the Chargers, there's an argument he's the best tight end right now in his prime in football. Wow. Well, I mean who's better? He's only a second year tight end. He is an un when you can spread a tight end out in the slot and he can beat corners. Is he better than Kelsey right now? Yes, absolutely. If I could dig the Chiefs, I will. Final story Colin is the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Niners in a tough one. Your boy Sam Darnold fumbling late. The only bright spot on the offense was Jackson Smith, the Jigba who was everywhere. He actually tried to throw a lateral which was wild. Mike McDonald said the rest of the offense definitely needs to step up their game. Jack's made a lot of great plays. There's more opportunities for him out there which I sure, I'm sure he'll tell you. And we're going to count on everybody, you know, see who else steps up so we can. It's not the Jack show every snap. I will say this, if you didn't watch the game. Seattle was driving in the red zone for the win and Darnold bangs into his own player. Also, they had the most pressures. Week one Seattle was the best team. Well I would say Baltimore is probably the best team that lost. I thought Seattle looked really good. They had 230 yards of offense. What is good about that against our rebuilt Niners? First of all, they're rebuilding. They rebuilt. Saul is a great defensive coordinator and they were rebuilding their receiving corp. So like not everybody in week one is week eight performer. The Cooper cup was terrible at a couple drops. They just don't have any offense outside of JSN and Kenneth Walker. A.J. brown Philadelphia To Seattle no, I mean I why not? Although they just moved off a very dramatic expensive wide receiver. Any thoughts on Seahawks at Steelers? I would take I would take Seattle +3. I'm in agreement there total J Mac with the news well that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news. Well he has been one of the mavericks in sports certainly in the last 20 years. UFC president and CEO. He's now so iconic he's doing Dodge Ram commercials. I saw that Last night, our friend Dana White is joining us here on a Tuesday. In the herd. Long time no talk. It's great to see you again. And you. You made your subm. Most of these commissioners, you don't really want to hear from them that much, but you're out there. You put yourself out there with any. All the time. It could be politics, it could be sports, it could be football. I would imagine it's been good for your business.

[A]

Yeah, business is good. Yeah. Yeah, business is very good.

[B]

So your entire. In my entire life, boxing's been pay per view. You now have a deal with Paramount where you're like, listen, we're going to move off. From what I can tell, the pay per view model. I like that for the fans. My. My takeaway is, finally, somebody rewards the fans. I buy your pay per views all the time. They were about 65 bucks, something like that. I also go to your fights. But when you made that decision, it's counter to what boxing and UFC has been my entire life, which is mostly pay per view stuff. For the big stuff. Why the decision and is there any risk to it?

[A]

Well, the world is changing now. I mean, you know, all these streaming services. Here's the thing about a streaming service. You know, you can have tons of great programming. I can go watch it whenever I want to.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But live sports, you have to tune in at a certain time. And I was waiting for the moment. I knew that they were all eventually going to need live sports. Now you see them doing deals with the NFL, NBA, and now us. It's just been an evolution, you know, as cable continues to, you know, nose dive. Yeah.

[B]

I mean, so you are now doing. You're promoting your first boxing match. Now, we talked about this before. You grew up in Boston. I was a boxing guy in Vegas. You now live in Vegas. So my first job out of college was in Vegas. I watched Hagler Hearns. I was a Pacific Northwest kid. I moved to Vegas. I fell in love with boxing. You know, I knew. I watched Ali or you'd hear stuff as a kid, but we didn't really have boxing. You know, where I grew up, you were a boxing fan, and I always kind of waited for you. My takeaway was, I would argue, you kind of ended boxing, and then you create TKO and you go into boxing. So is that telling me that boxing still has a life?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, every time you think that boxing's dead, a big fight will pop up again. But, you know, it's. It's. It's every once in a Blue moon. I mean, we at the ufc, we go every Saturday, pretty much every Saturday. All. All year in boxing is, you know, here and there. I. So I'm. I'm promoting this Crawford fight this weekend.

[B]

Probably the best fight in five to six years, I would say. Canelo Alvarez is the fighter of his generation. He's a four division champion.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Never been knocked down.

[A]

I agree. I love this fight. And the fact that Crawford is willing to risk moving up in weight to fight him. I mean, this is. If you're a fight fan, this is the stuff.

