September 12, 2025 • 19 mins
Today I sat down and taled to Dana White for the first time EVER!! He *Leaked* wanting Conor McGregor to Headline the UFC White House Card, and CLAPPED BACK at Eddie Hearns recent comments about being the better promoter.. Enjoy y’all!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes, sir, come on through, Dana, appreciate it, Dana Way,
nice to meet you. I'm liking that ring shirt you're
rocking today. Ladies and gentlemen, President of UC Dana White
as well as sir. Just come down a nightcap over there.
The boys Shannon and Ocho.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How is that?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It's great? Great love those guys.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, man, so Vegas, we're here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Talk to me about why this was the fight Dana
White decided to come into boxing to support and grow
the sport.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, it's not that this was the fight that I
decided to do. This was the fight that I was
I was offered, you know, by Shake Turkey. He said,
I put this fight together and I would love for
you to be the promoter of it. Yeah, And who
the hell would say no to this?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I can't you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, you'd have to be mentally ill to not want
to promote this fight. Right.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So, this whole thing, this build up, Netflix, the entire thing.
Is this the the big push for Dana White to
do more in boxing? I've heard you talk about this
new Contender series you're going to do. Obviously, zoof of
Boxing now come to life.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
When Shake Turkey asked asked me to be the promoter
this fight. We went out, we cut the television deal,
We went out and cut the arena deal. You know,
we did all the all the groundwork for this thing,
and then obviously we're putting together the production. You know,
all the nuts and bolts and all the things that
that that go into a fight. We did. This is
(01:22):
gonna be the third biggest fight in history, right, And
I know a lot of people like to talk shit.
Take it however you want to take it, boys, Number
one fight of all time Mayweather Pack, Yeah, number two
Mayweather McGregor, number three, Crawford versus Canelo. What do what
did two of the three have in common? I've been
(01:44):
a part of two of the biggest of boxing. So yeah. Uh.
And then I'm gonna do my own thing in twenty
six with Shake Turkey. You know, He's got a lot
of other plans, But the thing that I'm most focused
about is this thing that I want to do in
(02:05):
twenty six. I think that tender style, I think that
I can add a lot of value to the sport
into a lot of these young, up and coming guys. Yeah.
I saw Eddie Hearn, who I was just going to
ask you about this. This just I love and respect
this guy. I consider him a friend. I was surprised,
but not surprised to see him talking shit today and.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I just letting you know.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He said, listen, I guess my responses. I look forward
to it to my brother. I look forward to it too. People.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I'm an MMA guy as well as a boxing guy.
You love to compete.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I love and so I love and.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You guys being you know going. He said he wanted
to go one on one with Dana White. That's going
to fire you up.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I think that he's you know I I
and I only listen. I don't listen to what the
media says. I've only seen clips.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
To be fair, he said he wanted to compete.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
He was like, listen, I want to show that I'm
the better boxing promoter, which is I think what everybody
wants to do.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, And I think he's looking at her. He's like,
he's not doing anything that's you know, that's that's different
than anything we've ever done. And I don't disagree with that.
I mean, there's there's only so many things to do,
but there's there's certain ways to do it. And fair
enough to him where he says that he thinks that
I don't know enough about the boxing business and all
(03:20):
this stuff. I'm gonna I'm gonna stay in my little
world like I always do, Like I live in my
own little world. You know, with you have seen lots
of things in my life. I'll tell you how in
my own little world I live. I just discovered Billie Eilish.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Like two weeks ago, had no idea who she was.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Had no idea who she was. I I'd never heard the.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Biggest superstars on the planet, never.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Heard of her, never heard heard any of her songs
or sorry, any things. And I saw this thing on
Instagram where when she was sixteen years old she did
this festival is like the Redding Festival or something out
of California. Have you seen that clip?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I've heard about this thing yourselfalking about.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yes. So this girl, who was probably fourteen or fifteen
years old with her brother when she wrote this music,
goes out to this festival, which isn't in the afternoon.
She wasn't even the main act at that day. It
was that night, and the way that the crowd reacted
to her and sang to her song is one of
(04:21):
the cool. I've watched it one hundred and fifty thousand times. Seriously,
I'm not even kidding. My guys are like sick of
hearing it. I love that kind of stuff. I love
that this young, talented, you know girl and her brother
wrote wrote this music, and the way that the fans
reacted to her song at this thing has just blown
(04:44):
me away for the last couple of weeks and I
can't stop watching it. But I was just an example
of how in my own little world I live. And
then I looked at the it's bad Guy or tough Guy.
