The Tucker Carlson Show - Dana White

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Backstage at Madison Square Garden in New York City with UFC CEO Dana White. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Backstage, Madison Square Garden, New York City, before the fights on the 30th anniversary of UFC with the man who runs it, Dana White. Happy anniversary. Thank you. 30 years? Yep, 30 years. How many years in New York? So we've been in New York, funny you say that, six years ago, 2016, seven years ago, we just got sanctioned in New York. We couldn't get into New York for a long time.

And it had nothing to do with the UFC. It was about the culinary union, if you can believe that. I can believe it. Yeah. The Fertittas were my partners in this back then. And the culinary union from Las Vegas was keeping us out of New York. Remember that criminal, Sheldon Silver? Very well. Sheldon Silver? Yeah, yeah. He was blocking us from coming to New York. And apparently, I was the only guy in the world that knew this guy was a crook and

a criminal. Nobody here knew, but they ended up finding out. Anyway, we get into New York. And tonight, as we sit here tonight, we're going to do a 12.2 million dollar gate we are number one number two and number three all time at Madison Square Garden in just seven years that's unbelievable it's awesome so I'm just asking right off the top Bud Light you were in partnership with them then you went to Modelo now you're back in partnership with Bud Light. That suggests to me that Bud Light is improving? Yeah, listen, Bud Light, you know, I'm getting to this point in my life and in my career where I want to be with people and sponsors that I am aligned with, which makes sense in this crazy world that we live in these days.

And let me tell you what, if you consider yourself a patriot, right? You're a patriot. You should be drinking gallons of Bud Light. Believe me when I tell you. Wait, wait, wait. I should be boycotting Bud Light. Gallons of Bud Light. You should have Bud Light drums stacked up in your garage and drinking it right out of the keg. They are way more aligned with you than most of these other beer companies are. That I guarantee you. Take it from somebody who's in the know, who does business with beer companies. You are way more aligned with Bud Light than you are with any other beer company.

I mean, they didn't come into partnership with you by accident. No. Obviously. We had multiple bidders on the table. Did they seek you out? We had multiple bidders on the table. They were one of them. And as I, you know,

history has shown me with relationships that I've had with other beer companies, I, who lean more this way, I, who consider myself a patriot, I don't go crazy over the whole patriot thing, but I consider myself a proud American. I'm happy to be an American. I love this country. And you are way more aligned with Anheuser-Busch than you are with other beer companies. That I guarantee you. Have you taken any crap for it? Listen, people are going to say what they're going to say. I don't ever, I don't care what people, I know who I am. I know what I stand for. I know what I believe in. And the people who are close to me know, and I'm on the right side of this believe me when I tell you interesting the flags in the octagon where are you on that and why I'm back I

mean we brought him back the problem is is what you don't want to have the fighters bringing their national flags into the arena we're a global business yeah okay and I try to respect everybody's freedom of speech, freedom of choice, etc., etc. When you walk in, you should be proud of the country you live in. Everybody who lives in America should walk in with an American flag. Yeah. Should love your country, should be proud of your country. The sad part is most of these people from other countries

are the people who are most proud of where they're from and not us here. So it became an issue with some of the guys they want to come in and they want to bring their flags like mexicans who are more proud to be mexican than mexicans you know what i mean they carry their flags they you know their people support their people the uk their people support their people like mexicans support their people and uh you should be able to walk in with with with your country's flag so i brought it back were you under pressure not to allow it? There's always, you know, when you deal with, you know, you know,

when you deal with some of these woke lunatics that are out there, you know, people have problems with some people's flags. And I don't, so. You don't care? I don't care. Doesn't matter what the flag is i don't care as long as you're from there you get your flag if you're from there you should be able to support where you're from 100 what's wrong with that no matter what other people's feelings are

the same thing that i went through with russia we have lots of russians who fight here yeah we're not they fight well too they they They are a part of this company. You know, we have signed them. I'm not going to not let them compete, not let them fight because they're from Russia. Of course they can compete. Absolutely. They can come here, fight and support their families. Yeah.

Yeah. So they're not responsible for the foreign policy of the government they live under. Well said. Yeah. And we're not either. Exactly. Well said. Yeah. And we're not either. Exactly. Thank God. So you've talked up Abu Dhabi, this tiny little emirate in the Persian Gulf for a long time.

What, why Abu Dhabi? I love everything about it. These guys are forward thinkers, open-minded. The infrastructure that they have built in in that incredible city and i tell people all the time if you have never been to a fight in abu dhabi you have to come experience this place and when covet hit these guys were light years ahead of everyone else when it came to covet testing the whole thing and that's where we created fight island and where we ran through covid uh was with. And because they're so progressive and brilliant, they're brilliant. You're calling theocracy progressive. It's a monarchy, right?

Very progressive. You don't feel that way when you go there. It's not, what's funny is because of the things that we hear about the Middle East here in America and have our whole lives, people are afraid to go there. People are scared. Never felt safer anywhere than I felt when I'm in Abu Dhabi. They don't have a crime problem in Abu Dhabi? No, they do not have a crime problem. They don't have a crime problem.

They deal with crime the way crime should be dealt with. Yeah. Crime isn't a problem over there. Swift and certain and and the royal family over there are some of the most humble brilliant amazing human beings you could possibly meet i love those people i consider them all uh very very close friends of mine i agree i agree with that for the record um they are humble and they're forward thinking. They're not just thinking about next elections. 100 percent. Incredible. But, you know, when you were 23, did you ever think we get to a place where you felt freer in Abu Dhabi than in other places? No. Well, I was 23. That was the last thing I was thinking about anyway. But yeah, no, it's it's it's been a cool experience for me to create the relationship that I've created over there.

And I value it very much. These people will be my close friends until the day I die. And I will do business with them until the day I die. We just did an extension on our deal over there. We might as well have done the extension for the next 40 years because I'm never not going to do business with Abu Dhabi ever. You know, I'm one of these guys to you when you Oh, it's definitely the future. And the other thing is, I'm one of these guys that I'm a very loyal

person. And once we've done things together, and you've been good to me, I will I will pay you back, you know, 20 times. So what Abu Dhabi has done for me, my business, especially through COVID, I'll never forget, and I will be with them until the day I die. Who's coming tonight? We got President Trump will be here tonight. We have you're coming. You're sticking around for the fight tonight. Bongino will be here tonight. We have, you're coming. You're sticking around for the fight tonight. Bongino will be here tonight.

Gary Brekka, my guy who I'm going to introduce you to, who's going to change your life, will be here tonight. We have Jared Leto will be here tonight. Kid Rock is coming tonight. And many, many more. Dana White, congratulations on 30 years. Thanks. It's great to see you.

Thanks for coming. Thank you. I'm psyched. Me too. Thank you.