For someone who just saw his league ink a multi-billion dollar media rights deal, Dana White sure has a lot of disdain for the media.
The UFC president recently exploded over a report claiming that UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell had confirmed plans to expand the Apex facility to accommodate an additional 5,000 to 10,000 fans. The story was later corrected after the original version included incorrect seating numbers. The actual planned capacity increase is roughly 1,000 seats.
‘UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell recently confirmed plans to expand the Apex to accommodate an additional 5,000 to 10,000 fans’https://t.co/27OI0Nrg3i pic.twitter.com/v2aZOoxs2l
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) August 9, 2025
“That was the biggest bullsh*t story ever written,” White claimed. “It’s f*cking unbelievable. They quoted people that literally said nothing to them, never spoke to them, or anything. That entire story was a f*cking absolute bullsh*t lie. The craziest thing we’ve ever seen. I f*cking called [UFC senior VP of comms] Lenee [Breckenridge] and said, ‘Lenee, this whole story is a lie.’ Everything about it is a lie, including the people they quoted, (who) never talked to them.”
@arielhelwani Well, that’s unfortunate 😐 #mma #ufc #danawhite #ufcapex #ufc319 ♬ original sound – arielhelwani
How does that happen?
“I don’t know,” UFC’s PR chief admitted. They said they were sorry. And they did do a retraction and change it.”
But the outlet — LV Sports Biz — being sorry didn’t prevent White’s latest media tantrum from getting off the ground. Even against the backdrop of UFC riding high on massive new broadcasting deals, White continued his long-running war with how the UFC is covered. The Apex facility has become prime real estate for TKO Holdings, with the 130,000-square-foot venue even hosting WWE’s NXT Battleground last year, marking the first crossover event since the UFC-WWE merger.
“If you look at the construction that’s going on at the Apex, to even think that it’s going to be a 10,000-seat arena — anyway, it’s f*cking unbelievable,” White added. “Complete lie. Everything about that story was a lie.”
The Apex renovation is part of a broader $20 million expansion that White teased back in December 2024, saying the company would “invest a lot of money in this place” with “some pretty big announcements coming up.”
Campbell apparently emphasized the facility’s upgraded capacity could accommodate WWE Premium Live Events starting in 2026 under ESPN’s new $1.6 billion deal with TKO, while also serving UFC’s growing content needs.
And as the UFC grows in the wake of its $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, White remains as combative as ever, ready to call out any report he deems inaccurate, no matter how big the league gets.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.