Dana White Shares His Darkest Moment & Timeline of UFC, Talks Trump & Jake Paul | The Pivot Podcast

better oh there he is what's up gang what up brother how you doing man I think I was gonna see you till next week how you been good man we're doing well awesome brother so much I like those shoes too I wasn't expecting I wasn't expecting it drip right here you guys sponsored by happy Dad yeah I didn't know that yeah that's right that's why we saw you in uh in Nashville okay yeah we were out there uh with them should they like you man marketing Geniuses those are my boys man those are my boys great guys smart and they can work those kids work hard man they do hard they they've been on the road from California to New Jersey you know going store to store promoting this [ __ ] I did two days with them in uh Nashville yeah yeah and I was like this [ __ ] I'm going home two days was enough for me yeah Limitless tickets [Music] [Music] [Music] oh man welcome to the pivot uh Channing Freddie T obviously this is Dana White UFC president man yeah Sneakerhead you're a sneakerhead Dana yeah yeah yeah oh yeah yeah that's pretty dope dunks right there yeah I'll walk you guys through when we're done show you just what I got here at the office all right I want to check it out hey like what do you got at the office but you know what's the somebody saying can't hide money hey you cannot hide it but it's so it's so crazy man like I've been a fan I mean I'm a a spike fan I used to buy a UFC greatest knockout uh DVDs all of those things and it's like as much as the the UFC has grown I mean other than this way like you have grown too you know what I'm saying and you have grown with it but I think so many times people see you sitting in that seat and strapping belts around people and they think life has always been been great for you but growing up for you was a little different like how have you used things from growing up in Connecticut to help you be truly the dude that's been in the engine that's pushed the UFC to where it is well I was born in Connecticut because that's where my grandmother lived so my mom went there to have to have me but we we lived in Boston okay and then moved to Vegas when I was in like fifth grade you know I come from a single mom who who worked hard and didn't have a lot of money and uh you know um the the one thing that was very lucky for me is I'm sure you guys running this all the time with with young people if you ask them let's say they're in college and you ask them uh you know what's your major like well I'm I'm majoring in political science but I think I'm going to switch to this they went to college because everybody told them if you didn't go to college you wouldn't amount to anything so they get to college and they don't know what the hell they want to do and and the key to life is finding out who you are and what it is you love to do and what it is you want to do for the rest of your life and where I was very lucky is I always knew you know and I always knew I wanted to be in the fight business and you know back then you know you talk in the mid 80s people thought that was the dumbest [ __ ] they ever heard you know that I wanted to be in the fight business how are you going to make money doing that how are you going to you know and uh I didn't care it was what I wanted to do and it was what I was passionate about so I spent you know my whole Young Life working toward that you know from the time I was 19 years old to today I out of college twice yeah what what happened yeah I got kicked out of high school a bunch of times uh and had to go to different schools I was just never a school guy you know I I I it's not that I didn't want to learn and I didn't want to be successful just School wasn't for me so even when um you know I started to get involved in in my own business and doing my own thing you know I did I went to the bookstore and I bought books on marketing I bought books on finance I bought books on uh PR I just I just read books and and and listened to uh you know uh people speak and and stuff like that that was how I learned and it was a lot more fun than going to school self-taught exactly man and so like even even with that you took over like you guys you you in the petite family you took over a business that didn't necessarily have a direction the brand was was you know was horrible the brand uh you know is called human cockfighting it was illegal in many states wasn't sanctioned by the athletic commissions and uh you know we uh we saw what we thought it could be if it was done the right way marketed the right way run toward regulation get it regulated should be a real sport these are real athletes I mean and when you looked at it you have guys that could punch kick wrestle do submissions yet boxing uh kickboxing Wrestling Judo and all those things were legal and actually Olympic sports right why couldn't this be something you know so that that was how we looked at it the other thing that I always thought is that this could be a global Sport and that this would work all over the world because no matter what color you were what language you spoke what part of the world you were from were all human beings man and we like fighting yeah that's real time you said it was a a a trash brand I read something somewhere you bought in 2001 for 2 million right and you had to get back the ufc.com website from a company user-friendly computers yeah so this guy owned UC user-friendly computers and uh this this was my big first business mistake so I called him up and we want to buy you know the the.com from them and uh I I don't remember the number but he wanted something like like uh twenty thousand dollars and I mother [ __ ] them up and down you piece of [ __ ] twenty thousand dollars he's like [ __ ] you he hangs up the phone so we battled for years but the UFC just starts to go like this so we end up paying like you know crazy number 150 200 000 for the thing eventually when I should have took it for twenty thousand dollars in the beginning yeah you know you talk