I don't know the name of the song, but then
when you look at the official video it's got one
point three billion.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Views, You're like, holy cow, I'm just discovering.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I love it. No, I love I love that type
of stuff. And I think that no matter what business
you're in, what sport you're in, or whatever walk of
life you're in, you always have the ability to find
somebody that connects with people. The Connor McGregor's, the Ronda Rousies,
(05:27):
the Billie Eilishes, you know, these type of people. I
love going out and trying to find those kinds of people.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think that's kind of you're talking about this that
makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, you're talking about this new Contender.
It seems like you want to invest in the youth
of the sport.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Contender series with the US It's insane.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
What you're doing over there is incredible.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I mean, we have multiple world chance.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You can't even put them on two hands. It's all
the people you're seeing and you go back through their
career highlights and oh they started on the Contender series.
Oh wait a second, and then they're world champs or
whatever else.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
This is what I love and this is what I'm
interested in, and I'm not looking to, uh, you know, say, oh,
I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna overhaul boxing and
I'm gonna do things that nobody's ever seen. I can
tell you this, I'm gonna put on a much better
production than anybody's seen in boxing. Uh. I think that
we will innovate the production side of the sport. I
(06:16):
think that we will elevate in how the sport is presented,
in the way that we do it. I think we
will bring new things that people haven't seen, and I
think we'll make the sport more exciting. So that's that's
where I disagree with but but I look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
To Eddie, Oh, I can't wait to see. That's a
one on one matchup. I gotta see.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Talk to me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I heard there's potential rooms you. You guys have had
some fighters signed potentially with ZOOFA. Is there any any
fighters you can tell me potentially?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We do? We do, We do have guys signed. Again.
After I get this weekend behind me, we'll go around more. Sure.
I say this all the time when I'm doing something new,
whether it was the UFC Power Slap and other things
we've done. Watch what we do in the next two
years UFC and all the other things that we're doing,
(07:13):
including boxing. Watch what we do in the next two years.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll talk to me about this. We're here obviously for Saturday.
I know you want to focus on that Canello Crawford
massive fight. I know you can't really lean one way
or the other, But how do.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
You think this is how I always lean? How I
always lean is I want to be a part of
You know shows that when people fly to Vegas, buy tickets,
spend money on hotel rooms and dinners, or stay home
(07:47):
and watch it or watch it in a bar, they're
not bummed out that they wasted their time watching my events.
That's my goal every Saturday, no matter what I'm doing.
So there's a lot of things that go into that,
and a lot of attention to detail that I think
every boxing promoter, not just some of them, doesn't do.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's where Dana White comes in.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I just think that's the difference between me and everybody else.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, well, talk to me about some of this stuff.
You're balancing a lot right now. Obviously you have this event,
You're gonna do more in twenty twenty six. But there's
another big event that's coming in twenty twenty six that
I got to talk to you about. The rumors are
swirling about. It's this white house event for the UFC.
I saw something today but they said there's gonna be
about five thousand people on if you said this or
somebody else, potentially on the lawn and then some bigger
(08:37):
screens going on. How excited are you about this because
it looked like when this became a potential you started
getting fired up.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, listen. I love one of one type
events like the Sphere last year for UFC. No cha,
this event.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I was gonna say, I got that I'm doing two.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Fights and two different states on the same night. Crazy,
and we've lined it up so that everybody can watch both.
And everybody who's watching this right now, including yourself, can't
tell me that you haven't been home watching two college
football games at the same time, two NFL games at
the same time, maybe even two fights at the same time.
That's what we've lined this up to do. This is
(09:12):
a special one of one event too, and then the
White House is literally the unicorn of one of one events.
We're gonna be on the South Lawn. We'll have under
five thousand fans on the South Lawn, and then the
park that is connected to the White House, we'll have
eighty five thousand people with screens. You know, we're doing
a big stage over there. We're gonna do concerts. We're
(09:33):
literally gonna take over Washington, DC that entire week. We're
gonna do you know, We're gonna do International Fight Week there. Yeah,
So ufc X will be there and lots of other
things that we're working on.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
As every single fighter on the roster asked to be
on this car.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Pretty much, yes, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I don't know if you've seen I know that you
essentially had ruled out John Jones being a main eventer
on that guard. He's he says, he's training five days
a week, Dana. He says he's trying to get on
that car. What does John Jones have to do to
get on a White House card?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
John Jones doesn't have to train five days a week. Now.
