Club Shay Shay - Dana White Part 2

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

Round 2 with UFC President Dana White continues the no-holds-barred conversation of Part 1. Dana White, known for his candid and forthright style, dives into a range of subjects that are sure to captivate sports fans and fight enthusiasts. Dana discusses the situation with Francis Ngannou, stating he has no regrets about how things played out. He affirms that the UFC did everything possible to make the Jon Jones vs Ngannou fight happen, emphasizing that Jones isn't afraid of Ngannou and is the baddest fighter of all time. Dana believes Jones would defeat Ngannou just as he did Ciryl Gane and elaborates on Jones's status as the baddest human in fighting sports history, a potential fight with Stipe Miocic, and what makes Jones so formidable—a true "killer" with a dark side. On the financial side, Dana addresses the ongoing debate about fighter pay, asserting that fighters are earning more and that many quotes on the subject come from reporters who lack understanding of the business. He also reflects on the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather bout, highlighting issues within boxing’s economics. Discussing potential matchups like Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul, Dana insists Tyson, at 58, shouldn't be fighting. Dana doesn't hold back on Oscar De La Hoya, calling him a "two-faced lying nutjob" and stating they'll never reconcile. He talks about Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement, his vast wealth, and his continuation in the sport through Islam Makhachev. He also praises Ronda Rousey as the greatest athlete he's worked with, noting her unique impact on the sport and her subsequent transition to movies, a path few fighters successfully navigate. He recounts getting The Rock into social media and shares the success of Power Slap, an endeavor that gained massive followers quickly. Dana envisions celebrities participating and even invites Shannon to join. In a fun segment, Dana speculates on which athletes from various sports would make great UFC fighters, naming Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Shaq, and others. Dana's love for gambling comes to the fore as he talks about his nightly blackjack sessions, his venture into baccarat, and his strategy of betting as much as possible, even impacting a casino's quarterly report. He stresses that he isn't concerned about getting canceled, valuing the opinions of those closest to him. Lastly, Dana addresses a personal incident involving his wife, expressing remorse over the impact on his children more than the public nature of the event. Join Shannon Sharpe and Dana White for a riveting episode filled with honesty, insider stories, and the unfiltered insights of one of the most influential figures in sports today. Whether you're a die-hard UFC fan or simply enjoy candid conversations, this episode of Club Shay Shay is essential listening. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for coming back. Part two is underway. I have Francis Ngannou on, and he lost his son a couple of weeks ago,

so rest his RIP to Francis Ngannou's son. Do you regret how things played out with Francis? Because you talk about the heavyweight champ and the baddest man on the planet. And for some reason, I think he defended his belt once and then his contract ran out. And you guys weren't able to get something done. Are you disappointed with how that played out, Dana? No, because we did everything in our power to try to make that john jones fight and it is what it is he said that now i'm just going by what he said he said the ufc i'm assuming if

the ufc that's you said john jones was afraid of him do you believe john jones was afraid of francis not only is john jones not afraid of Francis, Jon Jones is the baddest fighter to ever live. Ever. In any combat sport. If you look at Jon Jones, he's undefeated in the UFC. Right? He's got one

loss on his record. He lost to Steve Mazzagati. Do you know who that is? I don't. He's the worst referee to ever fucking ref any fight. Oh, Big Steve, he's not in it? Steve Mazzagati. No, know who that is? I don't. He's the worst referee to ever fucking ref any fight. Oh, Big Steve, he's not in it? Steve Mazzagati. No, you're thinking of the other guy. Big John. This is Steve Mazzagati. This is a guy that should have never, ever

been a referee in combat sports, okay? It was during a period when the Athletic Commission was at its worst. And John Jones did not lose that fight. John Jones destroyed the guy that he fought in that fight and this guy fucked the fight up john jones is undefeated never lost and he went through murderer's row yeah then he goes out for three years right sits out for three years comes

back and beats zero zero gone like that easily in my opinion he does the same thing to francis And beats... Zero. Zero gone. Like that. Easily. In my opinion, he does the same thing to Francis. What? 100%. Does the same thing to Francis. John Jones... Francis didn't want to fight John Jones. John Jones is the scariest, most badass fighter of all time. John Jones has his issues.

They're documented. Which actually makes it even more impressive. Right. badass fighter of all time. Jon Jones has his issues outside of the octagon. Which actually makes it even more impressive. When you think about the lifestyle this guy was living and doing this to the best fighters in the world. Jon Jones is one of those guys that won't truly be

appreciated until he's gone. But I'm telling you right now, when you talk about who the baddest man on the planet is two guys get locked in a room who's walking out it's fucking john jones all day every time did you know when you first met him did you know he had these type of capabilities not really it was when we just started seeing him fight and how he was throwing people at such a young age. And what he was doing to guys that were looked at as, wow, this guy's, you know. And he's running through them.

For anybody to even try to say, John Jones wouldn't fight. What makes John Jones even scarier is when you put Jon Jones in front of a camera and he tries to be normal and he tries to talk to there is a dark side to Jon Jones. I mean that's just a fact. And yeah, Jon

Jones is the baddest in my opinion, the baddest human in combat sports ever. He has a fight. He tore tore he was supposed to fight and he tore it tears a peg now obviously maybe steve pay um he john says he would like to fight perera give him an opportunity to be a three division champ something that's never been done in the u.s ufc obviously i think aspinale i think that's how you say his last name dc daniel cromier says he understands jones wanting to fight perera because you know give

him an opportunity but he thinks the better fight will be with aspinale what the fight and but john says you know what steve paye did have the bill i think owe him. What's the fight do you think makes the most sense? First of all, he has to fight Stipe. That fight has to happen. You have a guy who's looked at as the greatest heavyweight ever versus the greatest fighter ever. Right. That fight has to happen. And I don't disagree with DC.