about that business move not necessarily being you know uh your smartest or the dumbest that you've made but everything you've done since has seemed to work like it really it really has it was all downhill afterwards at the user-friendly computers what was it that made you think that this could be this big because it's it's it's it's overtaken boxing it's the number one combat Sport and just and honestly let's not say the number one combat sport the number one promotion in the world it's one of the biggest sports leagues in the world too and you know when we sold we sold for 4.025 billion which was the biggest number anything it sold for in sports C for ADT that's how you could buy a lot of them shoes and since then and everybody when we sold everybody was talking about how re overpaid for it and what a stupid move and then the thing's just gone like this since then too so I we always believe that this thing could be big if we did it the right way and it was done the right way the question is always about the timing is the timing right and the reality is the timing couldn't have been better because uh technology has really been our friend and and I'm older than everybody in this room but when I grew up in a couple you might relate to this we had channel three channel five channel eight channel 13 right then cable came and you have like 30 channels on Cable uh then satellite came Etc et cetera et cetera now there's a million channels and uh including streaming all these streaming services are starting to happen which was something that we dreamed about years ago because if you think about what my philosophy is that this works everywhere everybody gets it everybody likes it how many people are there in the world seven and a half eight billion people in the world right what's my ceiling right what's stopping the more you continue to grow the sport and the more people you you get to it and you've been to a live event right yeah there's nothing better on TV than football football's the best sport in the world to watch on TV it's fun it's exciting you don't even have to be a fan of the teams and you love football um going to a football game live it's not as exciting it's it's not as good of an experience as watching it on TV in my opinion basketball I'm a big Celtics fan we just swept you know Brooklyn I couldn't be happier basketball is one of those Sports you know if you got nothing to do you watch the whole game but really tune in for the last seven minutes of The Game and Watch the last seven minutes but [ __ ] live and if you sit on the court it's bad it's fun as hell to go to a live basketball game right very energetic these dudes are huge running you know great passes it's it's it's so much fun so I could go on and on the UFC Is Awesome on TV it's a great television product whether you're at home with your friends or if you're watching it in a bar it's great but when you go live there's nothing like a UFC event live and as we continue to travel this thing around the world and people come and experience that live event nobody walks out of a live event and goes yeah I'm never coming to one of these again right you know what I mean it's the exact opposite you become addicted so as we continue to move around and now that all this coveted bullshit's going away and we can actually start going back into other countries and putting on events and now they're streaming yeah so no matter where in the world we are if I wanted to cut a TV deal uh you know if I had a TV deal in the United States and I wanted this to air in Germany and France and England and Spain I'd have to cut a million different TV deals now I only have to cut one and not only do you only cut one we can all watch it at the same time on the same channel and I believe that in the next five to seven to eight years there's going to be a channel three a channel five a channel eight and channel 13 like there were you know the big ABC NBC CBS when we were growing up globally right I don't know if it's going to be Amazon YouTube ESPN Disney I don't know who it's going to be but there will be you know four or five big players globally and and Dana you you say it and it's so smooth when it comes off but you got kicked out of high school you don't have a college degree you took a two million dollar business into a four billion dollar business and this show is very bad for parents the parents that are at home like listen you got to get good grades you got to stay in school you got to go to college get a scholarship yeah I have to explain that to my kids but that process states that you couldn't even fight in they wouldn't let you fight in but now you're worldwide like that process of two million to four billion how hard was that yeah it was hard it was hard yet at the same time it was awesome we had a blast I did it with people that I love I mean we're just talking about this the other day one of the guys that works for me here worked for Major League Soccer and he worked for the NFL he said you know what's so crazy about this place when you walk around this building people like yeah I've been here for eight years I've been here for 10 years 15 years 20 years my staff that works here has been here forever he was telling me that in sports in general there's like a three-year window where people just keep churning through the place we built something special here and we all love what we do and it's it's it's fun we're like a a big family here and uh it's why when covet hit I was so adamant about going through covet and not laying off any of my people and we'd figure it out and we all stuck together and then when it was time to work when I did figure it out and I'm sure I'm not saying everybody there weren't some people that were scared and wondering what was they all went to war with me man we all went out and we and we did it and uh I think since that's happened we've become even closer and uh you know here is a a as a team and we all love what we do so yes it was hard um but yet at the same time you know like they always say it's really