[B]

Never lost, tough childhood. Been willing to put on weight again. He's a knockout guy. 76% of his fights are knockouts. This is as good as boxing to me. In the last five years, this is probably the best fight.

[A]

I agree.

[B]

I think it's the best fight.

[A]

I love this fight. I forgot where the hell I was going with that, but, yeah, what is the difference?

[B]

Promoting UFC and boxing?

[A]

No, no real difference. I mean, you know, as long as you're putting up. Oh, that's what I. So I'm doing the Canelo Crawford fight for Shake Turkey. Then in 26, I'm gonna. I'm gonna start my own, I guess we call a league in boxing. Basically what I want to do is I want to build talent. Like tonight I have a show on called the Contender Series, which I absolutely love. Tuesday nights, it's. I take the best unsigned guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In the world. They face each other that night, and I decide who gets a UFC contract. And basically that's what I want to do with boxing, too. I want to take these up and coming guys. You know, 10 and oh, 12 and oh, and a 10 and oh, fights. A 12 and oh, you know, and. And like the Undercard of Canelo vs. Crawford. The undercard is excellent. Like the UFC when, you know, people show up for the first fight of the night, not just the main event. It's going to be that kind of a fight this weekend in Vegas. So the whole undercard is incredible. Not just the main event.

[B]

Well, Nick Khan, who you know very well, and you, Dana White, both are in the business of accumulating tal and finding guys before the rest of the market moves. I have a little podcast company. We do the same thing. It's exhilarating. There's nothing better than share somebody's ride. It's just unbelievable. So when you. It's interesting. Like a lot of times on TikTok, I go to a lot of business guys. Yourself, a Jeff Bezos. It can be a mark. I Think it's Andreessen or Anderson.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And. And really smart guys. Mark Zuckerberg. I'm looking for, I guess, the thread among successful business people. This is the thread I always hear Amazon didn't make money the first 20 years, is that I don't think people understand. You had a lot of headwinds. I mean, at one point UFC, John McCain wanted it off cable. And I always look at your rise and I don't think people understand how hard it is. Was there ever a time in your rise that the head went, you had the fertittas behind you. Was there ever a time, though, that you woke up and thought, is this thing going to work? Am I going to get it? Am I going to get a week of good news? What was the point that was hardest for Dana White?

[A]

I always thought it was going to work, you know, just as the timing right was the question. And there, there is a time Lorenzo called me one day and said, I can't keep doing this. I can't keep pumping this money into this thing. Go out and see what we could sell this for. So I started calling around that day and I came back to him that night and said, yeah, probably 7 or 8 million dollars. And we were probably 40 million in at that time. Maybe, maybe 30 something million. I remember.

[B]

How'd you convince it?

[A]

Huh?

[B]

How'd you convince him to stay in?

[A]

I didn't. I just told him that and he said, okay, I'll call you tomorrow. He literally called me the next morning when I was driving to work and said, effort, let's keep going. Let's keep going. So we did and you know, thank God. Here we are today.

[B]

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[A]

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[C]

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[A]

Best, in my opinion. Yes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know. You know, as you look at boxing and where it is now, everybody's undefeated, right? You have all these guys that are undefeated because they won't fight anybody. Now, in the ufc, whatever division you were in, you fought the toughest guys all the way up to become a world champion, and Jon Jones did that for the last however many years, and he's still undefeated. So. Yes.

[B]

So when you. And I've asked you this before, but I think it's. I think it's compelling, and I think you're going to find this in boxing. Boxing feels, and UFC feels to me, so global. Is there ever a moment when. When is there talent aplenty? Is it just for Dana White to find it, or are there cycles where, like, it's dry that you go six months and you can't find talent?

[A]

No, I wouldn't say that, but. And especially as the sport gets bigger, you know, there's more and more people that realize now they can make millions of dollars fighting.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So, yeah, there was a point in time. There was a point in time when that was the case, but not now. There's. There's plenty of talent out there.

[B]

You know, it's interesting. You used to come to California all the time. We barely get you out here anymore. There's a lot of people that.

[A]

We were just talking about that. I was just talking about that with my crew when we were coming in.

[B]

Yeah, well, I mean, it's a different time. There's a lot of pushback. There's a lot of things happening in the. Where when you embrace Trump, that's your audience. I've been to UFC fights. I've been there twice. When he's there, people love him. They go crazy. Did you ever worry when you did this? We're such a tribal, polarizing country. This could be bad for business. Did you ever worry for a minute about that?

