← Verdict with Ted Cruz
Verdict with Ted Cruz
The Great Dana White One-on-One: Trump, Boxing, Ali vs Tyson, UFC, Business, Exercise & Weight Loss plus the Best Rocky Movie Ever
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- [00:00]
Podcast Host (Ad Read)
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Ben Ferguson
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Sponsor/Ad Voice
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Dana White
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Dana White
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Dana White
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Ben Ferguson
Loosen up.
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Dana White
I can't See that?
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
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Dana White
I only paid to no sell mouth. Finish up on your own.
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Ben Ferguson
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Dana White
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Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well, Center. There are certain shows we get to do with this pod that are just a lot of fun. This is gonna be one of those. And we're gonna get to cover a lot of different things, including. I want to know how you're gonna get jacked this year.
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Dana White
You. You're.
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Ben Ferguson
I'm gonna hold you to it in this podcast because you said you wanted to, like, shred. We're using like masculine words today. Shred. £30. Is that right? That was the January resolution. Is that. I want to get you on the record at the beginning.
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Senator Ted Cruz
You are absolutely right. And I will tell you for all our listeners and viewers, we have a very special podcast today because we've got a guest. We have the great Dana White, the CEO of ufc, an incredible businessman, an incredible leader, and just an all around badass. And so, by the way, that is a technical term. And so, Dana, welcome to Verdict. We're really glad to have you with us.
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Dana White
Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Ben.
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Ben Ferguson
Good to see you, man.
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Dana White
You too.
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Ben Ferguson
So I'm going to start with a big question on behalf of the senator because I know he's going to get around this. So we're going to. I'm going to. We're holding. I am his accountability partner on these New year resolutions. One of them is to lose 30 pounds. I want to know right away you've gone through a health transformation. What is your advice to Senator Cruz? I'll take it as well because you do a lot of very interesting things to get in shape.
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Dana White
Well, how old are you, Senator?
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Senator Ted Cruz
55.
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Dana White
There you go. We're the same age. So basically the first thing you do is start get on a keto diet. It's really easy to do, especially when you travel. Start getting into intermittent fasting, which will literally clears all the brain fog you have and gives you more energy. Believe it or not, eating less gives you more energy and then just get on a modest workout program. You know, when you travel and you stay at hotels, they always have a gym. What I would advise you to do is find A trainer that you can travel with. There's two things. I don't go anywhere without my trainer and my cold plunge. I have my cold plunge everywhere.
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Ben Ferguson
And how big is your plane? I'm just curious. Asking for a friend?
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Dana White
Well, no. So what I do is, if we go to the ufc, it goes on trucks that get there before we do. But I have all the hotels dialed in, and they figure out a local cold plunge to put inside my hotel room center.
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Ben Ferguson
Have you ever done a cold plunge? Have you ever done this?
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Senator Ted Cruz
I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of cold. I like hot, but I'm not a big cold. So you bring a cold plunge, literally, with you?
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Dana White
Yeah. So for UFC events, we have the cold plunge on the truck. But when I travel, like, I'll be in London all next week, I'll have a cold plunge in my room all next week. And I do it every day. It's like, for some people who have to get up and have coffee, that's like, my coffee. And the great thing about cold coffee.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So you do it in the morning? Typically, yep.
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Dana White
As soon as you get up, it only takes three minutes. But when you first start doing it, it takes, like, 33 minutes, because you stare at it for 30 minutes, and you start telling yourself, it would have been over if I just would have done it already.
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Ben Ferguson
But in other words, it's a form of torture, is what you're telling us. They. They forced us to do it back in college after training sessions, and I've never done it since college. Senator, I. It's like, I hate it. I just want to be very clear. I hate the fact data that you like, travel with it is insane to me. I love it.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So how cold do you. How cold do you have the water?
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Dana White
50 degrees. You do three minutes at 50 degrees, and actually, it's a form of accomplishment. Like, as soon as you finish that in the morning, you've already accomplished something that most people will. Not that day, but how it makes you feel the rest of the day is absolutely addicting.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So what are the benefits? What does it do for you?
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Dana White
It gets rid of the inflammation in your body. And at 55 years old, doing all the traveling you're doing, stress, this, that, and all, it gets rid of the inflammation. And there's nothing better than after you fly somewhere, getting into a cold plunge for three minutes, it's the best, really.
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Ben Ferguson
So after you fly, it just reset you or what?
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Dana White
And it gets rid of all the inflammation in your body. You know how you feel puffy I mean, if you take your shoes off on a flight when you land, putting your shoes back on, your shoes are tighter, everything's puffy. Gets rid of all of that when.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So, so, so you do keto. Are you doing mostly meat? You're doing veggies, too? Like, like, like, what do you put in the diet?
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Dana White
No, so in keto, what you try to do is you try to limit. The only fruit you can eat are berries and any kind of berry. But, yeah, you eat. You eat meat, steaks, chicken, you can eat fish. You know, there's tons of things you can eat. You just can't have any of the sides. You stay away from all the.
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Ben Ferguson
What's an average day of meals for you? Like a normal day, not eating out, nice meal at night. Like, you know, VIP event type thing.
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Dana White
It's four o' clock here. I haven't eaten yet, so I eat. I go all day without eating, and then I'll eat.
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Ben Ferguson
Intermittent fasting. Like a whole day.
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Dana White
Yeah, I eat dinner at night.
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Senator Ted Cruz
So is that your typical intermittent fast? Is that you just skip breakfast and lunch?
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Dana White
Yep, exactly.
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Senator Ted Cruz
You know who does that? Also has the same schedule as Herschel Walker.
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Dana White
Yeah, makes sense.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And so when I was campaigning in Georgia with Herschel, he just. He doesn't do lunch, doesn't do breakfast, and then. And you know, Herschel's in great shape, obviously one of the greatest athletes to ever live. But it's interesting. He does the skip breakfast, lunch too.
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Dana White
And here's the thing that's interesting, is how it clears your mind and how much sharper you are. Brain fog is gone, and it's pretty amazing. I'm telling you. I gotta figure out. I'm gonna try to figure out how to get you dialed in and get some people around you. Once I get you started, you will become addicted to the feeling of it and you'll rip the weight off. Like this.
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Ben Ferguson
All right, hold on.
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Dana White
I'm helping you accomplish this this year, Senator.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Now, you've credited the biologist Gary Brecka with helping you on this. Actually, my mom, who's 91, told me this and she. She wanted me to ask you, like. Like what. What Gary Breckett did with it was helpful and what you found beneficial.