all about the journey and we've had a really Incredible Journey Dana you mentioned covid though and like you guys were the sport that kept us going I mean you know kamzad shamaya became a star during covid you had you were able to have championship fights you had you had fight nights and you did all of these things and you moved around and and found ways to do it when everyone else was making excuses what was that process like for you because we see the final product right all I know is you're fighting in Dubai DC's flying over there to to to to do you know the commentary and it seems like it was a very easy process because of what we are getting what was that process like to get yourself in a place to where you could continue to have events when everybody else in the world was shutting down I I have this philosophy that nothing is impossible never tell me no never say we can't and uh it just if this thing was as bad as they were saying it was at the time we're all dead anyway man you know what I mean what are we gonna go and hide in our houses and possibly die not me and listen as Americans you have the opportunity to do whatever you want to hide in your house hide in your house it's just I'm not built that way right you know and I knew in Abu Dhabi they were testing people I'm like well if they're contesting people why can't we test people yeah and then you start thinking well let's let's I was like let's build a lab let's get some scientists whatever I don't know get people who know anything about this [ __ ] and let's build a lab here we'll build the lab and we'll we'll we'll see if we can do our own testing and you know there has to be a way around this guys it's like this whole political [ __ ] that went on during that time with covid right it's almost like not only were we trying we're we whoever these whoever they are trying to separate us you know the country trying to make us weak trying to make us and my thing is always this America man Americans don't roll over for anything we get out and we fight and we find a way to win and and and to progress and to and to get through things like this and and then once I started hearing [ __ ] about laying off you know 30 something percent of my staff I'm like I'm not laying off one one of my people it's not happening so listen we're either all gonna go down together and try to figure this thing out or we're not right right what I'm not gonna do is hide in my house from a virus right that's not gonna happen so you you believe in philosophy over fate um I've been I had to do a lot of research on this um because I read somewhere again that you're an atheist do you ever have those come to Jesus moments though like if a turbulent flight or anything like that well no but I'm not gonna lie there were a few times through this thing it was when you talk about how hard it was to build this business nothing was harder than going through covet well you know I'm being attacked by everybody I'm the devil I care about money more than people and all this other [ __ ] rhetoric that that they want to put on you because they don't like that you're trying you know and uh you know just had to battle through that just living my own bubble here but sometimes I you know we've hit so many dead ends and so many walls there's a couple times I'm like what are you doing what are you doing wow you know what are you doing am I doing the right thing right I'd say yeah I'm doing the right thing okay let's go it uh did good Dale or Stern any other leagues you talk to anybody that runs the other leagues when they saw it when they when you started barreling through and going like you said and then when you they saw it working did anybody reach out to you yeah yeah there were several teams that did reach out to us uh League's uh especially when we set up an Abu Dhabi and uh you know at the time president Trump put me and a bunch of the other guys in sports on a panel and we would get on a call every week with with the president and walk through how we would uh we would do this and I I don't even know if I should talk about this publicly but you good yeah I've never talked about this before so we were on a call with the president one time and I remember I was listening to everybody get on there and talk and I was like these guys are all full of [ __ ] none of these guys are are gonna [ __ ] roll or really want to or really want to do what they're saying they're going to do except for one and when we hung up the phone he texted me and said why didn't you talk on that on that call there's questions that need to be [ __ ] asked you didn't ask any questions you didn't do this berating me on this text three guesses who it was one of the sports guys one of the other sports guys who was also going and he talked but felt like he's like why didn't you can talk and I didn't talk because I felt like everybody was full of [ __ ] I mean except for him Roger was still going though he just did it a different way Vince McMahon oh God yeah he's texting me and basically berating me after the call like why didn't you talk why didn't you why didn't you back up what I was saying that we got to go through this and all this other [ __ ] and I was like because I think everybody's full of [ __ ] that's why except for you right you're definitely not full of [ __ ] Vince you know Vince is a killer and Vince was putting on his events down in Florida at the time too so when when you think about you know you mentioned you mentioned Vince and obviously you know what you do it's it's become like you you found a way to make stars in a sport that is very hard to make stars in because one second changes a career right you know you can have you can be Anderson Silva and run into Chris Weidman and all of these things that you've built go away with a dang backhand you know and so to be able to to to build these stars and and have the the McGregors and and the Jon Jones and Chuck Liddell was the guy that made me love the sport how do you handle that from a marketing standpoint to make sure whenever that