The next fight should be Aspinall. Okay. disagree with DC the next fight should be Aspinall okay and John Jones most of the people that cover this sport know nothing about the sport they're actually horrendous they don't know anything about the sport and they definitely don't know anything about the business of the sport um but if john jones beats stipe then aspinall it's just it's so he should so if he beats stipe he beats aspinall he should just retire because there's nothing else left for him to prove there's nothing for him to prove now he already moved up to heavyweight right and walked through zero gone i mean it

francis and ganyu barely made it through zero gone yeah if zero gone doesn't go for that submission right zero gone wins that fight john jones walked through him he did like he was nothing john jones has nothing to prove now. You know what I mean? I saw Jon arguing with fans on Instagram the other day. Jon Jones has nothing to argue about. Jon Jones has nothing to prove anymore. But the fact that he's still here and still wants to, you know, he's going to come out and fight Stipe,

and the fact that he could fight Aspinall, it's unbelievable. He will not truly be appreciated until he's gone. So the Pereira fight, do you think? Because Pereira, I mean, the punching power that he possessed. Pereira's amazing. I think Jon Jones walks through everybody, man. When Jon Jones gets his hands on you, you're in trouble. What makes him so unique?

Because there are a lot of guys that can grapple. There's a lot of guys that can submit you. There's a lot of guys that can stand. What makes Jon Jones so unique? Jon Jones has a great chin. Jon Jones is good anywhere the fight goes. And Jon Jones is a killer. He's a killer.

Jon Jones doesn't go in and try to squeak out yeah decisions I think that's what you love most about him you don't like guys trying to raffle he's the best and there is a dark side to Jon Jones wow look at the

when him and Cormier were in that interview and they thought that the cameras were off. Right. And they start talking to each other back and forth. And Cormier's like, you're a piece of shit. I'd spit in your face right now. And Jon Jones is like, and I'd kill you.

You know, I'd kill you, right? Like, we're not talking about fighting. I'd kill you. You know? And then Jon Jones, the stuff that's gone on in his, in his personal life, when all the nuttiness was going on during COVID and people were riding and all that shit,

John Jones was walking around the streets of his town, like smacking, uh, spray paint cans out of kids' hands and being like, get your fucking ass home. Wow. Stop fucking up my town. And John Jones,

John Jones is a big gun guy yes i see he's got the fucking the dogs that are trained to yes you know what i mean yes john jones is a bad dude do you ever worry about him in a face-off because you said he has a doubt or dark side we see it in the ring the mgm the MGM Grand Lobby? People are checking into their hotel. We're doing the weigh-ins in the lobby. Him and Cormier, Jon Jones goes after him. They get close and Cormier pushes him back and Jones goes after him.

Big fist fight, right, in the lobby of the MGM Grand. Jon Jones is the baddest dude to ever do it. Right. Dana, you guys have made some positive strides as far as pay because that seems to be a lot of the fighters that we don't get a thing and i think the last one um you gave three hundred thousand dollar bonuses instead of the fifty thousand dollar bonuses for ufc 300 for ufc 300

and um you have now to get a hundred thousand 150 000 i think if that's the case and they can come out here and train and nutrition and all that other stuff. So where do we stand on this? Obviously, they're not going to make football money. They're not going to make basketball or baseball money. But obviously, I think some of the fighters say, considering what's at stake, I think the pay should be more. Well, nobody really knows how much a lot of these guys make. And guess what? These guys don't want you to know how much they make either.

There's a narrative from people that don't like the UFC, don't like me, or whatever it might be. And these guys don't know what these guys really make. And the other thing is that the money is spread out from the top to the bottom. We have guys who would be considered journeymen in boxing who've made millions of dollars right and if you don't like the way that it's run here there's no barrier to entry start your own mixed martial arts organization and you pay the guys whatever you think you want it's been done by many many powerful rich smart businessmen and they don't succeed no i've built a business that has lasted that has changed many people's lives right and

you know if you think you can do it better than me, knock yourselves out. Most of this narrative is by scumbag reporters who have never built anything in their life. They have no idea what it's like to run a business and who have no idea what it's like for people to depend on a paycheck from them. So I could care less. I look at you guys,ana you're like the nfl you remember that usfl they tried to compete against the nfl it didn't it didn't work and we've seen other leagues try to compete compete against the nfl and the ufl says you know what we're gonna pay you comp we're gonna pay you more and it didn't work why why do you think that the organizations that come up against you and have all these genius ideas what we're going to do x y and z why do you think they fail well

we felt the same way when we bought the ufc we were like wow this is going to be great we'll be friends with all the fighters and we'll do this and do that but then once you get into it and you start to realize the reality and you're 40 million dollars in the hole and you're trying to fight to survive um you know we change people's lives every day in many different ways um and i'm very happy with what we've accomplished and what we've done and what we continue to do not just for the fighters but for our employees who work here at the ufc um we continue to grow the sport we continue to get um more people involved from other countries uh the invest and we we reinvest in the sport you know when you look at what boxing did everybody's like oh boxing boxing every fucking event that they put on it's a going out

of business sale let's grab as much money as we can from everybody. We don't care if the event is good. We don't care if the people at home enjoy what they saw. They don't care if the people who came and bought tickets liked it. We just want to grab as much money as we can. They never reinvested in a sport. Tell me a sport or any business ever in the history of the world that has probably made trillions of dollars in revenue.