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Dana White
The thing is, with me on the Gary, I'm all in on the Gary Bracket thing. So I do the stuff. So I used to be on a bunch of pills that doctors were giving me for blood pressure and a bunch of other stuff that I really didn't need to be on for years. So now all I take are supplements.
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Ben Ferguson
So I mean, how many and what do you take?
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Dana White
So I was on a bunch of different pills every day and I felt horrible, tired, lethargic and I real bad. Sleep apnea, snoring. You know when you go to the doctor, they tell you to put a CPAP mask on, which I could never sleep with. It never worked for me. Now I don't have any of that. I don't have sleep apnea, I don't snore anymore. And I'm off all meds, only on supplements. And I couldn't tell you right here the supplements that I'm on. But first of all, what they would do is I'm going to have, I'm going to reach out to you, Senator, and I'm going to have them come do a blood test on you and then they'll go through and tell you everything that you need to be on based on your blood work. And then, and then once you get that and they give you a plan. And he told me, if you can, if you give me 12 weeks, I'll change your whole life. It doesn't take 12 weeks. It takes like three. After, like three weeks, you start feeling better and you start feeling. And you start to become really addicted to it.
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Ben Ferguson
All right, let me ask you, an intermittent fasting when you go all day. Like traditionally, if, if Senator Cruz and I, like didn't eat today, I'd get that, I would say call it brain frog. I'd get that kind of the shake saying where I need something, like the idea of not eating and then having like more focus. Is there a transition period there? Because that to me seems like I'm going to have a headache, I'm going to feel terrible if I don't eat all day.
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Dana White
Yeah. So what you need to do is hydrate. So when you don't eat, you know, I do this thing called the 72 Hour Water Fast where all you drink are water and electrolytes for 72 hours.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And how often do you do that?
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Dana White
You do it like three times a year. I do it three times a year.
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Senator Ted Cruz
What's the advantage of doing that?
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Dana White
First of all, your body starts to eat up all the dead cells, cancer cells, and literally all the things that are really bad for you, this thing. That's why you do it two or three times a year. Your body starts to eat up all the dead and bad cells. Now, I'm not a religious person and I don't even know if I consider myself spiritual. I don't even know how to explain Any of that. The first time I ever did the 72 hour fast, when I started to get up around 65 hours, I was like, ah, this is what people talk about spiritual. You know, you start to have this really euphoric, weird feeling, but you start to get more energy and just this unbelievable clarity that you get when you fast. It really is fascinating.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And yes, so I've done 48 hours, but I've not done 72.
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Dana White
Okay, and did you drink a lot of water and electrolytes while you were doing it?
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Senator Ted Cruz
I wasn't doing electrolytes, just water.
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Dana White
So I'm going to. Senator, when we get done, I'm going to get you, I'm going to get you dialed in. All right, Senator, calm down.
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Ben Ferguson
You look way too excited right now. I'm going to enjoy this, I think more than he is. Are we going to get him cold plunging? We're going to get him not eating and electrolyte. This is amazing. And a blood test, let me know.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Ben, let me be clear. The fasting is more likely to happen than the cold plunge. I still have some persuasion on the cold plunge side.
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Dana White
Ben, let me be clear. He's going to start out doing the, you know, get, you get him on the way, you know, on the road to doing this. And he will get into cold plunging and he will get into doing the sauna. You become you once you go in and you start to feel, especially at our age, man, when you hit 50, I mean it's, it's a whole nother ball game when you hit 50 years old. And people used to tell me that and I used to go, ah, you know, I'll be fine. But you really do feel a lot different when you're 50 years old and then above.
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Senator Ted Cruz
Now, Dana, for your workout, are you lifting? Are you doing cardio? What are you doing for your workout?
- [12:57]
Dana White
Yeah, so I don't lift heavy weights anymore. I lift light weights for rep and for cardio, I walk on the treadmill. I mean, it's all basic, simple stuff, nothing crazy. You don't have to get into all this crazy working out stuff at 55 years old. Get in there. You know, you do a full body workout and, and do some cardio.
- [13:15]
Ben Ferguson
I gotta ask you a question. Can you buy real bitcoin in your retirement account? Well, if not, it's time to upgrade to Bitcoin, IRA. It's 2026 and cryptocurrency is where so many investors are going and diversifying. You can buy and sell bitcoin inside a tax advantage IRA with bitcoin Iraq. And that gives you more ways to diversify and grow your retirement savings. Security is their number one priority and your assets are protected by military grade multi key security. And you're covered up to 250 million in digital asset insurance. So what are you waiting for? Get in the bitcoin game today and diversify your portfolio. You actually talk to a real person. 8666-796871-86679-7871 or Bitcoin ira.comBen that's Bitcoin ira.comBen to open a free account and earn up to $1,000 bonus right now. How much weight did you lose when you were on all the medications? And then you clearly made a life change? Like I, about two. What was it? Cent I started, I had three boys and I decided I was gonna lose weight. I'm down like 80 something pounds and it. And I feel like a different human being. When I started Vertica, I was at 298almost. And now I'm at like what I'm I think 209 somewhere in there.
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Dana White
That's incredible. Good for you.
- [14:51]
Ben Ferguson
And I feel different. But when you made this switch for me, it was, I, I was like, I'm afraid I'm gonna like, I don't want to not be around for my kids. That was my number one thing. And the doctor was very clear. He's like, hey, you're going to have a stroke or a heart attack. You're going to, this is going to end badly for you. You better get your you know what together. And if you don't, it's going to be bad. Like was there something that triggered with you that you're like, all right, I got to get it together. What was the main thing and how much have you lost?
- [15:15]
Dana White
So when I started, I was like 235, 236. I got as low as 191 at one point. But the thing with me was it was more about health. I felt terrible. And I was taking pills, these garbage pills that not only did they not do what I needed them to do, they had tons of side effects. And you know, like I said, if you've ever had sleep apnea, I mean, and if you snore really bad, it's horrible. It's a horrible experience. I'd wake up every night choking and coughing and, and throwing up too. Wow. And you know what I found was every time I went to a doctor, nobody could cure anything. There's always take this pill or like, I did the sleep study. And they put the CPAP mask on your face, right?
- [16:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [16:04]
Dana White
And when I talk about Gary Breca, it's like, you know, people like, oh, that's garbage. It's. This is that. You know, I've seen this guy help so many people.
- [16:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
So what does he do? What does he do that's helpful? Like, what specific.
- [16:16]
Dana White
So he goes in and does a blood test on you, a gene test. And he looks at. This is what I loved about him. And this is really where he got. Just for the record, I used to look at this as like, you know, witch doctor stuff. I never believed in any of this stuff. And then after Covid, now I'm anti doctor man. And there are certain things, if I break my arm, I'm going to a doctor.
