Dana White Refused To Have Major Sponsor Censor Him Over Support Of Trump

Dana White recalled butting heads with a UFC sponsor following their criticism of his decision to back Donald Trump. 

The comments were in reference to a time when Trump had asked the CEO of the UFC to speak at the Republican National Convention in 2016 during his presidential run. White’s decision to get behind the idea may have been helped by the fact that Trump is known for being a huge UFC fan.

The former president has been seen at many major fights, including the Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov bout, as well as the recent UFC 295 event headlined by Jiří Procházka and Alex Pereira. However, that support did not sit well with a sponsor, as White outlined. 

“I posted a video for Trump on my personal social media. One of our big sponsors called and said, ‘Take that down.’ You know what I said? Go f*** yourself. You vote for whoever you want to vote for and I’ll vote for whoever I want to vote for. That’s how this works. I don’t even care who you’re voting for. It’s none of my f****** business. F*** you. Don’t ever f****** call me and tell me who to vote for,” White said

Much in the same way, White also addressed the controversy surrounding the UFC’s ‘Bud Light’ deal. The six-year deal, which is reportedly worth over $100 million, will begin in 2024. The beer company had been criticized for its advert featuring Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer. That drew a lot of backlash from conservative groups who demanded that the company be boycotted for ‘woke advertising’. And given the huge publicity that emerged from that, White was accused of putting them as a sponsor simply for money, something which he has denied. 

“It’s like this whole Bud Light deal. People are talking s*** now, sellout and all this. Believe me, I’m the furthest f****** thing from a sellout. Bud Light is the right move for me. They’re exactly who I want to be with right now and we are very aligned as far as core values go. Sixty-five thousand Americans they employ. That right there should be enough. Sixty-five thousand Americans are employed there. Why would you want to put a bullet in that brand off of one f****** thing?” White stated