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White was having none of it.
“How about be authentic and just be yourself? You don’t have to agree with me, and you don’t have to like it, and I don’t have to agree with you, but we can all still just get along,” White told Burbank.
The exchange was short, direct, and completely unapologetic.
Unlike many executives in professional sports who carefully navigate political messaging, White has long insisted that honesty and loyalty matter more than media approval.
His stance reflects a larger lesson learned across the sports world over the past decade.
Fans do not tune in for political lectures.
They tune in for competition.
And that distinction has become increasingly clear when comparing how different leagues have handled political activism.
The NBA, for example, spent several seasons heavily promoting political messaging on the court, including the Black Lives Matter slogan and other social justice initiatives. Players were encouraged to kneel during the national anthem, and broadcasts frequently shifted focus away from basketball and toward activism.
Critics argue that approach came with a price.
Television ratings and audience engagement dropped dramatically over time, with some estimates suggesting the league lost roughly two-thirds of its audience between 1998 and 2022.
Dana White watched that unfold from the outside.
Instead of transforming the UFC into a political platform, he kept the organization focused on fights.
But the media continues to fixate on something else entirely: White’s long-standing relationship with Donald Trump.
That friendship goes back decades and played a crucial role in the UFC’s survival during its earliest days.
In 2001, White and the Fertitta brothers purchased the struggling organization for just $2 million. At the time, the sport was widely condemned and banned in many places. Senator John McCain had famously labeled it “human cockfighting,” and major arenas refused to host events.
The UFC was on the brink of extinction.
One prominent businessman, however, was willing to take the risk.
Donald Trump allowed the promotion to hold early events at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. According to White, Trump personally supported the organization when few others would.
The future president reportedly attended the events and stayed from the opening bout until the final fight.
White has often spoken about how Trump also made a point of congratulating him whenever the company reached a milestone.
“Any good thing that happened to me in my career, Donald Trump was the first to pick up the phone and call.”
Those early opportunities helped the UFC build credibility and momentum.
Fifteen years later, the company sold for approximately $4 billion. Today the promotion is estimated to be worth around $12 billion, making it one of the most successful sports brands in the world.
Despite that success, critics continue to demand that White distance himself from Trump.
White sees that criticism as hypocritical.
He pointed out that prominent political figures across both parties openly support sports leagues without generating the same outrage.
“George Bush was a big baseball fan, Obama was an NBA fan and Trump is a UFC fan. I don’t think that any of those guys being fans made any sport too political.”
That perspective has only become more relevant following a major announcement tied to America’s upcoming historic celebrations.
During the same CBS interview, White confirmed plans for what may become the most unusual fight card in UFC history.
The organization intends to stage a massive event on the South Lawn of the White House as part of the United States’ 250th anniversary festivities.
The proposed event would take place on June 14, which also happens to be Trump’s 80th birthday.
According to White, the production will be enormous.
Fighters are expected to make their walkouts from the Oval Office area, while weigh-ins are planned at the Lincoln Memorial. Tens of thousands of spectators could gather around the Ellipse to watch the historic card.
Military service members will receive the primary seating area on the South Lawn, and the promotion itself plans to cover all costs associated with the event.
That includes restoration of the lawn afterward.
White emphasized that the UFC will handle the bill entirely, meaning taxpayers will not fund the spectacle.
Naturally, the idea of a UFC fight card at the White House immediately sparked questions from journalists about whether the event might be “too political.”
White dismissed the concern.
“I don’t know how it would be too political other than it’s at the White House.”
For White, the answer remains simple.
The UFC’s mission is not to deliver political messaging or ideological campaigns.
It is to give fans the fights they want to see.
And if the media expected Dana White to apologize for his friendships or his approach to business, his two-word answer made the UFC boss’s position crystal clear.
Be authentic.