The fight isn't until next you.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Know, he just looks like he's jazzed up, he's ready.
You know, this is a renewed John.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
He has made it very clear to me that this
is what he wants to do. But I need people
on this card that I can count on that no
matter what happens, opponents get switched out or whatever happens.
I need guys that I can absolutely count on that
are going to show up that night. So listen, I'm
not saying no to John Jones, and I respect the
(10:31):
fact that he's pushing this hard. But John Jones and
I just had a deal that he pulled out of,
you know, so he's not on the top of my list.
Even though I say it all the time, you know,
he's the greatest of all time. I I still know
that to be a fact.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh you know, the comments are going to come out's
not the greatest.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
He's not the greatest of all time. A guy you
can count on, you know that, you know for one
hundred percent is going to be solid and be there
and say what you want about Connor McGregor because people
like to talk shit about that too, but he is
that guy. And he's always been that guy. I've been
in the room, I've been on the phone, I've been
you know, lots of people like to talk tough publicly,
(11:14):
but behind the scenes it's a whole nother ball game. Yeah,
when when when the ship hits the fan, who's really
willing to go out? And Connor McGregor has always been
that guy.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So you said, John's not at the top of your
list for that one. You know, maybe don't really out,
but who is? Can you give us a little bit of.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I just said McGregor.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Connor, So that's that's he wants.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Always been that guy. Ronda Rousey to Chuck Odell has
always been that there. There's a laundry list of people
that and and a lot of these these people that
are super talented are are almost like dealing with artists,
you know, Yeah, they're quirky little things.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And everybody's different in this game, and fighters are always
personality completely different. They're going to show up at this point,
it's gonna show up two hours. Let you'd ever know sometimes,
So yeah, absolutely, Now, this White House Card a lot
of people are super excited about. Obviously people are excited
about the Notese event as well, going on the same day.
But let's say Saturday night ins whoever wins this fight,
(12:13):
this is going to change the sport of boxing.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I feel I could not agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I think this is going to bring back this especially
here in America, because I've done I've worked with a
bunch of different companies in the UK and that's a
big boxing hotbed right now. But America needs boxing, in
my opinion, to ascend back to it. Let's talk about
the early nineteen hundreds, number one sport in America, number
one sport in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And we haven't had that. And I think this could
be a tipping point.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
When has there ever been a business or sport or
whatever you want to call it that has generated trillions
of dollars in revenue and at the end of the day,
there's nothing there. Yeah, And to be honest, you know,
it took Saudi money to make this kind of stuff happen.
If you look at what MBS and Shake Turkey have done. Yeah,
(12:59):
this sport of boxing in no time at all, like this,
it's absolutely amazing. But that's what it took. And it
also you know, said to me, this is the right
time to do it, This is the right time to
jump in if it's ever gonna work and it's ever
gonna be great again right now?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
As why why you think that?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Because these guys are so aggressive and so willing to
make these big fights. And the other thing that is
incredibly impressive is I mean you're seeing it now with me.
There's so much hate and the sport of boxing. Everybody
hates everybody, all this all this crap, and uh, these
(13:43):
guys are willing to get all the biggest haters together
to pull off these fights.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Do you do you enjoy that a little bit and you.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Don't enjoy it? I absolutely love it. Yeah, I love.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It because it feels like that again, competition has been
your your tipping point has made the UFC what it
is now, coming into people that maybe you like Eddie,
but there's other guys like an Oscar de la Hooya
that people that you may not get along with, but
I think that might fuel you even more.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
But that's the that's the thing about the fight business.
Even in my business in the UFC, there's guys that
I like, and there's guys that I don't like. There's
guys that I don't like to fight for me, for sure,
I don't like them. We don't have to like each
other to work together, right you know. But yeah, everybody
hates everybody in the boxing business. And now guys that
I was absolutely cool with are talking shit and coming.
(14:28):
But that's any thing is part of the business. It's anything.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Is it Is it surprising to you that he did
that today?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It is?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It is in some ways, and it isn't. You know.