- [16:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
Right.
- [16:40]
Dana White
If I want to work on my general health, definitely not talking to a doctor about that. And basically, Gary goes in, finds out what's wrong with you. And he told me, you shouldn't be on these pills. You should have never been on blood pressure. He got my sister off blood pressure medicine, too. And I had been taking that stuff for like 15, 20 years. And he gets you on these, on these different supplements. And, you know, peptides are big right now, amongst the peptides. And in three weeks, when you do with this guy, I got on a keto diet, started taking the supplements, you know, regular exercise. In three weeks, I felt like a different person. And all the people that were around me started to notice the difference in me, and I wouldn't be able to run at the level I run at right now if I hadn't met Gary Bracker. So this guy completely changed my life.
- [17:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, let's go back. That is awesome. Let's go back and just, just, just tell your story. So you grew up Massachusetts and Nevada, Right. When did you first get interested in boxing and mixed martial arts? And what was it that attracted you to it?
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Dana White
Well, it's that thing. It's like when you're a kid, some people, you know, end up being 30 years old and not finding out what it is they want to do for the rest of their life. I was very lucky in the fact that I knew when I was a kid that I wanted to be in the fight business. What that meant at that time, I didn't know, but I knew that's what I wanted to do. So I was 19 years old, I lived in Boston, and I worked at the Boston Harbor Hotel, and I was a bellman there. And I'm like, I do not Want to do this for the rest of my life? I literally walked out the door and quit. And there was this guy named Peter Welch from South Boston who was like a fighting legend, and he's a guy you didn't go looking for. I went looking for him, and I found him and I said, listen, I wanna. I know this sounds crazy, but I wanna learn everything about the fight game from you. I'll work for you for free. Took me in, and this guy was basically my. My college professor for the next four years.
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Senator Ted Cruz
And so you started with boxing before mma, right?
- [18:49]
Dana White
And, yeah, mma. So MMA didn't even really exist at that time. While I was with him, you know, there was this talk about this fight that was gonna happen that was no rules, and it could be any style. And we watched it on pay per view, you know, and it was shocking and crazy, but I never. I didn't get into it.
- [19:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
So now, like, when you were a kid, let's say you're in junior high, were you a kid that got in a lot of fights? I mean, was it, like a rough upbringing or how. What drew you to the world of fighting?
- [19:16]
Dana White
I wasn't really like that. My uncles at the time were really into boxing. And, you know, when the big fights were on ABC Wild World of Sports or whatever it would be, there was always this energy and buzz in the house that I became, you know, I fell in love. Yeah. And. And I just became a fight fan. You know, it's no different than. How does a kid become a baseball fan or a fan of football? It's just mine was fighting.
- [19:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now, did you do other sports? You play football or basketball? Baseball.
- [19:45]
Dana White
Nope. I was always just into fighting. Yep.
- [19:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay.
- [19:50]
Dana White
I played at a level that your parents put you in, and you, you know, you play when you're young. I did play, but I was never into it or anything like that.
- [19:58]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, now. Now I read something online that I thought was fascinating, which is you were in Boston, and you decided to leave Boston because the mobster Whitey Bulger threatened you, and that's what took you to Vegas. You got to tell us that story, because that's a wild story.
- [20:15]
Dana White
He didn't threaten me. His guys did. His guys wanted. Wanted money from me, and, you know that. I obviously didn't know them. And. Yeah, so I got a call at my house one day, and they're like, you got till tomorrow to pay it.
- [20:29]
Senator Ted Cruz
Did you owe him money? Had you borrowed money or, like, what put you in that situation?
- [20:33]
Dana White
I didn't even know those guys. You know, those aren't guys. So they were just shaking you down 100%. 100%. And they had approached me one day at one of the fitness clubs, and, you know, first thing he said to me is, do you know who I am? And I didn't know who he was. And then as he started talking, I figured out who he was. And. Yeah, so they literally called me up. They said, you got till tomorrow to pay us. I said, I don't have the money. 1500, 2000, 2500 bucks, which was like, 25,000 to me back then.
- [21:07]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [21:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now, were they trying to press you to, like, fix fights? I mean, was that driving them? Or they just wanted money from you?
- [21:14]
Dana White
Yeah, I wasn't involved in any of that stuff at that time. We were training fighters, but, yeah, no. So they called me one day, and they said, you got till tomorrow. I said, or what? So are you gonna find out? And I literally hung up the phone, called Delta, and flew to Vegas the next day. All right.
- [21:33]
Senator Ted Cruz
Did you ever see the movie that Departed where Jack Nicholson plays Whitey Bulger? I mean, what'd you think of the. As a Boston guy, what did you think of the movie, the portrayal?
- [21:41]
Dana White
Well, I lived there during that whole era, which was, I mean, crazy. The things that I saw and the things that. Whatever. But I never had any interaction or involvement with those guys that I knew of. Anyway. I. You know, you just. You. You just heard about him and things like that. But then to come to find out that, you know, they had this thing back, that South Boston was crazy at that time. Like, you could shoot somebody. I mean, guys would get beat up and all this stuff, and nobody would call the police. You didn't call the police. And, you know, come to. Come to find out later, he was involved with, you know, with the FBI, and if you did call, he'd know you called.
- [22:22]
Ben Ferguson
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- [23:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
You come to Vegas and you get an opportunity to buy the ufc, and you go to the Fertitta brothers, who I guess you do from school in. In Vegas. But at the time, there wasn't much to the UFC when you were buying it. Tell us about how that came to pass.
- [24:01]
Dana White
Well, at the time, I. I was representing a couple of guys who fought in the. In the UFC and some that wanted to. And I got into a contract negotiation with the old owner of the ufc, and then finally, he flipped out during the call and said, you know what? There is no more money. I don't even know if I have enough money to put on the next event. So I was like. When we hung up the phone, I was like, holy shit. You know, this thing's going out of business. So I called the Fertitta brothers, and I said, hey, I just got off the phone with Bob Meyerowitz, the owner. I think the UFC is in trouble. I think they're going out of business, and I think we should buy it. So I connected Lorenzo Fertitta and Bob Meyerowitz, and they started talking, and a couple months later, we bought the company for $2 million.
- [24:44]
Ben Ferguson
What's it worth now? Just to put it in perspective, what's it worth?
- [24:48]
Dana White
It's in the billions.
- [24:50]
Ben Ferguson
So you took something from 10, 12 to 14 billion. So they're happy with you, right? They're glad you called that day.
