The issues between Dana White and Vince McMahon apparently are worse than anyone knew because White revealed that McMahon nixed a big business deal for UFC several years ago.
During an interview on the Triggered podcast, White was asked about his relationship with McMahon. Both are now under the TKO umbrella and are essentially business partners. White previously said that McMahon would “stick it” to him for “whatever reason” but he did not elaborate until now.
It is public knowledge that McMahon gave the green light to Spike TV to air The Ultimate Fighter after Raw in 2005. That decision led to UFC becoming a global powerhouse and the belief is that McMahon gave the green light because he didn’t know how big the MMA promotion would become.
During the interview on the Triggered podcast, White said that McMahon would not allow UFC to air on NBC and USA Network back in 2011 when they were negotiating for a new TV deal. McMahon has a clause in his TV deals that gives him the final say on whether or not NBCUniversal can air programming that may be seen as direct competition to WWE.
White said that Lorenzo Fertitta, the co-owner of UFC at the time, flew to WWE Headquarters in Stamford, CT to meet with McMahon to try to get him to change his mind but McMahon said, “Yeah, I’m not going to do that.”
White said that McMahon told Fertita that he wasn’t interested in it and “I don’t like the idea of you guys on USA Network.” When the deal fell through, UFC landed a deal with FOX/Fox Sports 1. White went on to say that now that they’re under the TKO umbrella, McMahon “couldn’t be a better partner” and McMahon keeps him in the loop on things that might affect UFC.
Dana White talks Vince McMahon.
Tells a story of how years ago McMahon was able to prevent the UFC from getting a deal with NBC.
Full podcast here:https://t.co/WQJoYlFH28 pic.twitter.com/OzH5BJQoOv— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 3, 2023