Eddie's a guy who when you look at what his
father has accomplished and incredible and whatever room incredible. It's
very hard being a son of somebody so successful for
you to carve out your own niche and create your
own identity, and Eddie has done that. Yeah, you know,
(14:56):
And like I said, I really like and respect Eddie.
Hearn always have and that's never going to change.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But I look forward I look forward to for this.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I can't wait make a whole spectacle of you know,
they did the five v five with Eddie and and Frank.
They got to do something with you and Eddie now
in the same kind of mode. That'd be sick. You
get your roster together, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there there's gonna be lots of
different opportunities. But but what's great for to You know,
there's a lot of shit talk about how much boxers
make and all this stuff. Handful of guys do, oh yeah,
you know, the tens, the hundreds of thousands of fighters
out there don't. I can tell you this. And people
talk about the pay and and and in my sport,
(15:40):
there are guys who come off the Contender series who
have made millions and millions of dollars already where nobody
knew who they were. We built them up and and
they now make millions and millions of dollars. So I
will do the same thing in the boxing business. You'll
just be ten guys that make millions of dollars or
(16:01):
seven or however many there are. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Something about boxing that's I think you want to change,
and I think Turkey does as well, is the introduction
of of you know, stacked cards, cards that you care
not just about the main event, but you care about
that undercard, and you build you use that main event
to build your undercard versus I mean you've called it
a going out of business sale, right when you have
these these cards that are loaded with fighters you don't
really know or care about, and then there's that big
(16:25):
main event and that price and that purse gets in
that main event, and everybody else is kind of left behind.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
This is what I will guarantee you. I will do,
in no way, shape or form if I come into
this boxing thing arrogant saying, oh I'm going to change
the whole sport and I'm gonna do I'm the savior
of boxing, blah blah blah blah blah. Never have I
said any of that, right, But here's what I will
what I will say, I am gonna within the next
couple of years, we'll have people tuning into all the
(16:51):
fights from the first fight of the night till till
till the end consistently. Yeah, like the UFC. Yeah, none
of these boxing guys can say that they've done that
or that you know, what I'm doing isn't isn't unique?
Or different than anything you know that's ever been done.
That is definitely unique. It hasn't been done. You don't
(17:13):
have any of these promoters where people are tuning in,
you know, to the first fight of the night. I
got celebrities that come to the UFC and they're sitting
in their seat the first fight of the night.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The ovon your guy. All right, Dan, I know you're
gonna have to wrap up. Do me one favor. Can
you really quickly talk to me about Callum Walsh. I
know you're very excited about his fight, and then give
me one fight. Dana White would like to pro outside
of this mega fight here another fight you like to
promote and box.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, I'll tell you this. I heard that Fernando Vargas
Junior was saying, not only am i fighting Callum Walsh
on Saturday night, I'm fighting Dana White and shake Turkey,
meaning that he feels like this, like the deck is
stacked against him because you know I got behind Callum.
That's not true. I put these fights together. I do
(18:01):
all the bells and whistles. Who wins and loses is
up to you, up to you if it's you. Fernando
Vargas Junior. I respect your father and and and what
he did in his career and and everything else. And
Saturday night's up to you. We're giving you the opportunity
to say almost the event in the fight of a lifetime.
(18:24):
You are the co main event. I respect you as
much as I respect anybody else on the cart, including
the main event. Saturday night is up to you. You.
I promise you. You do not have Shake Turkey or myself,
uh you know, against you on Saturday. Go in and
do what you do and Callum's gonna do what he does.
And this is an opportunity for both of you to
(18:47):
not only you know, build your name and your legacy,
but uh, you know, make a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, man, I'd argue your involvement helps that, but uh, Dana,
I appreciate it. You have one message to the people
watching for this Saturday whatever you got in the future
coming on.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Let me say this. If you are a UFC fan,
right Saturday night is your opportunity to tune in and watch.
You already know what UFC notch is. It's sold out
in San Antonio. You're gonna watch that card. Now you
have the opportunity to watch a stacked boxing card of
great fighters all the way up to the main event. Right,
if you are a boxing fan and you are a
(19:22):
fringe UFC guy, you have the opportunity to tune in
Saturday night watch an unbelievable card with a badass main event.