- [24:56]
Dana White
Well, it all worked out.
- [24:57]
Ben Ferguson
It all worked out.
- [24:58]
Dana White
Now when I call and say, I need some money, they're like, how much you need now?
- [25:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
When you bought it, I mean, they had not many assets. They had the name, they had an octagon. I read that they'd actually sold the website UFC to somebody else. So, like, how did you. Once you buy it, then you're like, okay, I gotta build this into something that. That can generate real revenue and become a. I don't know if you were thinking a global business at the time, but. But how did you build it from. From where it was to. To where it is now?
- [25:30]
Dana White
Yeah, so when we bought it, we bought basically those three letters and an old wooden octagon, because everything else had been stripped out and sold. You know, the merchandise rights, the. The video game rights, even. The DVD business became very big during our early days of the ufc. We didn't even own the rights to that. And, Senator, just to show you how much nobody believed in this thing, Lionsgate owned the rights to all that stuff, and we actually went back and bought the rights from them. And, you know, they were probably laughing at us when we left. They're like, ah, we just. These guys, you know, they're thinking about how that's going to look on their books over the next two years. But it really is a testament to how nobody believed in this thing, and nobody thought it would work that they sold us the rights back.
- [26:17]
Ben Ferguson
What was the secret to building it back? Was it just pure sweat equity, hard work? What did you see in the value when you guys went to buy it and you said, hey, I think 2 million is worth it. We should do this? Was it because you knew the fighters, or did you understand the product and how to market it? What was. What was different from what you did compared to what the guys before were doing?
- [26:37]
Dana White
So the Fertittas and I started taking Jiu Jitsu together, and that's how we fell in love with the sport. We started to meet some of the athletes, and, you know, these athletes were different than boxers. A lot of these guys graduated college. And, you know, if you look at Chuck Liddell, right, with the mohawk and the Chinese riding gun, he looks like an ax murderer. But this guy actually graduated from Cal Poly with honors with an accounting degree. You know what I mean?
- [27:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay, I've met Chuck. I didn't know that. That. That's very cool.
- [27:04]
Dana White
Yeah, so they all had those kind of stories, and we were interested in it and said, you know what? If this was done the right way, we put on a better live event. Plus, I had always felt like boxing was messed up and on the decline. We felt like this could. This could be big. And I've always had this philosophy that fighting works everywhere. You know what I mean? And when you think about the United States, we have so many sports here. NBA, college basketball, NFL, college football, the list goes on and on and on. But in a lot of these other countries, they have soccer, and that's it.
- [27:38]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. So it's huge in Latin America as well.
- [27:42]
Dana White
Absolutely. And listen, I don't care what color you are, what country you come from, what language you speak. We're all human beings, and fighting is in our DNA. We get it and we like it.
- [27:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [27:51]
Dana White
We love fighting, and especially if somebody looks.
- [27:55]
Senator Ted Cruz
One of my favorite quotes that I use in politics and life is from Mike Tyson. Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face, and that's pretty universal.
- [28:04]
Dana White
I agree. And when somebody looks like you, comes from where you come from, you know, people rally around them when they're looked at as the best in the world in the fight game.
- [28:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
Now, you said that you thought boxing was messed up. How so? What was messed up about boxing?
- [28:20]
Dana White
A lot of things were messed up. Well, let's. Let's go to Senator John McCain. So Senator John McCain was the one that got the UFC basically shut down and taken off cable, and I didn't know that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Senator John McCain went after the UFC hard. And, you know, he was a big fight fan. So what was happening at the time is that.
- [28:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
Was he doing it to help boxing? Was that his.
- [28:44]
Dana White
No, no. He was doing what he said was the old owners were running from regulation. They weren't being regulated by the athletic commissions, which, you know, obviously he didn't like, so he went after him. And we did the exact opposite when we bought the company, we ran toward regulation. And before Senator McCain had passed, you know, he had complimented us on what we had done with the sport, how we cleaned it up, and, you know, he was actually. He was on our side.
- [29:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Huh. Okay, so you acquire the ufc. What is the. What are the biggest steps to making it succeed? Is it making the live events really fun? Is it TV rights? Is it recruiting new fighters? I mean, you got to do all that. But what were the biggest things that mattered?
- [29:31]
Dana White
That's it. All of the above. Exactly what you just said. First and foremost, go out and find the best up and coming talent, people that you think could be world champs, or at least top five fighters in the world. You have to go out and get a television deal. Think about this. This thing was in such a bad place. It wasn't allowed on pay per view. You, as a grown adult, didn't have the right to buy porn, was on pay per view, but the UFC was not allowed. And our goal was to get it onto free television, which everybody thought was impossible at the time. Plus, when you think about the United States back then, you know, all the people that grew up in our era grew up in that John Wayne era, right, where John Wayne would hit a guy, they fall down you didn't jump on top of them and start, you know, beating the shit out of them.
- [30:18]
Ben Ferguson
Get up.
- [30:19]
Dana White
You would stand them back up and hit him again.
- [30:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
Right.
- [30:21]
Ben Ferguson
So even his own son and big Jake. Yeah.
- [30:24]
Dana White
The whole ground game thing was how we had to educate people on and how exciting it could be. And, and then I went out.
- [30:32]
Ben Ferguson
To be clear, UFC has like, what was one of yalls biggest pay per view. I remember like looking at the data one time several years ago, you guys had some of the biggest pay per view events like ever, period.
- [30:44]
Dana White
Yeah, yeah, we did. And I'll think about this. It took us a long time to get into New York and you know, we were being blocked by Sheldon Silver in New York who was in with the, with the union keeping us out of New York because of the Fertittas. We are eight of the top ten all time gates at Madison Square Garden. Now in the next two years, we'll be 10 of the top 10 all time gates because we go there every November with a big fight and we break, you know, last year's record.
- [31:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, and you were talking about looking for great fighters. What makes a great fighter? What sets someone apart who's great versus someone who's just good?
- [31:26]
Dana White
Well, first of all, you have to have the talent. Are you talented enough to get there? And our matchup makers are great at finding new talent. We actually have a show based on. It's called the Contender series that we do every year.
- [31:40]
Ben Ferguson
And all the best reality tv, if people haven't watched it, it's amazing. It's like I watch it and you feel like you get to know the gu. You feel like you get to know their story. You feel like you're rooting for them. You pick your favorite horse, in essence, by the middle of the season.
