Dana White credits John Skipper’s cocaine scandal for UFC’s $1.5 billion ESPN deal, though reality was more nuanced
"So you want to talk about timing."
"So you want to talk about timing."
"Now, what has happened is Disney sees 'Oh, there's money to be made in MMA,' and Disney's buying everything, and ESPN's buying everything, and now we're telling you that the violence is okay. It wasn't okay before, but now the violence is okay, and now we sell it to you with ESPN+."
Skipper reportedly "wasn’t a fan of the sport and didn’t believe it fit into ESPN’s schedule."