guy's fault whenever that guy falls you have someone else that could carry the mantle or is that even important to you does the USC just stand because of the the sport no I mean what happens now is the brand has become so powerful that when you have the Brand Plus a star it just makes the whole thing so much bigger you know what's crazy is we we have these guys I mean as you look on the board behind you this is the war room we're in now these are all the top 15 in the world in every weight class that are behind you right and what starts to happen is when when homsat fought and and uh Abu Dhabi and he gets done he's like I want to fight next week too yeah so when I see moments like that and I see these things I immediately jump on them that's one of my things that I'm actually good at is I see these things in people you know and when the moment hits I jump on it I go to the matchmakers and I said let's make him fight again next week let's let's do it and then they get all pissed off and argue with me and why you can't fight next week but we get it done he comes out of that thing and then you look at the last fight it's going to burn it's a freaking War insane right I mean huge star and going through coven like we were just talking about that our fan base grew 46 when we went through coven 46 imagine that right when other people weren't playing we grew 46 percent so that that's the other thing that I look at when some of these other guys are soft you're looking for the right word yeah are soft I like it I'll [ __ ] run them right over I'll run them over I love it you don't want to play don't play a-nba you don't want to go on TV stay off TV NFL you don't want to go on TV beautiful I'll go on TV we'll be the only guys during the pandemic on TV and think about this and it's not just me it's everybody in this room we all real you guys are all sports guys but we realize how important Sports really are when it was gone yep I would have watched [ __ ] golf every day that's how much I was jonesing for I hate golf I want to watch golf every day if it was on right you know uh people are watching the [ __ ] bean bag yeah what's that [ __ ] numbers during coven you know what I mean you wanna hit it you want any piece of a sport yes yeah you mentioned pushing through uh and kind of the call you know that you guys had I was here for uh McGregor Poirier too president Trump walks in and there was only one bigger Ovation or one bigger uh moment when somebody walked out and that was when Connor walked out I'm telling you the Trump moment in New York I have never seen anything like that in my life everybody was on their and shares with their phones and it was insane do you ever get pushed back though from that relationship especially during covid because I don't give a [ __ ] that guy's been a friend of mine for 20 years he's one of the most stand-up solid dudes that I've ever met in my life if he gives you his word done I'm gonna tell you a story off camera about him we can't get the presidential pivot right now I mean you'll see why after but um yeah I know listen that guy's my friend man it's it's like uh we've been friends for a long time and nobody wants to get dragged out into the political Arena it's just it's all [ __ ] [ __ ] and you know what I mean it's all just a bunch of [ __ ] and when when he called me this is when he was first going to run and this is what he said to me and let me explain this to you too so when we were talking about early on when we when we first got started in this business and um this this brand was so bad that venues didn't even want us you know these Arenas didn't want to sit there and they're like Whoa We don't want this stuff in our Arena so we had a hard time finding venues and uh Trump literally called us now remember this think about this where the Trump brand was here UFC brand was down here come to my place you know do the event here we'll have you to Trump Taj Mahal blah blah blah we get there greatest setup for us he did this whole thing versus showed up to the first fight and was there till the last fight both times we went there everything that happened to me in my career from there on out he would pick up the phone and congratulate me or send something always been a solid guy with me so then he uh he calls me and says I'm running for president now listen if you don't want to do this I completely understand but I would be honored if you would speak at the national Republican convention for me everybody told me not to do it everybody and I'm like this guy all the things that he's done for me I'm going to tell him no that's not me yeah I went up and I told the people the truth who he is what he's done for me the type of person he's been you know and people who are close to him like that like Tyson too Tyson spoke up for him because he's always been good to Tyson he's always been you know why do people tell you not to do it like what was their justification of telling you not to do it because he wasn't going to win there's no way he was going to become the president of the United States and to get out there and speak publicly politically you know it's it's almost like the Jordan thing you know when they were talking about Jordan I'm sure you guys watched the Jordan uh yeah incredible right I mean 12 times reminded us all why we [ __ ] love Michael Jordan right so the Jordan thing Jordan you know I I can't remember the exact scenario but there was a black a black uh guy running for Democrat in North Carolina or something like that and they wanted Jordan to go out there and speak and he's like Republicans buy shoes too and I think that's everybody's stance that everybody's liberals you know watch the UFC too so you want to have your fan base as big as as you could possibly have but for me I'm just I'm I'm very loyal and uh that guy was good to me there would be no UFC early on you know because we had trouble getting venues he helped us and you know he helped take us to another level and at a time when he didn't have to in a time when his brand was powerful