Last week, UFC President Dana White made headlines when he revealed that his now-TKO Group Holdings co-worker, Vince McMahon, had tried to “f-ck me so many times for no reason.” Considering McMahon’s “savage” business nature, the revelation is not too surprising, but it did lead many to wonder how the two men will work together moving forward. White, much like McMahon, is very aggressive in business and has bought up his competition in the past, much like the former WWE owner did with the territories.
In an interview for Triggered with Don Jr., White was asked about his previously not-so-positive relationship with McMahon and how it has been working alongside the eccentric billionaire.
“Well, it’s been an interesting relationship with Vince McMahon,” he began. “It’s like, I never saw Vince as competition, but I think in Vince, in his heyday, he saw everybody as competition. He was one of those guys who would just f-cking stick it to me, just to do it, for whatever reason. We were about to do a deal with NBC, and it ends up we get to the one-yard line, and Vince has the final say, who can go on USA Network and who can’t if you’re a combat sport.
“Lorenzo and I flew out to Connecticut, sat down with him, and we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re doing a deal with,’ You know, we do all the small talk first, and we’re like, ‘Well, the reason we’re here, we’re doing a deal with NBC.’ And Vince just sits back like Vince sits and, you know how he is. And we said, ‘We’re about to do his deal, and we’re going to have fights on NBC and everything else, but you need to sign off on it.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m not gonna do that.’ And we’re like, ‘Why? Why?’ ‘I’m just not interested in it. I don’t like the idea of you guys being on USA Network.’
“So the whole deal blows up. At the end of the day, it all worked out better because we ended up on Fox, and we had a great relationship with Fox and Eric Shanks, and it was all great, but, ya, I mean, that’s just one of ten times I could tell you where Vince did it. Now, Vince and I we’re in business together, I guess, but Vince couldn’t be a better partner now.
“Now, Vince is, he’s been an incredible partner; literally keeps me in the loop on everything that’s going on and making sure that I’m cool with decisions that might be made that might affect the UFC. Now, it’s like a complete flop, and he couldn’t be a better partner.”
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