And at the end of the day, there's nothing there. Right. That's boxing. We built a brand that fans believe in and trust. They know when they buy tickets for a pay-per-view, they're going to get what they paid for. And everybody is taken care of from the top to the bottom. Professional sports isn't a job. It's an opportunity, right?

You were given an opportunity. You were good enough to get an opportunity where you could go out in a very short period of time and make as much money as you could possibly make. And it gave you a platform to be here today having this conversation. That is what professional sports is all about. And that is what we provide for lots of different people who are great like

Conor McGregor and people that you'll never know their name. You wouldn't even know who the hell they are if you saw them in the street. That's what we do. Quick math. The less your business spends on operations, multiple systems and delivering your product or service, the more margin you have and the more money you keep but with higher expenses on materials employees distribution and borrowing everything's cost more so to reduce the

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bought Floyd Mayweather, and we've seen some of the guys i mean connor did it first box floyd mayweather and we've seen some of the other fighters uh o'malley i think he wants to he wants to go into boxing where are you on that because i you know look it was great because connor and floyd is big time you got big personality you got floyd arguably one of the greatest fighter uh ever and so you got great where are you on that now dana are you i don't know if you see people that are like oh i want to go into boxing i think that boxing calls out a lot of our guys yes because they know that's where the money is right um we we built the right model a sustainable model and a model that works for everybody and changes everybody's lives if your opinion is you

know again i think these guys well how much how much money what's the number because most of the time most of these guys in in boxing i'll say well i want 40 million for that well how does that fucking make sense boxing got so fucked up that nobody could actually make a living out of it and people couldn't right that saudi arabia had to take it over right a group of people that have so much money they don't care whether they make or lose money that's how fucked up boxing got that that's where that had to go wow right that's why this guy is is making all these fights that he's making right now like Like, Tyson Fury versus Yusuk, that's a fight that should have happened. It took Turkey to make that fight.

Right. Because they have unlimited funds, and whether they make money or don't... They don't care. They don't care. I just saw that because of piracy, that fight lost like $100 million or something like that,

or $20 to $100 million. I don't know what the number was, but that's what you need for boxing. Wow yeah i do give a shit whether i lose money or not absolutely you're not a non-profit we built a sustainable business right that can continue to go on and continue to give opportunities right to lots of different people from all over the world mike tyson jake paul i've seen you go back and forth with Jake Paul before. He's beat a couple. You're retired or a guy that no longer fighting the UFC.

What's your take on Jake? Yeah, listen. The kid's out there, and he's doing his thing, and he's making money. You making real money, Dana, or are you making money? I don't know. That I don't know. I don't know what he's really making. you making i don't know that that i don't know i don't know what he's really making um i believe that he was he was making the money he says he's making

showtime boxing wouldn't have gone out of business and and showtime would have made sure they kept paying him right um but he's doing it you know what do i think of the mike tyson fight yes tyson's 58 years old. You know what I mean? Jake fought a guy who was his age and was also considered a boxer, and he lost. So if you can keep fighting fucking 50-something-year-olds... You don't think Tyson has a chance? ...and making a living at it. I think that Mike Tyson has a puncher's chance against anybody.

Mike's 58 years old. You know what I mean? I hate doing this because Mike gets mad at me every time I do this, but Mike shouldn't be fighting. I mean, because you look at Jake Paul. He fought Tyron Woodley, slept him. Anderson Silva, I think he fought Nate. I mean, if he wants to do boxing,

why not fight guys that actually box for a living? 100%. Fight guys that box for a living? 100%. Fight guys that box for a living and guys that are your age. How about that? He says he wants to fight Canelo. I'm just saying. Then why is he not fighting Canelo? Canelo, I don't think Canelo wants to waste his time.

Yeah. I mean, it'd be a fucking 30-second payday for Canelo. I don't know why Canelo wouldn't do it, you know? But they probably... Canelo can fight real guys and get his credibility intact and still make that kind of money. You know what I mean? Jake needs these guys.

Jake needs Tyson and needs all these other people because everybody's going to tune in to hope that Mike Tyson knocks him out. Right. They're not tuning in because they think Jake Paul's a great fighter and they want to see him compete. I know you know this guy. I think it reminds me a lot of Butterbean. When Butterbean was fighting guys that had no chance of beating,

everybody loved him. Yeah. But once he got beat, the novelty kind of wore off. Yeah. And I think that's what would happen with Jake. It he were to happen he got beat and and the novelty did wear off that's why he has to get a guy like tyson and to try to get some grain some credibility back when he fought somebody that was actually his age and was actually a boxer and was actually his size he lost i mean it is what it is I'm not trying to shit on the kid.