- [31:54]
Dana White
That's the Ultimate Fighter. Yeah, that's the Ultimate Fighter. That's what actually launched us and got us onto television and started to build the business. The Contender Series, we do once a year, we sign the best unsigned fighters in the world. They show up one night and they fight right there. I don't care what your record is, what you've done in the past. What are you going to show us right here, right now, tonight? And it's the greatest fight show on television. It really is.
- [32:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
So do you have a view of, of best boxer ever? Do you look at someone and say, all right, he was the greatest?
- [32:28]
Dana White
Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, we just, we literally just had this debate a couple of weeks ago, you know, and Ali is my all time Favorite for many other reasons, not just boxing. You know what? That guy. I never did. I never did.
- [32:43]
Ben Ferguson
I want you to pause what you're doing for just one minute, and I want you to hear about Alejandra. She lives in a remote community with very few resources and little to no health care. So when Alejandra gets sick, her parents have no real options. No doctors in their community and no money for real medical care. By the third day, her body was shutting down. She woke up and just long enough to tell her mom, I can't take the pain anymore. I can't keep going. Her parents drove hours to find a doctor who tried everything, but she needed a private hospital, and that was impossible for her family to afford. And that is when Compassion International stepped in. Now, through Compassion, Alejandra was treated. And against all odds, she survived. She lived. Because someone just like you took action. Right now, unfortunately, there are children just like Alejandra who won't survive unless someone like you steps in. Compassion International partners with local churches, providing children with the support that they need. Critical medical care, plus food, education, and the hope of the gospel, all in Jesus name. So help a child just like Alejandra. Today you can visit compassion.com that's compassion.com having just come back from Israel, I want to paint you a picture. It's midnight, sirens are blaring, and you have only seconds to grab your child and run. Now imagine you're elderly. Your legs don't work like they used to. Getting downstairs feels impossible. And after all of that, you end up in a bomb shelter for hours, even days, because you can't make the trek again. This is what's happening across Israel as Operation Epic Fury continues. Children are being traumatized, families are just exhausted, and homes have been destroyed. And that's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is there on the ground, bringing food, emergency equipment, care for those children and help for the elderly. And supplying the bomb shelters and medical centers for critically needed essentials. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to stand for Israel and stand for good against evil, this is it. And that's why I'm asking you to now please act. Give $45 right now to rush life saving essentials to the vulnerables under fire. You can also call 888-488-ICFCJ. That's 888-488-IFCJ. Join me and give and make a real difference. Online@ifcj.org that's ifcj.org hey, it's Ben Ferguson. I gotta ask you a question. Can you buy real bitcoin in your retirement account? Well if not it is time to upgrade to Bitcoin IRA. It's 2026 and cryptocurrency is where so many investors are going and diversifying. You can buy and sell Bitcoin inside a Tax Advantage IRA with Bitcoin IRA and that gives you more ways to diversify and grow your retirement savings. Security is their number one priority and your assets are protected by military grade multi key security and you're covered up to $250 million in digital asset insurance. So what are you waiting for? Get in the Bitcoin game today and call and talk to a real person 866-679-7871 or visit bitcoin ira.comBen to open a free account and earn up to $1,000 bonus bitcoin ira.comBen no one knows
- [36:35]
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- [38:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, so as an expert, tell me if Ali is in a ring with Mike Tyson, both at their prime, who wins?
- [38:13]
Dana White
Well, as an expert, I have no idea, but
- [38:17]
Ben Ferguson
that's a good answer.
- [38:19]
Dana White
It would be a great one. It's hard to talk about that kind of stuff too, because I'm a fan of both guys, and both were so different and both brought something different to the sport. I mean, when you think about and Senator Cruz, we're the same age. That Tyson era was unbelievable. I mean, everybody was into boxing because of Mike Tyson. It was incredible.
- [38:40]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, he hit so hard and so fast. I mean, you'd have. You'd have matches over in the. In the first round because he just knock everyone out. I mean, it was. It was. I'd never seen anything like it.
- [38:52]
Dana White
It's true. So Ali brought something different during his era, and Tyson brought something different. But the boxing is where it is today because both of them existed and were in the sport. There's no doubt about it.
- [39:04]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, same question about mma. Best MMA fighter ever, Jon Jones.
- [39:10]
Ben Ferguson
Really?
- [39:10]
Senator Ted Cruz
Okay.
- [39:11]
Ben Ferguson
Why?
- [39:11]
Dana White
Yeah, why?
- [39:12]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, why? That's a good.
- [39:14]
Dana White
Well, one of the things that happened in boxing is that you had all these different sanctioning organizations and all anybody. And they all had different champions and different guys, and all anybody wanted to do was stay undefeated. So they would fight lesser competition to make sure that they got up to 25. And.
- [39:30]
Senator Ted Cruz
Oh.
- [39:30]
Dana White
And you know, in MMA, you go through the gauntlet. You fight the best of the best, all the way to the top. So if you end up with a long career and you are still undefeated, you are the greatest of all time, and that is Jon Jones and many other reasons.
- [39:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
What about if. If Jon Jones is in the ring with Ali, who wins that fight? That's. That's kind of. I'm asking the question. Okay. Because it's the same question. Remember the Rocky movie where Rocky fights Hulk Hogan and the wrestler versus the boxer,
- [40:04]
Dana White
Jon Jones. Jon Jones would get inside, he'd grab them, and he would rip them apart. Yes.
- [40:10]
Ben Ferguson
Have you ever seen a pro athlete not in your business, that you wish you could have taken them and turned them into UFC fighter? If you had to pick a celebrity athlete, any. Any sport, I don't care. It's the Olympics. But there's got to be talent, Dana, that you look at and you're like, that guy should have done this, and he would have been a beast. Who would that be?
- [40:30]
Dana White
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you look at a lot of these guys that play, not just in the NFL, but college football, too. You know, when you look at how big and explosive and powerful these guys are, had they been training in mixed martial arts their whole life, they would be unbelievable, you know, and, you know, he was a big fan and always said he wanted to fight. Imagine if he trained when he was young as Shaq. I mean, as big and as powerful as Shaq was and, you know, that would be.
- [40:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
I met Shaq when I was at the UFC fight with you in Miami, and it was. He is a huge man. I mean, he's just a mountain of him, man.
- [41:02]
Dana White
Massive. And one of my all time favorite killers, you know, you know, the mentality, the talent, and all that stuff. It would have been interesting to see if Michael Jordan, you know, was a trained in MMA his whole life.
- [41:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, he. He certainly had an unbelievable heart of competition. I mean, you knew at the end of every game, he'd have the ball and he'd be triple teamed and it wouldn't matter. He was going to score and he was going to win.