So the bottom line is this, if you are a
fight fan or a fringe fight fan, Saturday Night is
the greatest night in combat sports history. Enjoy everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
We'll leave it off on that, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
UFC President now Zuva boxing head Dana White coming through
Yes, sir, come on through, Dana, appreciate it, Dana Way,
nice to meet you. I'm liking that ring shirt you're
rocking today. Ladies and gentlemen, President of UC Dana White
as well as sir. Just come down a nightcap over there.
The boys Shannon and Ocho.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
How is that?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
It's great? Great love those guys.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, man, so Vegas, we're here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Talk to me about why this was the fight Dana
White decided to come into boxing to support and grow
the sport.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, it's not that this was the fight that I
decided to do. This was the fight that I was
I was offered, you know, by Shake Turkey. He said,
I put this fight together and I would love for
you to be the promoter of it. Yeah, And who
the hell would say no to this?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I can't you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, you'd have to be mentally ill to not want
to promote this fight. Right.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
So, this whole thing, this build up, Netflix, the entire thing.
Is this the the big push for Dana White to
do more in boxing? I've heard you talk about this
new Contender series you're going to do. Obviously, zoof of
Boxing now come to life.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
When Shake Turkey asked asked me to be the promoter
this fight. We went out, we cut the television deal,
We went out and cut the arena deal. You know,
we did all the all the groundwork for this thing,
and then obviously we're putting together the production. You know,
all the nuts and bolts and all the things that
that that go into a fight. We did. This is
(01:22):
gonna be the third biggest fight in history, right, And
I know a lot of people like to talk shit.
Take it however you want to take it, boys, Number
one fight of all time Mayweather Pack, Yeah, number two
Mayweather McGregor, number three, Crawford versus Canelo. What do what
did two of the three have in common? I've been
(01:44):
a part of two of the biggest of boxing. So yeah. Uh.
And then I'm gonna do my own thing in twenty
six with Shake Turkey. You know, He's got a lot
of other plans, But the thing that I'm most focused
about is this thing that I want to do in
(02:05):
twenty six. I think that tender style, I think that
I can add a lot of value to the sport
into a lot of these young, up and coming guys. Yeah.
I saw Eddie Hearn, who I was just going to
ask you about this. This just I love and respect
this guy. I consider him a friend. I was surprised,
but not surprised to see him talking shit today and.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I just letting you know.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He said, listen, I guess my responses. I look forward
to it to my brother. I look forward to it too. People.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I'm an MMA guy as well as a boxing guy.
You love to compete.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I love and so I love and.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You guys being you know going. He said he wanted
to go one on one with Dana White. That's going
to fire you up.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, well, I think that he's you know I I
and I only listen. I don't listen to what the
media says. I've only seen clips.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
To be fair, he said he wanted to compete.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
He was like, listen, I want to show that I'm
the better boxing promoter, which is I think what everybody
wants to do.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, And I think he's looking at her. He's like,
he's not doing anything that's you know, that's that's different
than anything we've ever done. And I don't disagree with that.
I mean, there's there's only so many things to do,
but there's there's certain ways to do it. And fair
enough to him where he says that he thinks that
I don't know enough about the boxing business and all
(03:20):
this stuff. I'm gonna I'm gonna stay in my little
world like I always do, Like I live in my
own little world. You know, with you have seen lots
of things in my life. I'll tell you how in
my own little world I live. I just discovered Billie Eilish.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Like two weeks ago, had no idea who she was.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Had no idea who she was. I I'd never heard the.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Biggest superstars on the planet, never.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Heard of her, never heard heard any of her songs
or sorry, any things. And I saw this thing on
Instagram where when she was sixteen years old she did
this festival is like the Redding Festival or something out
of California. Have you seen that clip?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I've heard about this thing yourselfalking about.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yes. So this girl, who was probably fourteen or fifteen
years old with her brother when she wrote this music,
goes out to this festival, which isn't in the afternoon.
She wasn't even the main act at that day. It
was that night, and the way that the crowd reacted
to her and sang to her song is one of
(04:21):
the cool. I've watched it one hundred and fifty thousand times. Seriously,
I'm not even kidding. My guys are like sick of
hearing it. I love that kind of stuff. I love
that this young, talented, you know girl and her brother
wrote wrote this music, and the way that the fans
reacted to her song at this thing has just blown
(04:44):
me away for the last couple of weeks and I
can't stop watching it. But I was just an example
of how in my own little world I live. And
then I looked at the it's bad Guy or tough Guy.