I mean, I don't care what he's doing, but, I mean, come on, man. To be fighting Mike Tyson and, you know. Another guy you've had some verbal spats with that's been very publicized is Oscar De La Hoya. And I think it goes back to, I think he said you blocked a fight with he and George St. Pierre. Is that where it started from? Talk about Jake Paul. Like, me and Jake Paul have had whatever. You know, Jake Paul's a kid that's out doing his thing.

He's trying to make some money, whatever his deal is. Oscar De La Hoya is a fucking, is a two-faced, lying, fucking nut job. You know, and yeah, me and Oscar are never going to be cool. Yeah. You're never going to be cool again. Never, never, ever. But were you cool? Anybody who's ever dealt with Oscar de la Hoya.

I don't, I don't know if that guy literally has any fucking buddy. Who's his real friend. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes.

We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away?

Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Were you guys ever cool at any point in time? We were cool.

I mean, obviously, for all the things I think about De La Hoya personally, you know, as a fighter, Oscar was a bad guy. He was. You know what I mean? And Oscar was the real deal. But as a human being, completely different. He and I, I would go to his fights i used to promote his fights on my social i'm watching the fight or whatever then i go to do mayweather versus mcgregor and he starts shitting on the fight yet saying i would fight mcgregor though so yeah he's just i mean if you look at the history

between me and him you know I'm gonna get into MMA pay these guys what they deserve to be paid no he didn't and you know the guys that were involved in that fight all got fucked he didn't pay them more than they ever made in their careers

he didn't even know half the guys fucking names on the card. And the list goes on and on with that guy. Khabib, he retired. Do you think there's ever a chance that Khabib would come back and fight? Is there a number that you can say, Khabib, we got 20 million, we got 25 million? I threw the numbers at him, trust me. Khabib has more money than he'll ever spend.

He doesn't need to fight again. And i think that he sort of lost the desire his father passed away and and i think it was a father-son thing yeah that he had with his dad and also he's such a good human being that he is truly happy um for islam right and what islam is and and he is fulfilled enough that that was his dad's dream that habib would reign then income would come islam and and it's all playing out exactly the way they planned it i think habib's in a good place in his life ronda rousey yep greatest athlete i've ever worked with wow what. What did she mean for the UFC? She was huge. At the right time and the right place.

And women's fighting is where it is today because of her. And she was one of those athletes like anything, anywhere, anytime. She was a workhorse. Great human being. Brilliant. Yeah. The greatest athlete I've ever worked with. Were you sad when she stepped away?

I was sad that I wouldn't work with her on a daily basis like we did, but I felt like the timing was right. She had done everything she set out to do, not just for her and her career, but what she did for women in fighting in general. Right. And you see Amanda Nunes come in, and I watched that fight,

and I'm looking at the capabilities that Amanda had versus what Ronda... Well, what happened with Ronda was Ronda was very unique in that she came in and put this thing on the world stage this thing being women fighting women fighting yeah she put it on the world stage right at a level that nobody else could have ever done it and while she was doing what she was doing building the sport and the ufc and women all these other women were training to beat her you know what i mean yes she had taken

so much on her shoulders at the time it was literally impossible for her to keep growing as as a fighter during that period right so now we see ufc fighters becoming movie stars we see ronda rousey we've mentioned to her conor mcgreg. He was in his own movie. Ronda's been in several movies. Are you pleased? Do you like that your fighters, UFC, that they're becoming so big that they're able to brand out and even grow the UFC even more? Well, you have Connors and Rondas that are very unique. It's hard to take those two and compare them to all the rest. We already talked about Conor, but if you look at Ronda, she came in and blew the UFC up for women,

opened the doors for all women to come in. She's written books that have been New York Times bestsellers. She's written, she just wrote a screenplay for her own story. She went into the WWE and became a star. Sponsorship deals she's done. There's things Ronda's done that will never be done again um

so you're looking at very unique very very unique situations everybody's not gonna but you know dana you know everybody comes with the aspirations of being if they're female being ronda rousey or being conor mcgregor as you should um and what happened with nunez another i love amanda nunez we have an incredible relationship is she coming back huh is she coming back she could come back there's a possibility she could come back um but again a very unique individual in her own right you know uh very powerful woman that is looked at as the goat now yes female fighting um you know married to another female fighter so very inspirational and and big in the gay and lesbian community um you know now a mother uh you know she blazed her own trail

in ufc like everybody's journey is different not not the same, you know, as an athlete and as a human. I read that you were the one that really got rocked into social media. What's your relationship with The Rock? I have a great relationship with him. You know, we probably talk a couple times a month. And yeah, at the time, he wasn't on social media. And I was like, are you nuts?

Do you have any idea how big you would be on social media? And I actually, the people that ran my social media, I put on his to get him up and started and kind of get him going. And obviously, you know, the guy's a trailblazer now in social media and one of the biggest followed humans on earth. And he loves UFC loves ufc because he's doing a doc is he doing a doc like mark kerr no he's doing he's doing a film film yeah a film based on the smashing machine right uh do you have any do you i mean did you have any influence on that did you like i wouldn't say that i influenced it that was all him but i've obviously helped behind the scenes. Right.

Yeah. Power slap. Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. I mean, I mean, there are very few times that there are two slaps. It's normally just one slap, Dana. Oh, no, no. It's like 50-50.

