Dana White has brushed off the suggestion that the UFC is a pro-Republican Party organization. The 55-year-old has been close friends with Donald Trump for many years. His close friendship and his walking the 78-year maverick to pay-per-view events with great pomp are some of the reasons for such scrutiny. White often catches flak for allegedly introducing his UFC fanbase to right-wing conservative sentiments. With Joe Biden on the quits, the scrutiny into alleged MMA politics has only increased.
The UFC CEO has been a speaker at the RNC on three occasions. 2016, 2020, and this time around. This year’s convention was particularly notable as it followed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Speaking with Yahoo! Sports‘ Ben Fowlkes on the ‘Co-Main Event’ Podcast, he already denied pro-Republican allegations and said that he’d treat Joe Biden the same. Furthermore, he outlined a story of when Biden’s granddaughter, possibly Natalie Biden, attended a UFC event last year.
I’m an American, and whoever is the president of the United States, is my president… When we were at Madison Square Garden, the last time that Trump came to Madison Square Garden… Biden’s granddaughter was there… I tried to grab her to pull her back to my room to meet her but when she heard Trump was coming, she left, which sucks…I would’ve liked to have met her. I don’t judge people by their politics.
Dana White in an Exclusive virtual interview with Yahoo! Sports’ Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA)
Campbell McLaren, CEO of Combate Global, and co-head of the UFC recently tweeted about how Biden and his Democratic operatives have refused their option to media availability. White recently slammed CNN host Laura Coates debating that Trump is better suited to run the country than Kamala Harris. His being too much on the uppity-up with the GOP presidential nominee has created the pro-Republican narrative. However, he defuses those claims saying Biden’s family also attended his events.
The story about Biden’s granddaughter being at a UFC event is an interesting one that I’ve never heard Dana mention before. https://t.co/GFMRBSuIEE
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 16, 2024
Trump paraded into Madison Square Garden at the UFC 295 pay-per-view (PPV) event last year with Kid Rock, Tucker Carlson, and Dana White. With MMA politics and heated sentiments afloat, the younger Biden allegedly took her out. In hindsight a wise choice. Who can forget Bill Burr’s wife flipping Trump? As such, the interlude of MMA and politics remains as weird as ever.
Dana White hails equal support to all POTUS, past and present
Dana White and Trump have been pictured together at several UFC events. Most recently at the UFC 302 PPV card this June. Their relationship dates back to Trump’s involvement with the UFC’s Atlantic City venues.
Dana White and Donald Trump have had quite an alliance (Source: forbes.com/nypost.com)Back in 2009, names like Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, and also Roy Jones had boxing bout ballot appearances in the same calendar year. Overall, mainstream boxing was way more lucrative than UFC in its infancy. Yet Donald Trump threw his support, claiming White and UFC would surpass boxing one day.
Hence it is no surprise that White maintains a special moniker of respect for the ex-Prez. However, he maintains that he’d have automatically done the same for whoever held the chair.
If Biden was there, we would cover the fact that the President of the United States… Or if [Barack] Obama, [George] Bush, any of those guys ever came to an event, we would treat them with the same respect. If a former or standing president of the United States shows up to your event, you show them respect.
Dana White further said
White has also stated that he refused sponsors who wanted him to remove a pro-Trump video from his social media. More recently, he has been vocal about his belief that Trump is more qualified for the presidency. However, he claims this is not meant in contempt of Joe Biden or whoever opposes whoever in politics.