and ours was nothing you speak about the Loyalty there which we respect I respect being loyal to your friends and people that have supported you is there any is there anything or any moment where he's done anything where you disagreed with I have lots of friends that do things that I don't absolutely agree with all the time you know what I mean it doesn't make me not be their friends anymore right you know what I mean and some of the things that are said about Trump and what I'll racist he's not racist I can tell you that I've been around the guy for 20 years and I can tell you a thousand stories that you don't want to hear but um you know one of the things that he said to me he says you know it's hilarious I've owned hotels and casinos my whole life people from all over the world have worked for me never been called a racist until I became the president of the United States and I've never seen anything or anything come out of his mouth and all the time that I've known him that would make me say he was do I love ever do I agree with everything that he that he does and says no are we a hundred percent politically aligned no right but you never will be with any president of the United States you're never going to be a hunter and then when you talk about him being a friend my friends do things that I that I don't agree with sometimes you know but it doesn't make me not be their friends anymore it's just different at a level when you have somebody that says polarizing as As Trump is take it down a notch and pivot to uh to Joe one of your other good friends he made some controversy Joe Rogan yeah yeah yeah you made some other comments and um he he owned up to you know those things that were uh showed on the video what was that moment like for you another guy that I've known for a very long time and uh yeah and and the other thing is too when Joe what Joe said it you have to put it into context but what he said always he wasn't dropping it he was saying he was explaining what other people had said but he was saying the word apologized for it over and over again and it's it's like the Kevin Hart thing whom I respect very much for what he did you know uh you know he said a homophobic slur 10 15 years ago apologized for it you know did everything the right way like you should then goes the host the Oscars and they're like yeah well you're gonna have to publicly apologize for this again and he's like no [ __ ] you I apologize for that right 15 years ago and and I learned and I'm a different person now so I'm not going to apologize for it again I mean they you guys know the world we live in right now and if you let the media or these other people get in your head and do those kind of things to you that's why you know my press conference and [ __ ] I don't play with these guys I I I don't play these these little I don't play these games with these guys that they try to play with us so yeah um yeah it's a it's a tricky world we live in the real Bostonian at heart I was up there for a few years with the Pats when I played there and uh crazy crazy people say you're a big Celtics fan you know I heard you were a big Pats fan yup yup uh relationship with Tom Brady yep I mean where you at now right right I just uh man the the Bostonian man you people they don't give a [ __ ] that's how it's true that is very true um yeah Boston is a it's it's a lot different now than when I grew up there but it's it's a crazy place and uh but good solid people come out of Boston man and and uh you know love sports and you know it's it's yeah it's a different world I've been lucky that I've that I've had both I've had East Coast and West Coast you know to be able to grow up in both places has been a a a really good thing for me so I've been very lucky I want to go back so much like your friends and they have their their past and they do what they do and you know if y'all been friends for 20 years 30 years y'all been friends and y'all have y'all businesses what about your Fighters like you talking about like you you have a top fighter and he you know I don't say make to UFC but he's the face of the UFC can you hate can you dislike a fighter like you dislike the face of the UFC you must still watch that you must never watch any of his interviews you still respect that he's that guy 100 I mean yeah I'd say the biggest one ever was me and Tito Ortiz we hated each other yeah and Tito fought here for many years with us hating each other like hating like what like yeah yeah thank you 100 he he wore a shirt up on stage that said Dana's my [ __ ] yeah at one of the weigh-ins yeah and I always talk about when we do interviews I always make sure I let everybody know that he's one of the dumbest [ __ ] that you'll ever meet he's the dumbest human being on planet Earth I let everybody know that and uh yeah we but he and I don't hold back but still but you still respected him for his art he's a bad dude yeah yeah 100 in the midst of that though you're a marketing Guru right promotional Guru you mentioned with the company that sells yeah it's true it's definitely true that the feud between me but it sells because it's real yeah yeah it isn't the WWE [ __ ] you know and and this happens a lot here you know think about this I have I have 750 alpha males and females that I oversee and you know and and that doesn't include my 350 employees yeah this is a business where I deal with the baddest human beings on planet Earth including women that will beat the [ __ ] out of men you know what I mean so we it's it's an it's an interesting Dynamic here different than any other business anywhere in the world is that why you're so goddamn big poem the size of my thought like do you do you work out again but are you ready to fight listen man I'm at an age where I fight to get on the treadmill every day [Laughter] you ain't gonna fight any of these people but you ain't gonna turn it down well no I'm not gonna well some of them might not fighting anybody let's just put it that way the thing is that's cool about this sport too is is our athletes are