I don't know the name of the song, but then
when you look at the official video it's got one
point three billion.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Views, You're like, holy cow, I'm just discovering.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I love it. No, I love I love that type
of stuff. And I think that no matter what business
you're in, what sport you're in, or whatever walk of
life you're in, you always have the ability to find
somebody that connects with people. The Connor McGregor's, the Ronda Rousies,
(05:27):
the Billie Eilishes, you know, these type of people. I
love going out and trying to find those kinds of people.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think that's kind of you're talking about this that
makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, you're talking about this new Contender.
It seems like you want to invest in the youth
of the sport.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Contender series with the US It's insane.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
What you're doing over there is incredible.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
I mean, we have multiple world chance.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You can't even put them on two hands. It's all
the people you're seeing and you go back through their
career highlights and oh they started on the Contender series.
Oh wait a second, and then they're world champs or
whatever else.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
This is what I love and this is what I'm
interested in, and I'm not looking to, uh, you know, say, oh,
I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna overhaul boxing and
I'm gonna do things that nobody's ever seen. I can
tell you this, I'm gonna put on a much better
production than anybody's seen in boxing. Uh. I think that
we will innovate the production side of the sport. I
(06:16):
think that we will elevate in how the sport is presented,
in the way that we do it. I think we
will bring new things that people haven't seen, and I
think we'll make the sport more exciting. So that's that's
where I disagree with but but I look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
To Eddie, Oh, I can't wait to see. That's a
one on one matchup. I gotta see.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Talk to me.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I heard there's potential rooms you. You guys have had
some fighters signed potentially with ZOOFA. Is there any any
fighters you can tell me potentially?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We do? We do, We do have guys signed. Again.
After I get this weekend behind me, we'll go around more. Sure.
I say this all the time when I'm doing something new,
whether it was the UFC Power Slap and other things
we've done. Watch what we do in the next two
years UFC and all the other things that we're doing,
(07:13):
including boxing. Watch what we do in the next two years.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We'll talk to me about this. We're here obviously for Saturday.
I know you want to focus on that Canello Crawford
massive fight. I know you can't really lean one way
or the other, But how do.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
You think this is how I always lean? How I
always lean is I want to be a part of
You know shows that when people fly to Vegas, buy tickets,
spend money on hotel rooms and dinners, or stay home
(07:47):
and watch it or watch it in a bar, they're
not bummed out that they wasted their time watching my events.
That's my goal every Saturday, no matter what I'm doing.
So there's a lot of things that go into that,
and a lot of attention to detail that I think
every boxing promoter, not just some of them, doesn't do.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's where Dana White comes in.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
I just think that's the difference between me and everybody else.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, well, talk to me about some of this stuff.
You're balancing a lot right now. Obviously you have this event,
You're gonna do more in twenty twenty six. But there's
another big event that's coming in twenty twenty six that
I got to talk to you about. The rumors are
swirling about. It's this white house event for the UFC.
I saw something today but they said there's gonna be
about five thousand people on if you said this or
somebody else, potentially on the lawn and then some bigger
(08:37):
screens going on. How excited are you about this because
it looked like when this became a potential you started
getting fired up.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Oh yeah, yeah, listen. I love one of one type
events like the Sphere last year for UFC. No cha,
this event.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I was gonna say, I got that I'm doing two.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Fights and two different states on the same night. Crazy,
and we've lined it up so that everybody can watch both.
And everybody who's watching this right now, including yourself, can't
tell me that you haven't been home watching two college
football games at the same time, two NFL games at
the same time, maybe even two fights at the same time.
That's what we've lined this up to do. This is
(09:12):
a special one of one event too, and then the
White House is literally the unicorn of one of one events.
We're gonna be on the South Lawn. We'll have under
five thousand fans on the South Lawn, and then the
park that is connected to the White House, we'll have
eighty five thousand people with screens. You know, we're doing
a big stage over there. We're gonna do concerts. We're
(09:33):
literally gonna take over Washington, DC that entire week. We're
gonna do you know, We're gonna do International Fight Week there. Yeah,
So ufc X will be there and lots of other
things that we're working on.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
As every single fighter on the roster asked to be
on this car.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Pretty much, yes, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I don't know if you've seen I know that you
essentially had ruled out John Jones being a main eventer
on that guard. He's he says, he's training five days
a week, Dana. He says he's trying to get on
that car. What does John Jones have to do to
get on a White House card?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
John Jones doesn't have to train five days a week. Now.