[A]

Well, Trump and I have been friends for, you know, 25 years, so it's not like, oh, yeah, that's right, you. It's not like I was getting political and, you know, choosing a side or any of that. This guy's my friend. He's been my friend forever, so it wasn't really that way for me. And he's a huge UFC fan, and he came to the UFC before he even thought about running for president. Yeah, he would be at the events and held the events at the Taj Mahal in New Jersey. So this guy is just a person who's been a friend of mine for a long time, and he's a huge fan of not just ufc, but of fighting, period. I mean, all the big fights he held at the Taj and Atlantic City back in the day. Yeah, it wasn't. Wasn't really a political move for me.

[B]

You have. You and Trump have something in common. You don't sleep much. You're a live concert, live event, moving all the time. There are certain. There's almost an innate energy with you that you. This is who you are. Were you always this guy? Were you always, like, burned 24? You're like a human Red Bull. Was it always like that?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I can tell you this, though. He's 79 years old. He's way worse than me. He never sleeps, ever. I mean, this guy will call me at night, and it's 2 o' clock in the morning on the east coast, and he'll hit me again in the morning, and he's up already. He never sleeps. It's crazy. I'll get four or five hours a night, and I'm good. I saw a guy on Joe Rogan saying, anybody that tells you that they sleep four or five hours a night, they're. They're full of crap. No, dude, you're full of crap. I literally sleep four or five hours a night, and I can Tell you right now, Donald Trump sleeps less.

[B]

By the way, my staff. Can I take magnesium when I go to bed? Because I'm a lousy sleeper. Five hours, maybe five and a half. I can't. My eyes are wide open. I can't. I can't sleep anymore. Whatever it is, it is.

[A]

I'm with you.

[B]

You are having a White House ufc. Is it next summer?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so the, this is interesting because I had a friend once that was number one at Air Force, and I think it was Reagan spoke. He goes, you cannot believe the security with the President. You don't even understand what it's like. Literally, one minute before dinner, they changed all the glasses in case there was poisoning. And he said, so my takeaway is, this is a big event. You're gonna have a president there. Do you already have to plan that now? I mean, how far in advance?

[A]

So we went to the White House last week, me and my team, and we had the first meeting with him. We laid out all the renderings and we started to get him to sign off on what he likes and doesn't like. And he loved it. So, yeah, now we're diving in head first. Now all the work starts. But, but you're right. This is the first time. This last time I was at the White House, I went up on the roof of the White House and they got snipers with 50 cows all over the roof of the White House. And it's, it's, it's pretty crazy. But, yes, I mean, the security is going to be a massive issue because at the end of the day, Secret Service's job is to protect the President. And I don't know how it's going to work out as far as having people there live on the, on the lawn of the White House. It'll be under 5,000, though. But there's a, I can't remember what they call it. There's a park that's connected to the White House. We could put 85,000 people over there with screens and, you know, we're gonna put a big stage out there, do concerts, and we're gonna take over Washington, D.C. that whole week.

[B]

So when you, you know, this, this fight. This weekend's allegiant. Okay. Yes. And I think ideally you'd like to be in Vegas. Vegas, McCarran or Harry Reid Airport. Now, it's easy to get in. It's. The weather's almost always good. You don't have to worry about flight delays when. With the ufc. Are there still states that you'd like to go in that push back or is the world open? Do you have a second favorite venue? Is there a venue you've never had a fight that you're. I mean, you took it to an island during COVID So where is the place that you want to go that haven't. And are you still accepted? Virtually everywhere.

[A]

Yeah. The world is wide open for ufc. We haven't been to Spain yet. I mean, this Saturday I have two fights. I have UFC Noche and San Antonio, Texas, which is sold out. We broke the record for the gate. And the boxing event this weekend is the number three all time boxing event. Number one is Mayweather Pacquiao. Number two is McGregor, Mayweather. And number three is Canelo Crawford.

