Before Donald Trump tapped into the comedy podcast and live stream ecosystem in the 2024 campaign, he used the UFC and his relationship with CEO Dana White to tap into a base of support among fight fans.
In fact, the ties between Trump, White and the UFC date back further than Trump’s arrival in national politics, when Trump used to host fights at his properties around the country in the infancy of the MMA promoter.
A new profile of White at The New Yorker highlights the relationship between the once and future president and the UFC.
“Every time when he was getting hammered at his worst, we’d walk into that arena and the place erupts and goes crazy,” White said. “It shows other people, ‘Oh, wait. Everybody doesn’t hate Donald Trump like the media is telling us.'”
So it was no surprise when White endorsed Trump during his first campaign in 2016, and continued to be among the most vocal Trump supporters in the sports and entertainment worlds throughout Trump’s time as the face of the GOP. Throughout 2024, White stumped at Trump rallies across the country and even on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.
But after hooking Trump up with a digital content ecosystem that includes podcast hosts Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Taylor Lewan and Andrew Schulz as well as influencers like the Nelk Boys and Adin Ross — and their young audiences — White says he’s done with politics.
In the New Yorker piece, the face of UFC said his involvement in the past three elections was all about Trump. With the 45th and 47th president term-limited after the upcoming administration, don’t expect to see White giving a speech in a swing state or talking politics with McAfee in 2028 or beyond.
“I’m never f***ing doing this again,” White told the New Yorker. “I want nothing to do with this s***. It’s gross. It’s disgusting. I want nothing to do with politics.”
Now, White is nothing if not a salesman. He’s in the promotion business. So the exhaustion White may feel toward the work of politics after the past eight years (and especially the past six months) could dissipate once White realizes the clout he has amassed as a central figure in the conservative movement’s embrace of MMA.
A personal relationship with Trump may have inspired White’s embrace of politics, but it’s human nature to embrace that power once it comes.
And if Trump and his camp continue showing up at UFC events during the administration and Rogan’s MMA-adjacent content ecosystem thread the needle between the sport and conservatism, White will remain a fixture in that world whether he speaks at the next Republican National Convention or not.