Yeah. Go to decisions or knockouts. Yeah. There's way more-50. Yeah, go to decisions or knockouts. Yeah, there's way more back and forth than people realize because all you see on social is the viral side of it. But this thing is a beast. It's the most successful thing that I have ever been a part of in my career in such a short amount of time. In 16 months, this thing's only 16 months old we have more more uh followers than like the nhl uh pga uh nascar and many many others and we're about to take over major league baseball too here pretty soon on all social platforms and billions billions of views in just 16 months.

The EBITDA on this thing is off the charts. The revenue is unbelievable. And we have more sponsors in 16 months than the UFC had in eight years. How do you train for power slam? So what's starting to happen now? This is the same. These are all the same questions people ask me about UFC in the old days. Oh, my God, this is garbage. You jump on top of another guy you can do this you can do that it's human cockfighting now this because as soon as money gets involved right and you can actually

start to make a living doing this right people start taking it serious and people start so when when athletes come in to slap we put them through the performance institute and they go through go through the same type of training we we uh measure them for force velocity speed you know and people are actually starting to train and take this thing serious because there's real money involved now i mean i'm just i mean and this thing was global overnight this thing started in russia right and poland right that's where i started to see this stuff coming from and uh you know we pull massive numbers in places like southeast asia um india brazil there's already two knockoff leagues in brazil um and you know you're starting to see

these smaller leagues popping up all over the world now so when you first saw it you like so when you first saw power slap what was the first thing that went through dana white's mind this is crazy what the hell is this exactly and i was fascinated and i started to watch and i started to dig deeper and take a deeper dive into it and i was looking at some of these numbers that were coming out of russia and poland 350 million views on on youtube and stuff like that and our youtube channel is massive now right and you want to realize something so i started putting this thing on ufc's youtube yeah number one two three and four all-time video views or power slap on on ufc's youtube when you think about conor

mcgregor habib you think about brock lesnar ronda rousey some of the big stars that we've had and some of the big moments. So, the second biggest thing on my social media ever now is Max Holloway knocking out Justin Gaethje. Number one is PowerSlam. When he called him into power. I am a massive number one. Right.

What about celebrities participating in PowerSlam? It will eventually happen. Hell nah! It'll eventually happen. Who the hell wanted it? Shannon, I'm going to have you pretty soon. I don't. Hell no. I don't want to be in no UFC.

I don't want to get choked. I don't want to get kicked. At least in boxing, Dana. I ain't got to worry about but two D's right here. In UFC, you got to worry about kick. But that Slap, man. I know. I know. And they got your hand behind your back.

And they already know what's going to happen because they got two people to catch you. Because they know you're about to go down. These guys are so tough, man. So tough. And the balls it takes to go out there and perform on the world stage and do this. When you know it's going to be the biggest thing virally on earth. Nah. Well, i tell you what i hate to be the first i hate the the first athlete because he go he's gonna be the biggest that's gonna be the most biggest viral moment because when you get an athlete that does that

a professional next professional athlete this thing's been around for 16 months and we have six billion views over six billion views yeah. Think about that the first athlete to get slapped He go to do a video by the world eight billion people in the world. We have six billion views in 16 months Wow I mean when you really wrap your head around how big power slap is and the numbers that it pulls It's absolutely fascinating and I love it because it's another one of those things that people said This won't work. Give me three football players and three basketball players that you believe would be great MMA fighters. You got to start with the two goats, first of all.

Brady. Man, you don't dare wear Brady. Ain't going to be no MMA fighter. I'm just telling you, if you think about the mindset that it takes to be great, that's number one. it starts with the mindset okay you gotta go with brady and you gotta go with jordan okay so let's get those two out of the way jordan is a killer okay i've spoke about michael jordan many times never met him don't know him yeah don't want to meet him i like him too much i respect him too much i love his killer instinct yes don't want to meet him respect him too much. I love his killer instinct. Yes. Don't want to meet him. Respect him to death. So take those two. Then, now let's get into the next four, which is going to be tougher.

When you talk about big, explosive power. So, Mercedes Lewis, he's a huge UFC fan. Yes. Obviously, an unbelievable athlete and whatever. Has the mindset, been in the game forever. I'm going to go with him, too. Yes. Obviously an unbelievable athlete and whatever. Has the mindset, been in the game forever. I'm going to go with him too. Okay. Just because he's such a huge fan of the sport. Okay. And gets it and you know, you'd look

at all his attributes as far as a physical. Basketball. Basketball these days is tough because they ain't as tough as they used to be. I guess you'd have to go with Lambeer, right? Let's go with Lambeer. Take World Metapiece. I'll take him, too.

No, you probably want to take Charles Oakley. Yeah, Oakley's another good one. You're right. Oakley, Big Baby, Shaq. Man, Shaq too big. Too big?

Yeah, because you got Shaq 7'1", probably 350 now. Imagine Shaq on top of you. Shaq in his heyday. We're not talking about Shaq today, are we? 320, well, he's 325. I mean, you got a limit. Shaq in his heyday. When you see Shaq back in the day.

Oh, yeah, Shaq used to bitch over 400 pounds. You know, the speed, the agility, the power. But you got a limit. You can only be 265. Yeah. Shaq was be 265. Yeah. Shaq was 265 in high school. Now I got to pick weight classes? Holy shit.

