UFC's Dana White praises 'Michael Jordan of the business world' WWE's Vince McMahon
Dana White lays on the praise for WWE boss McMahon
Once adversarial competitors, Dana White and Vince McMahon are now as chummy as lifelong friends these days, thanks, in large part, to the merger between UFC and WWE. The completion of that merger into TKO Holdings was made official a few weeks ago and in a recent interview with Si.com, White referred to Vince as “the Michael Jordan of the business world.”
That’s strong praise considering White also said in that same interview that Vince had been awful to him for no reason. The exact quote doesn’t mince words.
“He tried to f*ck me so many times for no reason whatsoever except just to f*ck me. But that’s in the past. Now that Vince and I are allies, no one’s been a better partner than Vince,” White said.
In the months since the UFC and WWE merged to form TKO, the two have worked closely together with their dynamic changing significantly. White says those acrimonious days are now a thing of the past.
“Since day one of the deal, it’s like I’m dealing with a different guy. It goes to show that when you oppose him, or he thinks you are opposing him, the guy comes after you blindly. Once you are aligned, Vince is an incredible partner.”
White mentioned that his relationship with WWE’s Stephanie McMahon and her husband Paul Levesque (Triple H) has always been great, despite the always-at-odds past nature of his relationship with Vince.
“Triple H and Stephanie have always been great to work with. I’ve always had a great relationship with them, always, even when we weren’t aligned back in the day. But the most amazing story is the relationship with Vince McMahon.’
He continued on, saying, “Vince McMahon, man, he’s an absolute savage. Even with the stuff that went down with us in the past, I respect it. I love killers. He’s definitely a killer. He’s the Michael Jordan of the business world.”
Since this joining of the two sports entertainment super powers, Dana’s official title has changed—although not much else. Once known as UFC president, White is now UFC CEO, but his duties to the company are as they’ve always been.
“I don’t give a s—t about that kind of stuff. Even the CEO thing, it’s a lateral move for me. I run everything that happens here. Everything that goes on here, I determine. So nothing has changed, it’s just three letters… I’m the CEO or President of the UFC now. But nothing changes. We’re just going to continue to kick ass like we do every single year.”
The TKO merger has a valuation of just over $21B and White couldn’t help gloating over how dominant that would make them in the industry:
“I always am (excited) regardless, but after this merger, we’re so much more powerful than we were yesterday.”
Right now, the WWE is seeking a new broadcast partner, so White says he’s just eager to watch Vince work. With his own plate very full with UFC business, slap fighting and trying to keep his PPVs together, there’s not room for much else, one would think. But Dana White is no ordinary man, so one can expect him to have his sights set on a plethora of other projects as he has always been wont to do.
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Stephie Haynes has been covering MMA since 2005. She has also worked for MMA promotion Proelite and apparel brand TapouT. She hosted TapouT’s official radio show for four years before joining Bloody Elbow in 2012. She has interviewed everyone there is to interview in the fight game from from Dana White to Conor McGregor to Kimbo Slice, as well as mainstream TV, film and music stars including Norman Reedus, RZA and Anthony Bourdain. She has been producing the BE podcast network since 2017 and hosts four of its current shows.