- [41:26]
Dana White
So true. And he had that killer mindset and. And he was probably the most clutch athlete of all time.
- [41:32]
Ben Ferguson
There's a lot of people that listen to this show. They may not actually have known you from ufc, they may know you from seeing you next to Donald Trump. Talk about how you guys became friends. Was it because you both were in this reality TV world and exploded that you're both understood entertainment? Was that how you guys originally kind of connected? Was it, you know, he's the Apprentice guy. Tv. You're doing UFC tv. And then how did you guys become friends? It's clear that y' all are friends. When you see each other together, it's not just, hey, come to my event like, you guys obviously really know each other. Like each other.
- [42:05]
Dana White
Yeah, no, it's not any of that at all.
- [42:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
It's.
- [42:07]
Dana White
He's a big fight fan. He's been a fight fan justified since he was young. All of his, you know, the big fights were at his casinos, and he and I met when we did the first fight at the Taj Mahal. He had us think about this. The UFC wasn't allowed on pay per view. No arenas wanted us, no venues, wanted our events. He actually had us at the Trump Taj Mahal showed up for the first fight of the night and stayed till the end both times that we went to the Taj. And when you think about the Trump, brand was here, UFC brand was here. But he got it, he liked it. And then literally everything good that ever happened to me in My career after that, he was always the first one to call or reach out in some way, and he was just always a really, really good guy. And then he reached out and asked me to speak at the Republican Convention forum, and everybody told me not to do it.
- [43:01]
Ben Ferguson
Not to do it.
- [43:02]
Dana White
Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't get into politics, number one. And number two, he's never gonna win. And the guy's been a great friend of me, so I said, there's no way I'm not gonna do it for him. I really like this guy. And, yes, he and I are very close friends, and I love the guy.
- [43:18]
Ben Ferguson
Senator and I were both there for that speech. What was the biggest shock for you in the reaction from the public? Was it the animosity because you went there and because you spoke? What was the biggest surprise from doing that speech at the convention?
- [43:29]
Dana White
I never get any negativity from it, ever. It's the exact opposite. When I'm out in the streets and I go places, people always come up to me and say, thanks for. Thanks for. I've never, ever had one person walk up to me or yell or say something to me, anything about. And here's the thing. When I do speak, you don't ever hear me talk negatively about the other side. I tell you why everything they say about this guy is a lie. And he's not what they say he is. He's actually a good man who loves this country, cares about people, and, you know, I just talk about who he is as a person.
- [44:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [44:07]
Ben Ferguson
All right.
- [44:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
At ufc, you hired Joe Rogan. When you hired him, and he was just getting started. Did you. Did you have any inkling of what a major figure, what a really historic figure for free speech he would become? Did you see that early on?
- [44:25]
Dana White
No, what I saw, I was getting into that when we were talking earlier about the ground game. So when people didn't understand the ground game, the greatest thing I did was bring Joe Rogan in, and he started walking people through what was happening while it was actually happening so that you would understand it. And when we grew up, your parents would put you in karate or Taekwondo or something like that.
- [44:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, I did four years of judo.
- [44:49]
Dana White
There you go. This is the martial art now that men, women, and children are taking all over the world. And then Joe. I remember when Joe told me, he said, hey, listen, I started a podcast. Would you come on my podcast? I was like, what the hell is a podcast? He's like, well, it's like radio.
- [45:05]
Ben Ferguson
It's Like Lindsey Graham center, when you had Lindsey Grant on that first. And what the hell was a podcast?
- [45:09]
Dana White
Yeah. I said, wow, you got to do it with. Really big.
- [45:13]
Senator Ted Cruz
You got to do it with. With the accent. So. So Lindsay was the very first guest ever on this podcast. And we were meeting in a basement studio in D.C. and we had just burst on and created the podcast, and it skyrocketed to the number one ranked podcast in the world. And so I asked Lindsay to come on, and he comes down to the basement and. And his line, he goes, what in the hell is a podcast? And we had this shag carpet from the 70s and these same big old mics, and Lindsay looked around, and we were still number one at the time. And he goes, you're number one? Who the hell is number two? Some guy at a van by the river.
- [45:56]
Dana White
That's funny. All right. I didn't get it. And Rogan was definitely very insightful, you know, in. In starting his podcast, and. And then it just absolutely blew up and. And he became, you know, the biggest thing in the world.
- [46:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
So why do you think he's so good at the podcast business?
- [46:18]
Dana White
He's really good at. He's really good at. First of all, he talks about a lot of interesting things. He's very smart, obviously, and he's great at speaking to people. He. He's a good listener, ask great questions, and is always talking about interesting stuff with interesting people. And he tried so hard not to get into politics. He tried so hard not to get into politics.
- [46:43]
Ben Ferguson
Everyone that tries to do that, that I know always fails, but that's probably why I know them at that point.
- [46:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, here's another Rogan question. So Rogan had been a Bernie Sanders supporter.
- [46:53]
Dana White
Yeah.
- [46:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
Then he became a Trump supporter. He's now criticizing Trump on some fronts. What's your sense of sort of where his politics falls?
- [47:02]
Dana White
Well, he was very liberal. I mean, he was very liberal. And then when the world started to lose its mind, I mean, if you're not a little. Right, you're not right. So I think that, you know, a lot of these guys who were. Who were liberal at one point, including me, I was, too.
- [47:25]
Senator Ted Cruz
So what changed your views?
- [47:28]
Dana White
Common sense. Common sense. And a lot of the other nutty stuff. Yeah, listen, taxes are never going to go away. That's always going to be a thing. But, you know, when I talked to Joe about having Trump on the podcast, his big thing was. And I was the one pushing the president to do these podcasts.
- [47:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [47:53]
Dana White
So I brought the Nelk boys on Air Force One at the end of his. At the end of his first term. And, you know, there's that conference room in the back. And we were in the conference room, and then finally he called us up to his office. And when I brought the Knuck boys into his office, I could tell by the look on his face, because he was like, what the hell are you doing? Right? Because I called Jared Kushner and I said, jared, I want to bring these kids to Nelk Boys, you know, because he was picking me up in Vegas and we were flying to Arizona. I said, I want to bring these kids with us. And he said, yeah, I'm not asking him that. You are. So I end up asking him. We do it, and to the President's credit, he gets done with this rally in Arizona, and he sees this kid Steve, who is, you know, a very famous kid, you know, in the influencer world. And he was on the plane with us and the president rally, and he called him up on stage, and Steve started doing the YMCA thing. The crowd erupted, and after that, the President agreed to do their podcast. He did the Nelk Boy podcast. And the thing went to something crazy, like 10 million views in four hours. And YouTube pulled it down, and that's when all hell broke loose. And then the President was all in on podcasts. And the reason I love the President doing these kids podcasts that are an hour, two hours, or the Joe Rogan three hour podcast.
