Dana White, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO and president, has made no effort to hide his decades-long friendship with former President Donald Trump. The two are regularly seen together—with Sunday’s UFC 295 in New York being the latest example. The crowd erupted when Trump entered with White, Tucker Carlson and Kid Rock. White explained last year how their friendship began when White bought the company and had a hard time getting it off the ground due to the “bad stigma attached” to it. Trump saw its potential, however, and helped him get started at an event at the Trump Taj Majal.
“Everything that ever happened to me in my career, after that day, the first guy to reach out [and] say congratulations was Donald Trump,” he told Carlson in an interview last year. “Always sending something and saying congratulations. A guy who is genuinely happy for your success. This guy has been so good to me, it's unexplainable.”
He spoke at the RNC conventions in favor of Trump in 2016 and 2020, so he’s not shy about getting involved in the political world either.
Given the history between them, there’s no way White would allow someone, even a big sponsor, to tell him what he could and couldn’t say about Trump.
That’s why, when one of them tried to get him to remove a post about Trump from his personal social media account, White had three words in response.
“One of our big sponsors called and said, take that down,” White said during an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von. “You know what I said? Go f*** yourself.”
“You vote for whoever you want to vote for, and I’ll vote for whoever I want to vote for,” White continued. “That’s how this works. I don’t even care who you’re voting for. It’s none of my f***ing business. F*** you. Don’t ever f***ing call me and tell me who to vote for.”
NEW: UFC’s Dana White says he told a big sponsor to “go f*** yourself” after they told him to delete a social media post that he shared of Donald Trump.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 14, 2023
Amazing 🔥🔥🔥
“One of our big sponsors called and said, take that down.”
“I said, go f*** yourself. You vote for whoever… pic.twitter.com/Ay9yqmmyXh
He went on to explain that he’d have that attitude towards anyone who tries to objection to his friendship with Trump.
“I’m at a point now in my life and my career where I want to be with people that I’m aligned with,” White said. “It’s not just about the money. It is about the money because it’s a sponsorship deal, but it’s not just [about the money]. I’m not going to take a bigger offer if it’s not something that I am aligned with and I don’t 100 percent believe in.
“When you do a sponsorship deal with somebody, you have to look deep into who they are and who’s running the company, who’s making the decisions, and are you aligned?”
And that’s when the topic of Bud Light came up. White has taken heat for a multi-year sponsorship deal with the embattled beer brand, which many conservatives criticized in the wake of its partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
“It’s like this whole Bud Light deal — people are talking s*** now, sellout and all this,” White said. “Believe me, I’m the furthest f***ing thing from a sellout. Bud Light is the right move for me.”
“They’re exactly who I want to be with right now and we are very aligned as far as core values go,” he said, pointing out that 65,000 Americans are employed by the company, which also partners with U.S. farmers and helps families of fallen veterans and first responders.
Dana White explains why he partnered with Bud Light & says he’s the furthest thing from a sell out pic.twitter.com/d4huJ904mi
— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) November 14, 2023