I mean, no. Yeah. I'm just talking about guys that could go in and kick your ass. Shaq would definitely be one of them. Yeah. And then when you go back to football, too, and I think about some of these. I mean, there's so many probably, you know, big, talented, physical athletes. Yeah. You'd have to look at Gron football, too. And I think about some of these. I mean, there's so many probably big, talented, physical athletes. You'd have to look at Gronk, too.

You'd have to look at Peyton, right? Walter Peyton. It's definitely a mindset. 100%. That's why I started with the guys that had the mindset first. Jordan and Brady both have the winning, whatever it takes to win, the mindset. Jordan, to me, is the, I mean, in any sport, when you look at the way Jordan was, and when you look at some of the clips on how physical it got with him,

and, you know, he didn't care. No, no, he didn't. He was sick, had 104 degree temperature, whatever it was. Everything about Jordan equals winter. But he's like that in every aspect of his life. And that's what I hear from people that know him. He can't do anything for fun. Right.

It's got to be a competition. And it's got to be something involved. Normally a large sum of money. Or he has to be pissed at you. Oh, yeah. He has to be pissed at you and not he has to be pissed at you and not like he has to create conflict yeah for him to have to want to go well if you beat him at something he's pissed at you right now he's going to double the stakes you know and i don't know if this is a

fair comparison but a lot of people compare you and not in this aspect because we know what transpired off the thing is that you and vince have a lot of similarities with the way you conduct your business. As far as him running the WWE, he's no longer in charge there. And you running the UFC. How did you learn how to run a business not ever being in business? I did. I did run businesses myself, but not at this level. Right.

Not at this, you know, the type of finances. Is it the same thing can you can you run a business a lower level business and then take the same mindset and run a bit of a multi-billion dollar business i think you can um i think you can but i was just very fortunate in that um two things that i've done i always learned learned from other people, you know, the ability to learn and see things and learn from certain people. But I've also, I'd say my biggest talent is building a team. Nobody does anything by themselves. You build a team around you that you can count on so i've built a team of people that when i say this is what i want i have the right people who can implement what i want

and get shit done um that i don't have to tell somebody something twice that's that you can't have those type of people around you if i gotta tell you something fucking twice it doesn't work here and the other thing is i've also had the ability to um when i say i want this fucking done i want it done now if i call you at two in the morning i expect you to answer the phone if you work for me and all this other stuff yet i also want my people to not miss their kids practice not miss their kids play not miss their kids practice, not miss their kids play, not miss their kids. You know, a lot of the things that happen in life while you're building a business. So it's a very it's a very fine line.

Yeah, it's true. But when I tell people and people tell my shadow, you're crazy. I say you have to have people as equally obsessed as you are in order for this thing to work people have to be bought in on the vision especially in the early days yes it's easy to get people on board for the vision now yes but for me to hire craig borsari my head of production away from fox for me to hire some of my guys that are here legally from big law firms and you know greatest pr person in all of fucking business over there yes to keep her from going to somewhere else right um the talented production people that i have here the talented sales people that i have here

that work in sponsorship all those jobs were in new York and LA. They're not in Vegas, right? You have to have people bought in on your vision and like you said, be obsessed and love this as much as I do. Obviously, NBA, NFL, Roger Goodell, Adam Silver. Have you ever spoken to those guys do you take any notes from how they conduct their league and what you can learn or did you take anything from or they're so different um and i wouldn't put this on those guys it was their their predecessors the guys before them i would look at the things like them reading canned statements from lawyers that I always hated. Them being too corporate, I always hated.

So I did learn a lot about the guys before them. And people will always try to ask me, oh, Roger Goodell doesn't do this, that, and everything. You could run the NFL. I wouldn't want the NFL. Because you got 32 bosses. You're the boss. I wouldn't want the nfl yeah because you got 32 bosses you're the boss touch the nfl okay and credit to him for what he did say whatever you want about goodell and silver and all these guys those leagues continue to go like this they continue to make money they continue to thrive they continue to do well um i i don't i

don't point the fingers uh anything they do and i don't look to them for guidance or advice at all. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week,

but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away?

Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast you're a very generous man though well thank you you're very generous to your workers to people that believe in that believe in you and that see your vision like you said I call I expect

you to answer the phone because I'm I'm compensating you handsomely I expect that but you're where did that generosity come from well it's not even that that I'm compensating you itomely. I expect that. But where did that generosity come from? Well, it's not even that I'm compensating you. It's this is a very unique business and that this isn't a nine to five. This isn't a, you know, this is a- Y'all hear that? It's true though.

This is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week, 365. Mad fucking mad house, I guess I would call it. And the hard part about this job is it's like Groundhog Day, right? Every Monday is fight week. And we, you know, you get into this hamster wheel. So to keep it fun and to keep it different and to keep growing and to keep going to different levels, you need, I need people that work here that are accessible and creative and can do things on the fly and can turn things around in a minute. Fighters fall out all the time. We've got to rip all the billboards down. We've got to change all the marketing. We've got to sell a new fight. We've got to do this.

You need people that are ready to go. But also, I understand how hard these people work and the sacrifices they make. And I try to reward them in many other ways other than compensation. We do lots of fun things around here. We throw killer parties out in this backyard. We do concerts over in the arena that we have next door. And I try to do fun things and involve their families in it.