- [49:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [49:18]
Dana White
Is because he is a real guy, a guy's guy who can sit there and talk. So Joe said, I'll. I'll do it, but I'm gonna invite Kamala Harris to do it too. I'm good. I'm gonna invite both.
- [49:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [49:32]
Dana White
She can't do a three hour podcast.
- [49:34]
Ben Ferguson
No, no, she cannot do the Gentle poll.
- [49:37]
Dana White
So Trump shows up. They go, three change, right? He's late for his next rally, and it's incredible. So they reach out to Harris's team, and they said, well, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna have to fly to LA. We'll give you 20 minutes, and we need to know all the questions ahead of time. And Joe's like, that is not what I do.
- [49:57]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Have you ever watched my podcast? You would know that's not gonna fly.
- [50:01]
Dana White
Yep. And then now. Now everybody gets the podcast thing.
- [50:05]
Ben Ferguson
I want to be honest with you for a second about how an act of compassion really feels. A couple of years ago, I made the choice to partner with an amazing organization called Compassion International. Why? Because I wanted to Sponsor a child in need. It was a nice idea, sure, but I had no idea just how much that simple act would change my life as well. I sponsored Nadia and got to watch her life change right in front of my eyes. Going from starving, literally alone on the streets, to getting the healthcare and education she needs to reach her God given full potential. I got to be a part of that change. And the light of that compassion not only illuminates in her, it illuminates now in me. That is the power of compassion. The light of Christ shines on all of us. Feel it for yourself and change, literally a child's life. Change the world and you also change yourself. You can sponsor a child today. Visit compassion.com that's compassion.com. let me ask you legacy question as we get close to wrapping things up here. I always love asking people, especially right around your age, when you've done, you've worked really hard, you did something incredible.
- [51:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
Listen, Skippy, we don't need any of these lines about your age. One of these days you'll hit puberty and you'll get a little wisdom like Dana and me. But go ahead with your question.
- [51:36]
Ben Ferguson
Rip on the 44 year old. Right now I feel very good about it, I feel great about it. But when you, there's a certain point where you look, you're like, all right, I worked hard, I put my head down, I got a lot done. And then there's like, all right, what's next? Do you have contentment? What do you want the next 10 years to be of your career? Your legacy? What is it? I mean, now you're at the point where you can kind of pick and choose what you do. You built this brand, but what is it that makes you wake up every day and what excites you?
- [52:03]
Dana White
Yeah, I mean, the level that we've built this company and what we've done with combat sports globally still fires me up. Now we're getting into boxing. You know, we're adding on to the Ali act, which I know you know about, Senator. And you know, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to build boxing into a massive business again globally. So, you know, I still have goals for the ufc. I have goals for boxing and other things that I'm into. Beyond that, I don't know. I mean, I'm, I got three great kids. You know, when I think about legacy, my legacy is my kids and their kids and, you know, I don't think much about, I love what I do. It's what gets me up every day. And I'm still just as passionate now as I was about it 25 years ago. So I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. Just going to get up and keep grinding.
- [52:53]
Ben Ferguson
Love it.
- [52:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, different question. Movies. I'm a big movie buff for a boxing aficionado. What's the best Rocky movie?
- [53:06]
Dana White
Rocky 3.
- [53:07]
Senator Ted Cruz
Rocky 3. All right. Clubber Lang.
- [53:10]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [53:10]
Dana White
Yep. Rocky 3. I love it. Me and the President argue about this all the time. What's his one? Rocky one.
- [53:17]
Ben Ferguson
What's the logic behind his. What's his argument? What's yours?
- [53:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
And I might be Rocky, too, so that's interesting.
- [53:23]
Dana White
That's awesome. And I'll tell you something else about Rocky. It's the only fight movie, other than, like, Raging Bull, which is a true story. And, you know.
- [53:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [53:33]
Dana White
That I actually really like. Like a fictional boxing movie fight movie that I actually like. And we can actually debate as men. What's your favorite 1, 2, 3 or 4? Once you get past 4, you lose.
- [53:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, 4 and 8. But 4 was pretty awesome, too. That was like. Like, you know, Ivan Drago, if he dies, he dies.
- [53:53]
Dana White
So true.
- [53:54]
Ben Ferguson
So why. So make your argument on why Yours is number one. And what's the president's argument on one?
- [53:59]
Dana White
Well, I loved that in Rocky 3. You know, he had had all this success and. And, you know, then you have clever Lang, who's hungry, coming up. And Mick is trying to avoid him because he thinks he's gonna murder Rocky. And. Yeah, you know, I just. I loved everything. I thought Mr. T absolutely murdered that role and could not have been better in it. And I don't know. I just. That's the. That's the one out of the three that hit me the most. They're all great. One's great. Two great. Four is great.
- [54:31]
Ben Ferguson
Why did Trump say number one? What was his argument on number one being the best?
- [54:35]
Dana White
I think because if you didn't see, you know, Rocky one happened, and then all the other ones by. You didn't see a place where actually the guy who's the hero of the movie is going to lose the fight, you know, and obviously the major success the movie and Stallone had coming out of that and the story of Stallone and how he built the movie. I don't know. I guess that's it. Rocky 1 is great. I'm not diminishing Rocky 1. I just think Rocky III is better.
- [55:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
I gotta say. I gotta say. Well, I gotta say it. Cause I like winning. Rocky 1 is pretty awesome. But then he loses. And Rocky 2, he comes back, he gets it done. 3 is awesome, too. So, I mean, it's a hard. But, like, Rocky 2 is when he, like, finishes the job and gets it done. But, you know, I gotta say, one of the things that's fun about the whole Rocky, you know, and Stallone obviously created the character. And the whole Rocky saga, I actually think has a lot in common with President Trump, because if you look at Rocky Balboa, you know, he's not the fastest hitter, he's not the strongest hitter. He just keeps frigging going. He's like the Terminator. No matter. I mean, it's. Nothing stops him. And he just goes and goes and goes. And that's very much Donald Trump. You know, Donald Trump used to say, no president has been as persecuted as he was. And I gotta say, a few years ago, I wasn't sure that was true. And then the indictments come, and they try to bankrupt him and bankrupt his kids, and it is now clearly true. It's unequivocally. And there are very few human beings who could have gone through what Trump went through when the Democrats were trying to do everything they could to stop his reelection. And it reminds me of Rocky Balboa, that no matter how many times they hit him, he just keeps coming.