are unique in so many ways and it's what makes these people so special first of all if you look at the top the top five across the board in every weight class to get there is almost impossible it's almost impossible to get there almost Nobody Does it and to become a world champion next to nobody gets there and does it right and these people don't care about the real world and how it works they don't want to go work and sit in a cubicle every day they won't sit and bumper to bumper traffic and you know to a job and all this [ __ ] they're just wired differently that's why I knew when the [ __ ] hit the fan then I was going to go through covid I knew they'd go I knew they'd go and I I knew they would and what's crazy is no matter what part of the world you're from no matter what color you are no matter what language you speak it's it's almost like we're all aligned here you know what I mean like the NBA you had guys that wouldn't play guys that wouldn't do this guys that wouldn't do that guys that had to get vaccinated immediately Kyrie who wouldn't get vaccinated um my thing was here and again this is all about us being Americans and it's what I want everybody to try to please remember we're Americans all of us no matter what color we are whatever what religion you are whatever the thing is and this is a free country Kyrie doesn't want to get vaccinated guy we shouldn't get vaccinated that's up to him his [ __ ] body it's his life in this country he gets to make that choice and it started to get scary there for a minute where this whole thing was like you couldn't go to dinner right unless you put this thing you couldn't go to work you couldn't be a part of society we didn't do that here if you felt safe getting vaccinated then you got vaccinated if you didn't feel safe getting vaccinated then don't get vaccinated that's the way this country works man so I I we were all aligned here with that stuff there was none of that there was none of that [ __ ] going on here and for all the craziness with Kyrie I [ __ ] respect the fact that he he stood up for himself and and did that in a league where standing up for yourself wasn't wasn't the smart thing to do right that's that's the question I have for you though you talk about standing up for yourself and you know you look at you look at some of the chat the Champions right you have Francis who you know you guys were talking about different things with contracts Nathan Diaz is on his last fight uh Jon Jones you know a dude who at least to me was the greatest champion we'd had like we've 100 like barely seen him in trouble other than maybe you know against the Mauler when you deal with these dudes and you're trying to to make these fights you know you kind of talked about the politics thing as it opposes you know as it goes to like government are there politics and what you do or are you like I'm trying to make the best fight I'm trying to get the best Champion I'm trying to put the best product out for those people who pay money to see you just nailed it there's no secrets here there's no you know there's no Politics the best fight the best here you know what I mean one of the big problems with boxing has been you couldn't get the best to fight the best you know Riddick both through his belt in the garbage so that he didn't have to defend it against Lennox Lewis and so many other things that have happened in the past where we didn't get to see the great fights we wanted to or we saw him way too late here the best always fight the best and uh there's no secret to that here there's no this didn't just pop up yesterday this has been the the the way we run this business for 20 years and there's always going to be head butting they're always going to be do you make enough money no I absolutely absolutely I want you to meet the guy that goes oh I'm good I make plenty of money I don't need I don't need another dime you're never going to meet that guy that's never going to happen everybody wants more money and uh the one of the big problems with boxing too that all those guys were overpaid and every time they put on a fight it's a going out of business sale you know what I mean we're just trying to get as much [ __ ] money again from you guys and then we're out of here and we'll see you in three years you can't build a league like that you can't build a sport you can't have 750 Fighters under contract making money feeding their families every year with that kind of mentality it doesn't work you have to run a business but what's the pay scale of a fighter like what the Judgment of like you say the boxes are over overpaid making 70 million dollars a fight whatever 20 million whatever it is yep so how do you evaluate what your Fighters are worth in that fight yep so what we did is we built a business model where they share if you're the champion you share in the pay-per-view Revenue if you're the guy headlining the card or there's been some special occasions where we know we know you're bringing in the money too that you're you're a big draw so you two get to share in the pay-per-view Revenue you eat what you kill you know what I mean say that all the time and and the truth is you get some of these guys that you know you can walk in and say I want 30 million dollars okay based on what I do too give me 30 million dollars you want 30 million dollars based on what if if if you look at and you're never going to have the guys on the other side worrying about the business of the sport because it's always this is this isn't a team sport right right give me me you're not in a situation where Tom Brady says I know I'm the best quarterback ever right so I should be getting paid millions of millions of dollars but I'm gonna take less money because I want to build a winning team you know I can't do everything myself I need guys that can catch [ __ ] ball I need guys who can block me to make sure I don't get [ __ ] murdered I need a good defensive line to hold it so let's build a big team I'll take less money very rarely does that happen in sports but in this