I want the people who work here, want their kids and and their significant others to be a part to like the ufc and be a part exactly you know i hear stories where these big corporate companies will throw parties and they don't even have a plus one it's just the people who work there having parties with the people who work there. Right. No, that's not what we do here. Do the employees, when they're coming on, do they understand what's going to be asked of them and then what's demanded from them? Do you explain that to them? Or are they given a great explanation? Do you understand what you're about to embark upon?

I think they do. Yeah. And I think it's at a level now where people realize, you know, we have an intern program here, too. Okay. And in my opinion, we have the best intern program in all of sports. Kids come here and actually do stuff. They actually learn and are hands-on with real business that's happening in the UFC. And every time the interns come, they meet with me.

Right. And then when they come, they meet with me. Right. And then when they leave, they meet with me. And we've hired many interns. Wow. Yeah, many interns work here. My right-hand guy, who is my right-hand guy,

started here as an intern. Wow. Yeah. He is in the day-to-day shit with me all day, every day, professionally and personally. He was an intern here at this company. You live in Vegas.

We know the strips are just right up the street. You like to partake in gambling. I do. I've heard the story that you've won a couple of million dollars and they've asked you not to come back and partake anymore yeah that's happened a few times actually what's your game well blackjack i've been playing pretty much my whole life i just started to get into baccarat now okay and uh money really changed hand in baccarat i love it it's been it's been fun i've been playing for like two and a half three months and uh yeah i I gamble almost every night. Every night?

Almost every night. I can't say every night, but... But hold on. How do you live in Vegas? How do you live in Vegas and you stay at the casinos? I told you that I love adversity. I love conflict. I love...

If I don't have it, I create it. So yeah, gambling is one of my favorite hobbies. I love to do it. I should probably take up fucking bowling or bird watching or something. It's not only do I love everything about gambling, I love everything about

this city. This city, first of all, I love America. I love this country. And one of the things that I love about this country is that it is truly the land of opportunity. Right? You and I are both proof of that. Right? Doesn't matter where you come from or how you were raised or anything else.

If you have the right mindset and you go after something, it can happen in this country. Yes. I look at Vegas as like a little America. Vegas is exactly like America. When you come to this city and you have the right idea and you're willing to work hard enough, anything is possible in this city. And there's nowhere else in the world that you can go out with 200 bucks, have a great dinner, go out and party all night, have a blast, see some shows, do this and that, and come home with a thousand dollars. There's no other place in the world that

you can do that. This city, you can do that. that but on the flip side this is also one of those cities that if you don't have the right mindset can chew you up and spit you out in two seconds right i can't tell if this city was built for me or if i was built for this city but i love it and i couldn't imagine living anywhere else when you play blackjack are you playing single hand or you have the table to yourself or you at the table with buddies? I have a table to myself and I play double deck. You play double deck. Yeah.

And my strategy is this. I want to bet as much as I possibly can in one hand. Let me bet as much as I can. My goal before I die is to bet a million dollar hand. Well, you got a million dollars. Hold on. I don't know if they still lie that. We used to be Binions down on Fremont, right?

How do you know this? You are absolutely right. It's one of the greatest stories that's never been told. Yeah. There should be a movie about Benny Binion. Yeah. Okay? I met his grandson.

I was cool with his grandson. Okay. Well, his philosophy, he was an old school, Vegas gangster type dude. Okay? You didn't fuck around in the horseshoe. You didn't go in there and cheat. You didn't do any of that kind of stuff. And guys would walk in and say, what's the limit?

And he would say, your first bet is your limit. How gangster is that? Yes. Whatever you could pay, whatever you put down, he'd cover it. Whatever your first bet is, that's your limit. So if you wanted a million dollar limit, your first bet is that's your limit so if you wanted a million dollar limit your first bet was a million none of this five dollar five dollar five dollar a million right i love that i mean do you know the story about arnie that came in there and he almost bankrupt bill uh opinions i do i do there's so many great stories out of opinions back in the day i used to

go take the pictures and they had all the thousand1,000 bills. A million dollars. Yeah. Yeah, it was a million dollars. Yeah. How do you have this? I used to have, I'm not going to lie, I used to have the stomach to be able to go and I play,

I wouldn't play like you play and I play, you know, maybe a $5,000 here, maybe a $10,000 hand there, but I don't have the stomach anymore because you can't look at that. When you're playing,

you can't look at that as money. Right. Because you got to just look at that when you're playing you can't look at that as money right because you got to just look at that like this is a glass hole it's it's not a denomination at that point in time and that's what i was always fascinated in when i was younger i would go watch these guys play high stakes blackjack and i would equate every bet to what you could buy with it you know that's a car that's a home yeah yeah and i've always been fascinated with it. That's a car. That's a house. And I've always been fascinated with it.

And now I'm one of those guys. But like I told you earlier, when we started talking, I have a crazy high tolerance for risk. Clearly. I love risk. Do you give yourself a limit? It says, okay, I'm going to here.