[B]

Okay, so I was at the first two. I want to circle back to this because it's worth noting if you don't follow boxing and you're sitting here thinking Saturday night, the college football game you wanted to watch was in the afternoon. Canelo Avalars is, has held the title in four divisions. That's unheard of. Most of us grew up with Ali. He was a heavyweight. He wasn't going down four different. He's never been knocked out. Never been knocked down. But Crawford is 19. Oh. In world title fights. Unbelievable story. My take on this, this, it may not be Hagler Hearn's first round, but it will be a fairly aggressive fight. That's. Do you have a sense of what it will look like and do you usually with fights.

[A]

I agree. I think that, you know, Crawford is. Has taken this fight to prove that he's, you know, one of the greatest of this generation. And I think he's going to be very aggressive. I think he's going to go after Canelo and you know, Canelo is an unbelievable counterpuncher. Great head movement and powerful. I think that this fight's going to be a war. I think that it's what I love about being a part of this promotion. I think that the fight's going to be great and the whole undercard is going to be great. I think people are going to turn off their TVs on Saturday and be happy. They stay at home and watch it when. Which means everything to me.

[B]

Yeah, no, I mean, it's. I am a regular UFC watcher and I buy for years pay per view. So the Paramount deal for me is a win. I think it's always a win. I've talked about this with broadcasters before. I don't want to be behind a pay per view. I mean, even there was a time Howard Stern everywhere, and then you disappear behind a wall. I mean, let everybody's charging for something. Give me something I can just turn on the TV and get.

[A]

Well, I love being with the Ellisons. You know, they're obviously very smart guys, great businessmen and very aggressive. So I'm looking forward to being in business with these guys for the next seven years.

[B]

So you, when you go look at your life and your career, of all the people you've dealt with and you've dealt with business leaders, global leaders, politicians, is are you ever surprised? Or do any of these people, you ever meet your match? Do you ever think to yourself, you walk out of a room and think, man, if I could hire that guy, I would hire that guy? Because you're dealing with industry leaders, a lot of alphas, very aggressive people. I mean, when's the last time you were blown away?

[A]

Well, let me tell you this. I'll tell. I got the answer to that question. So I. Mark Zuckerberg reached out to me and asked me to be on the board of Meta. Right now, I would never imagine that I would want to be on the board of anything, but when you look at Meta as a business and as a company, when you go in to one of these board meetings and they start at like 8:30 in the morning, and first of all, the board of Meta, just the people they have on there are all just absolutely brilliant and badass. And when Zuckerberg comes in and starts running this meeting, I am literally on the edge of the seat the whole time listening to. He's changing the world, what they're doing and the level that they're doing it at. What blew me away is that I would be so into, you know, this thing starts at 8:30 in the morning and we end at 5:30 at night. These board meetings. And he's got every minute dialed in. He knows everything about the company inside and out. His cfo. His CFO is unbelievable. She's brilliant. And she comes in and goes toe to toe with the Wall street guys. It's absolutely fascinating and one of my favorite things to do, which I would never in a million years dream. I would be that into it.

[B]

Well, congrats on that. You. You are known as an aggressive. Is it poker or 21? What do you play?

[A]

Well, I'm playing baccarat these days.

[B]

And you're aggressive, I'm aggressive. And you just walk in and you're going for it. Is there any casino that has said, dana, you're too good, there's too much money, Our margins Are slim.

[A]

It's not that I'm too good, but what they do is I have a style where I come in and I want to bet as much. I want to bet a million dollars a hand. I'm working on it right now with mgm. MGM might actually let me do this. Yeah. And one night, me and Michael Rubin, so fanatics and. Yeah. So he and I together, one night only. A million dollars a hand. Working on that right now on that deal.

[B]

Oh, Were you always a risk taker? Is this just who you are?

[A]

Yeah, I guess. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, that's who you are. So again, allegiant, you have two events. You have one in San Antonio and one in Vegas.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Which one needs you more?

[A]

Yeah, I think they. Listen, the UFC is a well oiled machine. We go every Saturday. What I'm looking for on, on Saturday night for, for Canelo Crawford is, you know, I, I can tell you right now, the television production will be amazing. It'll be perfect. It'll be great. What I'm looking for is the live event. You know, we're in a stadium, which I don't love stadium fights because I feel like, you know, you're watching two ants fight on a matchbook.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So we have to make sure that the people do not have that experience. They have a much better experience. Live vip, you know, you get to your seats, you know you're ticketed, and they get you right in, sit you down. I want everything to go smooth with the live event. You know, when you think about the live event, people fly in from around the world, in other states, they have to get a hotel room, they bought tickets, they got to pay for the restaurants. It's expensive. So I always. It's a big deal to me that the live event, the people who show up, have an amazing experience. I went to a boxing match a few years ago and, and, and it was a horrible experience. So that's a big deal to me on Saturday.