sport here me it's about me yeah I'm the biggest star here I knocked out 30 people I did this I did that I want as much money as I can get and I really don't give a [ __ ] about anybody else including you the boss that you know that runs the business I don't care about this whole business it's about me so you have to maintain some sort of control over that type of stuff to run a real business because at the end of the day the reason this business has been this rocket ship of success is because not only have we built a solid business where you know these Fighters are all making lots of money and they're doing well even guys that are Journeymen are making you know we we got guys if we and not the other thing that drives the media crazy and a lot of the fans too is we don't tell people what these guys get paid so I always tell these Fighters and I tell the media ask them what they get paid they can tell you what they make I can tell you what each guy has made since the day he fought here total since they've been here I could give you all those numbers I could have them in five minutes you don't ever hear any of the fighters telling you what they get paid right ever because they don't want you to know either yeah you know and you guys know you guys come from this world as soon as that number comes out in the paper what you get paid looking at your pockets no you know exactly what happens yeah you start getting relatives you never knew you had and everybody's coming you know trying to borrow money from you and most of them aren't paying you back you're rich yes you got the money you need to pay you back yeah that's real 100 does it does it bother you when when people from the UPS outside like the like the Paul brothers and different people are always trying to point to your pay scale because they figured out a way to fool the world into thinking that their their legitimate Fighters well no and here's the thing it's what I always say if you don't like what I'm doing you don't like the way I'm doing it go out and raise some money I didn't and start your own yeah pay them whatever you want to pay them that's what that [ __ ] clown from triller was saying the guy that runs trailer he came out with a statement I pay my ushers more than he pays his Fighters and how much money that guy's lost in the last two three years crazy money what the [ __ ] are you bragging about you got to be the dumbest most crooked businessman of all time and you're bragging about it and talk about it we've built one of the most successful sports leagues of all time in 20 years people actually want to invest money into this thing which makes the sport grow which makes it uh more opportunities for more people not just the fighters but my employees and and the people that we hire guys like you who get to work on the show and it just continues to grow and grow and grow when you let these people come in and suck you know you know all the life and the money out it doesn't work you have to run a real business and you have to have a business that people are interested and want to invest in and RC brought up the the Paul Brothers but Logan and Jake I got into it with Jake we argue we argued before would would you let a celebrity UFC fight happen because now everybody's boxing everybody wants something did you let that happen I know and and if you look at what's happened with them you know he's gone out there Jake Logan's cool I I I did his podcast recently and he's a good kid and and I like him I've given him tickets before Jake is the exact opposite he likes to stir [ __ ] up and butt heads and all that stuff uh you know he he's it's it's attention 101 I mean it's it's it's it's textbook how to get attention I just take it for what it is that I mean that's what it is and the media like to like to print it the not the real media you know the the goofy internet guys like to like to use what he says because they they're looking for clicks right but at the end of the day I mean that that kid wants to fight here yeah he doesn't want to fight here because he doesn't think we really don't pay guys he wants to fight here because he knows this is where the money is regardless of what he says but uh I would never say never I I don't know I mean I I look at it sometimes and it's and it's kind of intriguing but it kind of goes against what I do I really do bring the best of the best in and I've tried to do a couple of those celebrity things with some WWE guys some work some didn't but I wouldn't say no I did Mayweather McGregor when I said yeah so who knows right we uh I want to go back you talk about dropping out of school different ways to make money not going to college parents looking down on that and frowning on it but we live in an age where YouTubers YouTube youtubing is a big thing right we get paid from YouTube here on this podcast Jake and Logan do your kids like yeah yeah your kids are YouTubers well mine are the first time I ever heard of those two was from my daughter and her friends when they were really little there was some song they were listening to or something but yeah this whole YouTube thing is fascinating and you have these kids like Logan and Jake the milk boys and and a lot of others Bryce Hall some of these kids who who have really parlayed YouTube videos into big money and you gotta You Gotta Give Them credit man it's it's incredible and uh you know I I might Feud some of these guys like I can hate Bob marham Bob arum is a true scumbag who's done some bad [ __ ] and dealing with him right but I I you know I don't hate Jake Paul Jake Paul's looking for attention you know and and everybody has their opinions and I'm sitting here telling you guys about America we're free everybody can have their own [ __ ] opinion and and and and you know it's all good right and Dana you may you mentioned like we've been talking about money uh early on you talk about building this business from 2 million to where it was and selling it you know you're a Bostonian man and then and from Vegas as well tell me what what was that