- [56:28]
Dana White
The most resilient human being that I have ever met in my life. And as his friend, you know, I used to tell him when he was going through this stuff, I'd be like, what are you doing? Why don't you just. You know. And you know what he would say? Do I have a choice? You absolutely have a choice.
- [56:46]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [56:47]
Dana White
You can stop doing this shit to yourself. But he is unstoppable, the most resilient human being I've ever met in my life. I absolutely love the guy. And, yeah, when he won this last election, I mean, I don't know if anybody was happier for him than me. And I was with him the whole night, all the way through it. And it's just. I tell people this all the time. And Senator Cruz, tell me if I'm wrong. And I've actually brought people. Kid Rock brought Bill Maher to the White House. Right. And even Bill Maher, who has hated this guy for 30 years, had to go on his show and say, the guy that I have hated for 30 years was not present at this dinner.
- [57:32]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [57:32]
Dana White
Anybody who thinks they don't like Trump, I dare you to go to dinner with him for an hour. You cannot walk out of there and go I hate that guy. It's impossible.
- [57:42]
Senator Ted Cruz
He can be amazingly charming. He's funny as all get out. And I'll give Mars some credit too, because he was honest about that and 100%. You know, Maher is someone who I used to disagree with. I find myself agreeing with him more and more. And I feel like Bill Maher is an old school liberal, that his party went crazy and he's sitting there going, okay, how about like free speech matters and don't embrace crazy Islamists who want to kill us. And suddenly that makes him feel like a right winger.
- [58:13]
Dana White
Yeah. And it's not. Bill Maher is a common sense guy. Like I was saying, he's a guy who isn't afraid to stand up for common sense. And yeah, that night was actually really, really cool at the white. He was hilarious. The President was hilarious. And think about this. Bill Maher has been pumping the Democrat agenda for, you know, 30, 40, whatever, how many years. He's never been invited to the White House and never toured the White House. President Trump was the first one. Yeah. No.
- [58:42]
Ben Ferguson
Are you not one Democrat ever asked Bill Maher the White House?
- [58:45]
Dana White
Nope.
- [58:46]
Ben Ferguson
Wow, what a mis.
- [58:48]
Dana White
Pretty crazy. And the President gave him an incredible tour after it was over and, and you know, and those two talked all night. Me and Kid Rock stayed out of their way. They talked all night, they agreed, they argued, they this and that, and that's how it's supposed to be.
- [59:02]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, well, and Maher is smart and he'll engage on real issues. You know, I did a show a couple of years ago and at the end when the cameras were off, I said, bill, you know, I gotta thank you for endorsing me for President. He's like, what are you talking about? And in 2016, when it was down to Trump and me running, Maher did a whole show and he said, okay, so you've got Trump and Cruz. And he said, it's a little bit like malaria or the bubonic plague. He's like, I hate them both. But he said, if you give me that choice. And he pulled out a red hat that said better Ted than dead. So he said, compared to Trump. He decided to endorse me. And he'd forgotten about it.
- [59:47]
Dana White
It.
- [59:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
And, and, and I had a picture, a screenshot of him wearing the hat that said better Ted than dead. And I signed it and said, you know, thanks for your visionary, visionary wisdom. And he, he cracked up laughing. I think he'd forgotten all about it.
- [60:03]
Dana White
He is funny and he is smart and I've been a Fan of his for years. So, yeah, to be there that night and see it all play out was. And what's funny is, you know, the President always bust my ball because I don't wear suits, right? So I don't wear suits. And, and, and, and when Bill Maher walked into the Oval Office, he's got a suit on, the whole thing. He's like, there's no way I was showing up here without a suit. And he looks at me and he goes, that's definitely from the Zelensky collection.
- [60:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
But by the way, I will say there was a funny thing I saw on Twitter, like when Zelensky showed up for one of the White House meetings again, and his sweatshirt, someone said he should have said, look, look, Mr. President, I showed up with a suit, but when I landed, some guy from the Biden administration stole my luggage. Do you remember that weird transgender cross dresser who was in the Biden administration who was stealing suitcases at the airport? Like it was a bizarre little story multiple times and caught on film like it was one of the odder, odder things. All right, last question. How cool is it for our nation's 250th birthday to be doing a UFC fight at the White House on the South Lawn?
- [61:19]
Dana White
Surreal. Amazing.
- [61:22]
Ben Ferguson
And how many people have called you for a ticket already? That's what I really want to know.
- [61:26]
Dana White
It's crazy, but we're going to put on one of the greatest live events anybody has ever seen. And yeah, I'm really excited about it.
- [61:35]
Ben Ferguson
All right.
- [61:35]
Senator Ted Cruz
And by the way, I'm going to shamelessly get in line. I already told my team I want to be there. Come hooker by crook. I ain't missing this.
- [61:42]
Dana White
I love it. I look forward to seeing you there, Senator.
- [61:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
Excellent. Dana, thank you for joining us. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate you. Thank you for your leadership, your courage, and by the way, everything you've built UFC into now. I look forward to the next 5, 10, 20 years and where it goes. We got. You got a lot to do in business, and the country's got a lot to do going forward.
- [62:04]
Dana White
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. And congratulations on all your success.
- [62:08]
Senator Ted Cruz
Appreciate it.
- [62:09]
Ben Ferguson
Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hit that subscribe or auto download button. Wherever you get your podcast, share this on social media. Write us a five star review as well, and we'll see you back here in a couple of days. Can you buy real bitcoin in your retirement account? If not, it's time to upgrade to bitcoin. Ira. You can buy and sell Bitcoin with major tax advantages. Visit bitcoin ira.com or call 8- 679-7871 now.
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Dana White
Ready to be part of it?
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Ben Ferguson
You know Eddie and I recently stopped by YEAH in Nashville. It's an incredible nonprofit empowering kids through music education. Thanks to Hyundai. We recorded a special podcast episode while we were there. How do you think learning an instrument helps kids with confidence?
- [63:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
Learning an instrument allows them to discover
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Ben Ferguson
a little bit further of who they are and be comfortable with it and
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Dana White
then share a little bit about that with others.
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Ben Ferguson
And if it's done in an environment
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Dana White
that is celebrating and championing them, then
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Senator Ted Cruz
that confidence can only go up.
- [64:14]
Ben Ferguson
The full episode is out now presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 9. To donate and learn more about yeah's mission, just visit yahrocks.org
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Dana White
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Senator Ted Cruz
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Dana White
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