Dana White has been promoting false narratives about his relationship with Donald Trump for a decade. The portrayal means that Donald Trump was integral in giving the fledgling sport of MMA an opportunity when nobody else needed to be close to it. The reality is, Trump and the UFC reached their success tales completely impartial of each other. In actual fact, Trump was most lively in working with the competitors towards the UFC instantly. Hey, solely grew to become allies as soon as every wanted one thing the opposite might present. As we gear up for the UFC White Home occasion, Freedom 250, let’s take a factual have a look at their historical past.
The Declare: Donald Trump Helped Save the UFC
As an organization, the UFC was struggling within the late 90s and early 2000s. Most video shops wouldn’t enable their VHS tapes to be rented, and so they had been largely banned on pay-per-view tv. Spike TV took an enormous danger placing the fact present The Final Fighter on mainstream tv. It was a actuality present however with MMA, a Malicious program to place combating on US primetime TV. From there, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, and Forrest Griffin, helped propel the UFC to mainstream stardom within the USA.
The Final Fighter was the driving pressure behind the UFCs success, at the very least in line with Dana White. In 2020, UFC chief White said:
“Our final hope was a brand new community referred to as Spike. They had been speculated to be a community for males. So we felt like we match completely there. We met with the blokes out in L.A. They couldn’t wait to get the hell out of that assembly and go to a Dodgers sport… That is the final shot. If this factor doesn’t work, the UFC is completed. It’s superb to suppose… how shut we got here to not being right here in the present day. If it weren’t for what these guys did, I don’t know if there would even be a UFC. I’ll always remember these guys. Ever.”
Now, right here’s the claim instantly from Dana White himself, rewriting the historical past of the UFC to assist Trump:
“Arenas all over the world refused to host our occasions. No one took us critically. No one. Besides Donald Trump. Donald was the primary man that acknowledged the potential that we noticed within the UFC.”
Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at this declare and break down why the narrative is totally false. Donald Trump hosted three UFC occasions between 2000 and 2001 at his Taj Mahal On line casino, the Mark G. Etess Enviornment. Even throughout the fledgling period of the UFC, they nonetheless hosted 23 occasions between 2000-2004 with most of those being within the USA. Thus, the UFC was not struggling to seek out venues to e-book occasions even throughout its worst years.
White can be crediting Trump with serving to the UFC with success. Trump hosted the UFC in 2001 but White goes on to clarify that the UFC was on demise’s door earlier than The Final Fighter premiere in 2005. Plus, the UFC solely offered roughly 3,000 tickets to the Trump-hosted occasion. whereas the following occasion, UFC 32 on the Continental Airways Enviornment in East Rutherford, not a Trump venue, offered 4 instances that quantity with 12,500 tickets. Merely, the UFC didn’t see any enhance from working with Donald Trump. One can see proof of this, provided that they by no means labored collectively once more after that.
Equally, Trump didn’t need the UFC again as he was reserving higher company on the on line casino. Proper after the UFC, the Mark G. Etess Enviornment hosted Luciano Pavarotti, ZZ Top, and P!NK, amongst others. Merely, Trump didn’t need them again when he was reserving mainstream names.
Mainstream Success
The UFC exploded into the collective consciousness of mainstream America because of 2005s The Final Fighter. Ticket gross sales exploded as they explored model new venues throughout the continental United States, plus routine stops at Las Vegas casinos. Dana White and his contingent of fighters had been giving interviews and by no means as soon as talked about Donald Trump.
On the identical time, Donald Trump discovered his most profitable avenue. The accommodations and casinos had been doing properly sufficient, however he additionally discovered a house on actuality TV with 2004 The Apprentice. From there, Trump grew to become a family identify in America and made his media rounds. Eighteen appearances on The View and eight appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Present, plus visitor spots on Emmy Awards and SNL. He was having fun with mainstream fame and by no means as soon as introduced up the UFC regardless of MMA discovering success.
Each discovered large success stateside, impartial of each other, and through their peak period they needed nothing to do with one another. That was till Trump threw his hat in with the competitors.
Affliction and Trump tackle The UFC
The UFC was not the one present on the town and had actual competitors. The primary MMA present within the US might have ended up being one other MMA promotion however the UFC was lively in killing any potential competitors. EliteXC and Strikeforce had been on primetime CBS, the IFL was on Fox Sports activities, HD Web was supporting a number of fight sports activities across the globe. For those who had been a UFC fighter sad along with your pay then there was loads of free market competitors to check your worth. And that is precisely what Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and Tom Atencio did with Affliction.
Affliction signed former UFC champions Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, and Vitor Belfort, plus future champ Robbie Lawler. It was a promotion centered across the all-time nice Fedor Emelianenko, pal of Vladimir Putin, and the one fighter the UFC couldn’t signal.
Donald Trump gave an interview explaining how they had been going to take over the MMA market and can take out the UFC: “It most likely will. … All of the fighters need to be with us, and I feel it most likely will take over.”
The UFC ran exhausting and direct competitors towards Affiliation, together with placing their largest identify Anderson Silva in a stay and free struggle on Spike TV on the identical time. They counter-programmed the following occasion with a rerun of a UFC pay-per-view on Spike TV. However, there was to not be a 3rd occasion. Dana White celebrated the demise of Trump’s Affliction by placing its identify on a headstone.
Masculinity Enhance for Trump
Donald Trump and the UFC didn’t take care of working with one another and spent extra time as rivals. However in 2016, Trump hit the street as a presidential candidate and wanted a lift for his masculinity. In any case, he was a draft dodger who frolicked with The View and Oprah, a coastal elite extra related to daytime tv than locker rooms. He was extra common as a function on the Emmy award present than he was with men.
The UFC opened its doorways to assist him look powerful and so they made up a false narrative alongside the best way. He started making appearances cage-side at UFC occasions, particularly in very important swing states comparable to Florida, with broadcasted walkouts like he was a fighter himself, surrounded by American flags.
Throughout Trump’s 2024 presidential marketing campaign had UFC chief White urged that Trump change his media strategy and as an alternative begin interviewing the manosphere. Sitting with stay streamers and podcasters, the following period of media. White thanked the brand new media as he spoke on podium on election night, “I wanna thank the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross, Theo Von, ‘Bussin with the Boys,’ and final however not least, the mighty and highly effective Joe Rogan!”
What does the UFC get for its relationship? Slicing of pink tape. In 2025, the Paramount/Skydance merger requires FCC approval. Paramount’s dad or mum owns CBS, which Trump was suing over 60 Minutes modifying of an interview. Simply weeks earlier than the FCC votes, Trump’s settles the lawsuit for $16 million. Trump’s FCC then approves the Paramount/Skydance merger. Simply 18 days after the FCC approval, the newly merged Paramount indicators a 7-year, $7.7 billion deal to stream all UFC occasions on Paramount+.
Play The Recreation, the sports activities governance watchdog, put it bluntly: “White advantages from the affiliation by sustaining shut ties to a strong political determine, which might provide networking benefits, regulatory goodwill, and safety.” So as to add, Trump has now purchased stock within the UFC dad or mum firm TKO simply days forward of the UFC White Home occasion.
On June 14th, as Trump walks out to the cage on the White Home garden, bear in mind: this isn’t a friendship. It’s a transaction. The UFC will get a $7.7 billion media deal and a regulatory surroundings that no competitor can contact. Trump will get the masculinity optics his political model requires. Dana White will get to face on the centre of each worlds. The parable of Trump saving the UFC was simply the opening provide.