[B]

Vegas has struggled year to year, last several years. I've got my beliefs. Why? How does Vegas turn it around? They have not been on a good two to three year roll. Economic.

[A]

That's, that's total bs, man. You know, this whole narrative right now about Vegas. Vegas is always doing well. Vegas is booming this weekend. There's going to be over 60,000 people coming in for this fight in Vegas. And that's just one event. You know, Bruno Mars plays there all the time. His show is great. His show is incredible, actually, and many, many other things to do in Vegas. So everybody's always counting Vegas out. That's ridiculous.

[B]

The restaurant. I always say this. If you, you know, when I got to Vegas, I was out of college. It was like 86, 87. The rebels, Jerry Tarkanian, Steve Wynn. You didn't have pro sports. There was a stigma. That was all nonsense. I said that for years UFC didn't exist. There were boxing matches, it was Don King and Bob Arum. But I used to, you know, I used to always say, this is. People don't understand how good of a food town it is because everything starts in Vegas.

[A]

So true.

[B]

It's like every great restaurant that ever franchises and I mean the high end stuff. If I said to you, you're going to Vegas for a weekend, you're lucky you just got a bonus at work. Somebody's watching this. You can fly in to watch Canelo, Alvarez and Crawford and you can have one meal in Vegas. Where would you eat?

[A]

Carbone.

[B]

Oh, the Italian place.

[A]

Yeah, it's incredible.

[B]

That's in incredible.

[A]

Always consistent. The service is off the charts. And if you have to wait, they got a great bar too. It's a great, great restaurant. I love Carbones. But like, you know, when I was growing up in Vegas and when you were there, you know, Vegas was buffets or, you know, 99 cent breakfasts and things like that. Now it's all the best restaurants in the world there. Best restaurants, the best shopping, you know, now, now there's live sports there, you know, and when people are talking about Vegas, the Raiders are playing again. So, you know, all their home games are going to be sold out and packed and people coming in from all over the country. And if you're, if you're a fan of the Patriots, right? And there's an away game that you're going to go to, you're going to the Vegas away.

[B]

That's what he said for years.

[A]

100%. You fly in on Thursday, you know, have a blast, go to the game on Sunday and then fly home.

[B]

By the way, that was a. I know you were torn. Vegas against New England. Who were you rooting for?

[A]

I'm not torn at all. It's New England.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You're not torn at all. You know, we just lost Sunday to, to, to the Raiders.

[B]

Oh, you, you know Vrabel? No. Oh, he's a butt kicker.

[A]

Yeah, I heard.

[B]

Oh, there's no nonsense with Bravel. I heard sharp as attack. Great.

[A]

I'm close to Max Crosby. So if we're gonna get beat by anybody, at least it's Max Crosby.

[B]

Nobody better in the league than Max Crosby.

[A]

Love him.

[B]

Great guy. Hey, congrats. We'll be watching the fight. Haven't seen you in a while. You look fantastic.

[A]

Thank you brother.

[B]

You too, man. We're doing okay. Back in a second thanks to her. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people so when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, and that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry role, company seniority, skills, company revenue, all the professionals you need to reach in one place. Stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. Start targeting the right professionals only on LinkedIn ads. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com cowherd that's LinkedIn.com cowherd Terms and conditions apply. American Public University where service members like you can access high quality, affordable education built for your lifestyle. With online programs that fit around deployments, training and unpredictable schedules, APU makes it possible to earn your degree no matter where duty takes you. Their preferred military rate keeps tuition at just $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and master's tuition, and with 24. 7 mental health support plus career coaching and other services, APU is committed to your success during and after your service. Learn more at APU APUS Edumilitary. That's APU Apus Edu Military Running a.