I'm going to play whatever the case may be, a million dollars. lose a million dollars i'm out if i win a million dollars i'm out yes so my strategy is always this let me bet as much as i possibly can right let's say it's a three hundred thousand dollar hand right you win two or three hands and you leave. They let you do that? Yeah. Yeah. You don't stay there and play for hours. And what a lot of these casinos try to do, and this is the reason that I'm not allowed to play in some of these. So I beat the Palms twice for $1.6 million. I got kicked out both times. I literally have the heavyweight championship belt they gave me in there. I was 16 and 0, $1.6 million, and they asked me to leave um it's i was 16 and 0 1.6 million and they asked me to leave twice and the way that they ask you to leave is they drop your limits so that you

can't bet that much right so they did it the mirage did it to me um the win they're the worst go to eat at the win eat at the win and hang out they'll get the greatest restaurants but gambling at the win they're the biggest pussies on the strip, in my opinion, for what a big casino they are. But Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, and the Venetian. Those are the three real casinos in town that you can play big in. And they don't sweat you. They don't act weird when you win or any of that stuff but yeah i don't oh so what i was saying is what most of the casinos do they fly you in they put you up

in a hotel right and then they make you play for a certain amount of hours yeah fuck that i'll go in and buy my own room i'll pay for my own dinner right and i'll walk out when i want to it's me versus you right right i'm one little guy you're a big casino company me versus you one-on-one and i'll play one two or five hands if i want to so you do realize that you could potentially mess up their quarterly report it just happened yes i do realize that and it just happened and you love that too i love it when're off camera, I'll show you the quote during their earnings call that this just happened.

Wow. In the month of April. I fucked up their entire quarter. Do you ever worry about getting canceled, Dana? What does that mean, actually? Canceled. Canceled by who?

You know what I mean? Canceled by who you know what i mean yeah by who i obviously have in the ufc and in life you have a fan base yes people that believe in you that love you regardless and do whatever it is that you know that are in with you um outside of those people and my circle that i give a shit about i I could care less. I could care less. And I've seen people talk about, oh, well, he has fuck you money and all that other stuff. I equate it to being gay. Okay? Think about this. In life.

Back in the 80s, if you came out and said you were gay, it could destroy your career. It could destroy. Imagine living a life where you can't be who you really are. Correct. It's got to be a horrible thing, right? Fuck that. I am who I am. If you like it or you don't like it, I don't give a fuck.

Right. That's your problem, not mine. So you're going to have people who do like you and don't like you this whole trying to cancel people thing even the thing when when i did the the uh the roast no the interview with with uh theo vaughn okay and the guy from peloton i don't know if you saw this but the guy who was running peloton was sponsoring his show he just stepped down from peloton, actually, within the last month. And Theo Vaughn had Kennedy on his podcast, right? Yeah, right. They called and said, you need to take that episode down.

What? He's a fucking Kennedy. Right. And he's a Democrat. Right. And he's an American citizen. Right. And he has the right to say and fucking think whatever he thinks.

Right. You sell stationary fucking bikes for a living. And you think because you spend money with Theo Vaughn, you have the right to tell him to take another fucking American down off his platform? Who the fuck do you think you are, you arrogant fucking piece of shit? Now, I'm not trying to cancel Peloton or tell people, but I ripped the pelotons out of my fucking gym here at ufc did you rip them out of the gym that day you know what i mean um i can't stand that stuff that stuff makes me crazy you don't like you don't like corporations or companies that bully people and dictate what someone can say or what they can show say show talk about promote vote for any of that stuff man it's like i uh you know i i was very liberal when i was

younger right i lean more conservatively now because i'm i'm all in for common sense right i want common sense but i don't judge anybody by their politics. I don't discriminate against people. You know who I discriminate against? Douchebags. If you're a douchebag, I probably don't like you. But other than that, all this political bullshit and trying to cancel people, I'm not in, man. Not in. Could you see yourself being a part owner of another professional, like an NFL team or an NBA team? Not really. I couldn't see myself in that sort of corporate structure. What me and the Fertittas like to do, we take sports, niche sports, that nobody thinks will work,

and we build them into billion-dollar businesses. That's what we do. Is it true that you moved the birth date of your child for a Chuck Liddell fight? I did, yeah. So my son was supposed to be born. You know, they give you the due date when you think it's going to happen,

and it was a big Chuck Liddell fight. And I'm like, yeah, that's not going to work for me.'re gonna have to we're gonna have to we're gonna have to go in and pull him out a little early when people they saw the incident and you and your wife what happened with you and your wife how were you able to get past that dana because that had to be the toughest time that you had ever gone through in your life. It wasn't. COVID was. Really? Yeah, COVID was way tougher than that.

But the thing was, it wasn't about getting through it publicly. Yes. It was about getting through it personally. Okay. With my kids. Me and my wife. Me and my wife were fine. Okay.

Me and my wife had whatever. We, you know, know my kids the kids had never seen that before it was on the world stage we embarrassed them you know and and and no kids want to see that no with your parents everybody else can go fuck themselves okay it had nothing to do with them right it was about my family right that's what's important. The people who know me and know her, they know us and we're fine. It was my kids. That was something personal between me and my family. So, listen, people are going to have their... People still talk about it and people... I would have an opinion too. I would have an opinion too I would have an opinion seeing that You know what I mean

If that happened there On New Year's Eve Basically on stage at a club in Mexico That probably isn't the first rodeo You know what I mean I would say the same thing But I know exactly who I am My kids know who I am

My circle of people that I give a shit about Know who I am And that's what mattered to me My kids know who I am. My circle of people that I give a shit about know who I am. And that's what mattered to me. He's Dana White, not Joe Rogan. Thank you, Dana. Appreciate you, bro. Thank you.

All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got to roll the dice. That's why all my life, I've been grinding all's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Look, all my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle pay the price.

Want to slice. Got to roll the dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone,

so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.