The fight isn't until next you.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Know, he just looks like he's jazzed up, he's ready.
You know, this is a renewed John.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
He has made it very clear to me that this
is what he wants to do. But I need people
on this card that I can count on that no
matter what happens, opponents get switched out or whatever happens.
I need guys that I can absolutely count on that
are going to show up that night. So listen, I'm
not saying no to John Jones, and I respect the
(10:31):
fact that he's pushing this hard. But John Jones and
I just had a deal that he pulled out of,
you know, so he's not on the top of my list.
Even though I say it all the time, you know,
he's the greatest of all time. I I still know
that to be a fact.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Oh you know, the comments are going to come out's
not the greatest.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
He's not the greatest of all time. A guy you
can count on, you know that, you know for one
hundred percent is going to be solid and be there
and say what you want about Connor McGregor because people
like to talk shit about that too, but he is
that guy. And he's always been that guy. I've been
in the room, I've been on the phone, I've been
you know, lots of people like to talk tough publicly,
(11:14):
but behind the scenes it's a whole nother ball game. Yeah,
when when when the ship hits the fan, who's really
willing to go out? And Connor McGregor has always been
that guy.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
So you said, John's not at the top of your
list for that one. You know, maybe don't really out,
but who is? Can you give us a little bit of.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
I just said McGregor.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Connor, So that's that's he wants.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Always been that guy. Ronda Rousey to Chuck Odell has
always been that there. There's a laundry list of people
that and and a lot of these these people that
are super talented are are almost like dealing with artists,
you know, Yeah, they're quirky little things.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
And everybody's different in this game, and fighters are always
personality completely different. They're going to show up at this point,
it's gonna show up two hours. Let you'd ever know sometimes,
So yeah, absolutely, Now, this White House Card a lot
of people are super excited about. Obviously people are excited
about the Notese event as well, going on the same day.
But let's say Saturday night ins whoever wins this fight,
(12:13):
this is going to change the sport of boxing.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I feel I could not agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I think this is going to bring back this especially
here in America, because I've done I've worked with a
bunch of different companies in the UK and that's a
big boxing hotbed right now. But America needs boxing, in
my opinion, to ascend back to it. Let's talk about
the early nineteen hundreds, number one sport in America, number
one sport in the world.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And we haven't had that. And I think this could
be a tipping point.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
When has there ever been a business or sport or
whatever you want to call it that has generated trillions
of dollars in revenue and at the end of the day,
there's nothing there. Yeah, And to be honest, you know,
it took Saudi money to make this kind of stuff happen.
If you look at what MBS and Shake Turkey have done. Yeah,
(12:59):
this sport of boxing in no time at all, like this,
it's absolutely amazing. But that's what it took. And it
also you know, said to me, this is the right
time to do it, This is the right time to
jump in if it's ever gonna work and it's ever
gonna be great again right now?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
As why why you think that?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Because these guys are so aggressive and so willing to
make these big fights. And the other thing that is
incredibly impressive is I mean you're seeing it now with me.
There's so much hate and the sport of boxing. Everybody
hates everybody, all this all this crap, and uh, these
(13:43):
guys are willing to get all the biggest haters together
to pull off these fights.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Do you do you enjoy that a little bit and you.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Don't enjoy it? I absolutely love it. Yeah, I love.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It because it feels like that again, competition has been
your your tipping point has made the UFC what it
is now, coming into people that maybe you like Eddie,
but there's other guys like an Oscar de la Hooya
that people that you may not get along with, but
I think that might fuel you even more.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
But that's the that's the thing about the fight business.
Even in my business in the UFC, there's guys that
I like, and there's guys that I don't like. There's
guys that I don't like to fight for me, for sure,
I don't like them. We don't have to like each
other to work together, right you know. But yeah, everybody
hates everybody in the boxing business. And now guys that
I was absolutely cool with are talking shit and coming.
(14:28):
But that's any thing is part of the business. It's anything.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Is it Is it surprising to you that he did
that today?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
It is?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It is in some ways, and it isn't. You know.
Eddie's a guy who when you look at what his
father has accomplished and incredible and whatever room incredible. It's
very hard being a son of somebody so successful for
you to carve out your own niche and create your
own identity, and Eddie has done that. Yeah, you know,
(14:56):
And like I said, I really like and respect Eddie.
