Dana White, like so many other men in his tax bracket, has decided that reality is whatever he says it is.
That was on full display over the weekend when he tried to Jedi mind trick America into forgetting what the purpose of any speech at the Republican National Convention is. I cannot tell if he buys his own BS or not, but he clearly thinks we do.
White doesn’t care for people like you and me. It’s why he thinks you’ll believe him when he says that the speech he made at the RNC was not political. It doesn’t matter how you feel about him. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a UFC fan or not. White is convinced you are either too stupid or too in awe of him to recognize how little he respects you.
Dana White on if he thinks having a UFC event at the White House will be polarizing for the fans that don’t lean to the Administration’s politics.
I don’t think like that…Look at any of my speeches at the Republican convention, they’re never political. I’m never talking about… pic.twitter.com/tUBbXJ7QCC
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 12, 2026
The man cannot handle criticism but is not creative enough to fight back. That means he is constantly showing just how much he loathes the people that have made the UFC’s success possible, whether those people are fans or the media outlets that air and cover his biggest fights and fighters.
He has very publicly tried to have it all in his relationship with Donald Trump. He wants the kickbacks and access that come with being the president’s best friend without any of the blowback that should be expected, especially considering the historic unpopularity of the man currently in the White House.
Remember, White didn’t just speak at the RNC in 2024. He also spoke at Trump’s celebration the day after the 2024 election and turned an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show in July of that year into a commercial for the Trump campaign. But refusing to own his exploits as a political animal should come as no surprise for someone who exists in a universe where he is the sun that everything orbits.
This is the same man who claims that another one of his creations, Power Slap, has more social media interactions than the NFL, NBA, and other global sports leagues combined. He also said it had more followers than any other sport on the globe. Power Slap has 7.4 million followers on Instagram. The NBA has 90 million.
Dana White has been outspoken about what isn’t acceptable for someone on the UFC roster in the past. But that always came with a wink and a nudge. After all, the guy explained why Thiago Silva was being allowed to fight in the UFC just seven months after the fighter reportedly forced a loaded gun into his estranged wife’s mouth during the very same Fox Sports Live appearance where he condemned the video of Ray Rice punching his then fiancee.
During that appearance, White famously said that while the UFC has always given fighters cleared of wrongdoing a path back to the octagon, “There’s one thing that you never bounce back from and that’s putting your hands on a woman. Been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”
Just nine years later, Dana White would be explaining to reporters that there is no excuse for the video that showed him hitting his own wife. He then added that he would not face any consequences from the UFC for it. He argued that would hurt the UFC more than it hurt him.
White’s importance to the history of UFC and MMA in general cannot be overstated, but the sport has grown too big for one man’s presence or absence to destroy it. MMA fans know that. Even if they have never thought about it before, it’s a pretty easy conclusion to reach.
Dana White also has a habit of running cover for some of the worst people on his roster. Defending the reinstatement of Silva is maybe the most extreme, but there are a mountain of other examples.
Sean Strickland is a problem for the UFC. He’s an unrepentant bigot, and he isn’t the only one on White’s payroll. Hell, he isn’t the first or most famous one. To discipline him would undoubtedly raise questions about why Connor McGregor never faced consequences.
White’s strategy has not been to do anything to stop the people associated with his sport from driving away potential fans. It has been to scold reporters and fans for wondering why he is happy to let it continue and to reframe inaction as standing up for freedom of speech. So much for accountability. I’m not sure whose mind that strategy changes.
Then there is the issue of who deserves to get rich from combat sports. In February of 2025, Forbes estimated White’s worth to be somewhere north of $600 million. That was before whatever he made off of the UFC’s new deal with Paramount+.
But no one has cried poor louder than Dana White. Now, to be fair to White, he has never said that the UFC doesn’t have the money to pay more than the $12,000 appearance fee and $12,000 victory bonus to its fighters when they step in the ring. White argues that he’s looking out for MMA’s future.
Let’s look at last month’s UFC 326 in Las Vegas. There were 12 fights on the bill. Assuming all 24 fighters got the $12,000 base pay and all 12 winners got the $12,000 bonus, that is a total of $432,000 paid out to fighters. That accounts for just over 5% of the reported $8.3 million gate revenue.
That number doesn’t include any money from the Paramount+ deal. I cannot say how the UFC calculates that deal into revenue generated by each event. All it can do is raise the total take though, right? No matter how you slice it, the UFC is not in danger of going out of business due to fighter compensation. It’s something that White’s critics and his own friends and fighters have called out multiple times. UFC’s parent company has even paid to settle antitrust lawsuits. Still, White holds the line about being careful with how much fighters get paid.
Dana White thinks being rich means he has all the answers. His belief that he knows best and should not be challenged is not unique. He certainly deserves more credit than the other billionaires and megamillionaires that control every aspect of American life. At least White built something. But what he has become is nothing new.