like like what did you do when you guys make the sale to WME and you know that not only is the business going to keep growing but now you have just all of this cash dumped on you was it like some big UFC party in in Abu Dhabi did you did y'all hop on a a big plane and you take everybody over like what was the next the great question and that is exactly what you would think right but it wasn't at all for me it was actually a really bad time for me I didn't want to do it and I uh the fertittas were ready to get out and they were like and here was the thing they had they had a sit down with me and they're basically like you know we had everybody in here going through the deal everybody was in here kicking the tires looking to buy it from ESPN to uh Turner to all these different funds and groups from all over the world and they sat me down and said we're going to sell this thing and and we're ready to go but nobody will take it unless you stay so you have to stay you have to do this and I was kind of in a weird place because I've done this thing with them you know these are my best friends we've done it together and I got a little [ __ ] up I kind of I took off for a little while went up into a hotel room and didn't come out for a few days wow yeah I was I was a little hooked up over the whole thing then I snapped out of it I got my [ __ ] together and uh yeah you you know the sale happened you know it ended up so there were a few groups and what I was saying is if I have to stay don't make and put me with some [ __ ] up group of people that I you know what I mean so Ari was was going at this thing hard and I you know I I wanted to be with Ari so it uh it worked out perfect and Ari's been incredible to work with so you know it couldn't have turned out any better I still love it I'm still having a blast I get over my little phase the money hits the bank and it's it's a weird it's weird it's a weird thing you know I I had money I'd already had money I'd had money for you know for 15 years before that but then you get that kind of money and uh you know I built a bigger house and how does Dana walk away I don't walk away wow yeah I don't walk away going through that transition with the fertittas to to WME was a good experience for me and it reminded me how much I really love this business and love what I'm doing so they're probably gonna have to come and drag me out of here I I don't I don't see myself walking away from this and Dana you got all this goddamn money man you could just chill yeah you're going out there and chasing Bulls around bro if one of them kick you in your goddamn head bro you you got hundreds of millions like why are you why do you do that that's a good question you guys got great questions actually yeah I don't know why I do that uh you know believe me when I when we rode those Bulls everybody that was around me there was telling me not to do it yeah and uh I won't do it again yeah again that one and we we went out of Florida the middle of nowhere in the ocean and they put Chum all over the water and we jumped in the water to see if we would find and sharks came from everywhere man and there was a shark coming up at us like the movie Jaws that's some really white stuff and I thought that that this thing was going to hit us yeah but you just got to see it we do some dumb [ __ ] on that show you give me you give me a hundred million I'm sitting I'm about to sit on my ass you just keep going and doing crazy [ __ ] but huh so you think you would and everybody that's watching this right now all has that fantasy of if I had this much money I'd be sitting on an island somewhere drinking a cocktail and whatever how many days can you sit on the island and drink a cocktail before you're like all right man get me the hell out of here it's just you can't do it I've been on like two week vacations where I'm like losing my mind and can't wait to get back to work we all have to be a part of something we all have to get up and and I don't know I like to win man I like to win I have to get up and try to win every day and uh if I don't it just I see why people die after they retire it makes total sense yeah right you know getting up and being a part of nothing you know mowing your lawn or sitting in the backyard or that [ __ ] gets old quick man I'm gonna say this man really quick and this is it from me we got a small moment to hang out with you in Nashville but it was late yeah but here today man I think prior to this I had been you know hearing things through the media looking at you from their perspective but I really want to say man I appreciate you coming on the pivot and and really allowing us to see you thank you you know like from your from the horse's mouth and just sharing these moments with us uh we learn a lot from all of our guests you know they they tend to bring this show tends to bring something out of them that we don't hear about all the time I guess that's the pivot but man we appreciate you Ryan usually raps he's the consummate pro Mr ESPN but I'm still in his glory right now appreciate it thank you so much man that was amazing that's what's fun man yeah you guys asked a great question I appreciate it that's right yeah that was good man oh yeah that was good you know what's going I'll tell you this every time somebody asks me to do a podcast I'm like these guys gonna ask me that every other podcast you know what I mean [Music] camping in it my father here to witness it got my people feeling military

Channel: The Pivot Podcast

Views: 1,142,428

Keywords: the pivot, the pivot podcast, new podcast, football podcast, channing crowder, channing crowder podcast, fred taylor podcast, fred taylor, ryan clark, ryan clark podcast, nfl, nfl 2022, nfl 2021, football, super bowl, super bowl podcast, Dana White Shares His Darkest Moment & Timeline of UFC, Talks Trump & Jake Paul | The Pivot Podcast, Dana white, ufc, dana white interview, dana white podcast, dana white pivot, dana white ufc, ufc 2022

Id: WsMpZtyU0-Q

Length: 52min 19sec (3139 seconds)

Published: Tue May 03 2022