Hearn always have and that's never going to change.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
But I look forward I look forward to for this.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I can't wait make a whole spectacle of you know,
they did the five v five with Eddie and and Frank.
They got to do something with you and Eddie now
in the same kind of mode. That'd be sick. You
get your roster together, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, yeah, I mean there there's gonna be lots of
different opportunities. But but what's great for to You know,
there's a lot of shit talk about how much boxers
make and all this stuff. Handful of guys do, oh yeah,
you know, the tens, the hundreds of thousands of fighters
out there don't. I can tell you this. And people
talk about the pay and and and in my sport,
(15:40):
there are guys who come off the Contender series who
have made millions and millions of dollars already where nobody
knew who they were. We built them up and and
they now make millions and millions of dollars. So I
will do the same thing in the boxing business. You'll
just be ten guys that make millions of dollars or
(16:01):
seven or however many there are. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Something about boxing that's I think you want to change,
and I think Turkey does as well, is the introduction
of of you know, stacked cards, cards that you care
not just about the main event, but you care about
that undercard, and you build you use that main event
to build your undercard versus I mean you've called it
a going out of business sale, right when you have
these these cards that are loaded with fighters you don't
really know or care about, and then there's that big
(16:25):
main event and that price and that purse gets in
that main event, and everybody else is kind of left behind.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
This is what I will guarantee you. I will do,
in no way, shape or form if I come into
this boxing thing arrogant saying, oh I'm going to change
the whole sport and I'm gonna do I'm the savior
of boxing, blah blah blah blah blah. Never have I
said any of that, right, But here's what I will
what I will say, I am gonna within the next
couple of years, we'll have people tuning into all the
(16:51):
fights from the first fight of the night till till
till the end consistently. Yeah, like the UFC. Yeah, none
of these boxing guys can say that they've done that
or that you know, what I'm doing isn't isn't unique?
Or different than anything you know that's ever been done.
That is definitely unique. It hasn't been done. You don't
(17:13):
have any of these promoters where people are tuning in,
you know, to the first fight of the night. I
got celebrities that come to the UFC and they're sitting
in their seat the first fight of the night.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The ovon your guy. All right, Dan, I know you're
gonna have to wrap up. Do me one favor. Can
you really quickly talk to me about Callum Walsh. I
know you're very excited about his fight, and then give
me one fight. Dana White would like to pro outside
of this mega fight here another fight you like to
promote and box.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Well, I'll tell you this. I heard that Fernando Vargas
Junior was saying, not only am i fighting Callum Walsh
on Saturday night, I'm fighting Dana White and shake Turkey,
meaning that he feels like this, like the deck is
stacked against him because you know I got behind Callum.
That's not true. I put these fights together. I do
(18:01):
all the bells and whistles. Who wins and loses is
up to you, up to you if it's you. Fernando
Vargas Junior. I respect your father and and and what
he did in his career and and everything else. And
Saturday night's up to you. We're giving you the opportunity
to say almost the event in the fight of a lifetime.
(18:24):
You are the co main event. I respect you as
much as I respect anybody else on the cart, including
the main event. Saturday night is up to you. You.
I promise you. You do not have Shake Turkey or myself,
uh you know, against you on Saturday. Go in and
do what you do and Callum's gonna do what he does.
And this is an opportunity for both of you to
(18:47):
not only you know, build your name and your legacy,
but uh, you know, make a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, man, I'd argue your involvement helps that, but uh, Dana,
I appreciate it. You have one message to the people
watching for this Saturday whatever you got in the future
coming on.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Let me say this. If you are a UFC fan,
right Saturday night is your opportunity to tune in and watch.
You already know what UFC notch is. It's sold out
in San Antonio. You're gonna watch that card. Now you
have the opportunity to watch a stacked boxing card of
great fighters all the way up to the main event. Right,
if you are a boxing fan and you are a
(19:22):
fringe UFC guy, you have the opportunity to tune in
Saturday night watch an unbelievable card with a badass main event.
So the bottom line is this, if you are a
fight fan or a fringe fight fan, Saturday Night is
the greatest night in combat sports history. Enjoy everyone.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
We'll leave it off on that, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
UFC President now Zuva boxing head Dana White coming through
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