Dana White
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
174.43375
Summary
Dana White: "I'm happy to be an American. I love this country. I don't care what people say, I know what I stand for" UFC has been sanctioned in New York for seven years . UFC is now number one, number two, and number three all time at Madison Square Garden .
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Backstage, Madison Square Garden, New York City, before the fights on the 30th anniversary of UFC with the man who runs it, Dana White.
00:00:22.080
So we've been in New York, funny saying that, six years ago, 2016, seven years ago, we just got sanctioned in New York.
00:00:30.000
We couldn't get into New York for a long time, and it had nothing to do with the UFC.
00:00:33.600
It was about the culinary union, if you can believe that.
00:00:37.080
The Fertittas were my partners in this back then, and the culinary union from Las Vegas was keeping us out of New York.
00:00:49.660
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.
00:00:56.520
Nobody here knew, but they ended up finding out.
00:00:58.920
Anyway, we get into New York, and tonight, as we sit here tonight, we're going to do a $12.2 million gate.
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We are number one, number two, and number three all time at Madison Square Garden in just seven years.
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So, I'm just going to ask you right off the top.
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Bud Light, you were in partnership with them, then you went to Modelo.
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Now, you're back in partnership with Bud Light.
00:01:23.340
That suggests to me that Bud Light is improving?
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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.
00:01:40.280
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.
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You should have Bud Light drums stacked up in your garage and drinking it right out of the keg.
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They are way more aligned with you than most of these other beer companies are.
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Take it from somebody who's in the know, who does business with beer companies.
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You are way more aligned with Bud Light than you are with any other beer company.
00:02:14.020
So, I'm assuming, I mean, they didn't come into partnership with you by accident.
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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.
00:02:41.880
And, you are way more aligned with Anheuser-Busch than you are with other beer companies.
00:02:50.400
Listen, people are going to say what they're going to say.
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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.
00:03:06.740
The flags in the octagon, where are you on that and why?
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The problem is, is what you don't want to have.
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So, this is the fighters bringing their national flags into the arena.
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And, I try to respect everybody's freedom of speech, freedom of choice, etc., etc.
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When you walk in, you should be proud of the country you live in.
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Everybody who lives in America should walk in with an American flag.
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Should love your country, should be proud of your country.
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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.
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They want to come in and they want to bring their flags, like Mexicans.
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Who are more proud to be Mexican than Mexicans, you know what I mean?
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They carry their flags, you know, their people support their people, the UK.
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Their people support their people like Mexicans support their people.
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And, you should be able to walk in with your country's flag.
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There's always, you know, when you deal with, you know, you know.
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When you deal with some of these woke lunatics that are out there, you know, people have problems with some people's flags.
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As long as you're from there, you get your flag.
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If you're from there, you should be able to support where you're from, 100%.
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It's the same thing that I went through with Russia.
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I'm not going to not let them compete, not let them fight because they're from Russia.
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They can come here, fight, and support their families.
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So they're not responsible for the foreign policy of the government they live under.
00:05:06.400
So you've talked up Abu Dhabi, this tiny little emirate in the Persian Gulf, for a long time.
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The infrastructure that they have built in that incredible city.
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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.
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And when COVID hit, these guys were light years ahead of everyone else when it came to COVID.
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And that's where we created Fight Island and where we ran through COVID was with them.
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And because they're so progressive and brilliant.
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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.
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Never felt safer anywhere than I felt when I'm in Abu Dhabi.
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They deal with crime the way crime should be dealt with.
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And the royal family over there are some of the most humble, brilliant, amazing human beings you could possibly meet.
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I consider them all very, very close friends of mine.
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They're not just thinking about next elections.
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But, you know, when you were 23, did you ever think we'd get to a place where you felt freer in Abu Dhabi than in other places?
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That was the last thing I was thinking about anyway.
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It's been a cool experience for me to create the relationship that I've created over there.
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These people will be my close friends until the day I die.
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And I will do business with them until the day I die.
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We just did an extension on our deal over there.
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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.
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And the other thing is I'm one of these guys that I'm a very loyal person.
00:07:37.960
And once we've done things together and you've been good to me, I will pay you back, you know, 20 times.
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So what Abu Dhabi has done for me, my business, especially through COVID, I'll never forget.
00:08:09.400
Gary Breka, my guy who I'm going to introduce you to, who's going to change your life, will be here tonight.