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Alcohol by volume varies by product. Greenriverwhiskey.com, please drink responsibly. All right, welcome back. Thanks to Dana White who stopped by today. We appreciate that. And Nick Wright as always was funny. So I, you know, circling back to Caleb Williams, you know, the two things are true. He has a lot of talent and you know, strength and movement and power arm that throw to Rome Dunze, it was like 99 miles. You know, it was a heater. But he misses the strike zone a lot and I thought the more he got off script the more he struggled. So again, Brian Flores and the Vikings are a way above average defense. I mean Denver's defense is probably better but I mean Buffalo's isn't Philadelphia's. I thought, I thought both CD Lamb and George Pickens found all sorts of space in the secondary so Minnesota could have a top two or three defense and he was 10 for 10 in the first drive and creates problems but and didn't have a pick six like JJ McCarthy did. But here's Nick Wright earlier on what he watched last night. He really struggles with the operation still and the getting out of the huddle, motioning guys a little too late like the pre snap stuff. He still looks like a rookie and this is year two. I still believe in Caleb Williams long term, but I think it is going to be a much slower process than I had hoped and I Will say Bo Nix struggled with some of the mechanics of the Denver offense. So, I mean, if you go look at the young guy, Drake May struggled, JJ McCarthy struggled for three quarters. Bo Nix struggled. A Cam Ward was good, but didn't have much to work with. I thought Michael Penix was very good. I thought Jaden Daniels was good. So I think you get a mixed bag with young quarterbacks. And I, for the record, I thought Caleb Williams in the first half was pretty good. And the other thing, he wasn't lured into interceptions like he was dropping it underneath. But I did think in the second half, especially that first series, you were watching Ben Johnson's body language, he's swearing on the headset. I thought he had a really bad opening series in the second half, and I thought it had affected his confidence. So with young quarterbacks, again with Tom Brady, you can do a pick six. He doesn't care. He doesn't lose his confidence. J.J. mcCarthy hit that big throw to Justin Jefferson early in the fourth quarter. He came out and hit that throw and like his body language, his velocity, his confidence flipped. And so for young quarterbacks, it just takes one mistake or one great throw and things change. That's very much Baker Mayfield early in his career. Again, Baker and Sam Darnold and Geno Smith, they're veterans now. They're more settled in. But your four first three or four years in the league have to have series to series. It ebbs and flows. And I remember once, this was long, long time ago, and we know how obsessed Tom Brady was. Jay Glazer was interviewing him during a camp, and Brady said, you know, I'm in year, you know, blank 14. He goes, I've seen every defense now. I mean, Mahomes admitted it wasn't until year three when everything slowed down. So if you just take year one out, it was a disaster in Chicago. Take year one out. Let's pretend this was the first game with a competent staff and an offensive coach. You would say first half was pretty good. They let 17:6, but man, did he miss some easy stuff. All right, well, you would say about JJ McCarthy, he was terrible for three quarters and then he caught fire. Whereas JJ was awful and then great. Whereas Caleb was like pretty good into pretty bad. He was more in the middle 10 was JJ McCarthy one was JJ McCarthy. Caleb was more 4 through 7, 4 through 6, and so they grow. And now Caleb goes against the Detroit defense where there is no Brian Flores and it's not as good a personnel. And Detroit, you know, has got their own offensive issues they're concentrating on. There's no Aaron Glenn. My take is Caleb Williams probably in week two looks a little better, looks a little cleaner, and things are a little easier off script. And I don't think J.J. mcCarthy next game looks like he did in the fourth quarter. That was magic. He won't look like he did in the first, but he won't look like he did in the fourth. All right, we are done. I'll be joining you from Chicago tomorrow. It's the Hurt Balancing work, family and education isn't easy, but American Public University makes it possible with online courses, monthly start dates and flexible schedules. APU is designed for busy professionals who need education that fits their lives. And Affordability matters too. APU offers the opportunity grant, giving students 10% off undergraduate and master's level tuition, helping you reach your goals without breaking the bank. 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[A]

Welcome home. I'm Angela Ride, co host of the.

[B]

Native Land Pod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross, and we want y' all to survive and thrive in this political moment. We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[A]

I am terrified that in our rest we're going to miss the moment.

[B]

You want me to stop resting?

[A]

What specifically are you asking me to do?

[B]

Stay informed and take action. Listen to Native Land Pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why are TSA rules so confusing?

[A]

You got a hoodie on.

[B]

Take it all. I'm Manny. I'm Noah.

[A]

This is Devin.

[B]

And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do now. If the rule was the same, go off on me. I deserve it. You know? Lock him up. Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. No Such Thing. This is an iHeart podcast.