Dana White, the president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, says politics has never gotten in the way of his longtime friendship with President Donald Trump, telling Rolling Stone magazine that the two rarely discuss the topic.
“We definitely don’t talk politics. We talk about everything but,” White, 56, told Rolling Stone. “How his family is, what’s been going on, how’s he feeling?”
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That’s despite the fact that Trump, 79, who has become the most powerful man in the world twice during the span of their friendship, asked White for help during the 2016 presidential race and recently announced a UFC fight on the White House property.
Opening up about his “really close” friendship with the president, White repeated a familiar claim about Trump’s sleep habits.
“I mean, this guy doesn’t sleep,” White told Rolling Stone. “I’m not a big sleeper either, but his level of sleep is inhuman. I don’t even know how he does it, especially at his age.”
Dana White has remained a close friend to President Trump for years, despite turbulent political climates (Getty)
The UFC boss recalled the pushback he received whenTrump called him up and asked him to speak at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
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“Everybody told me not to do it,” White said. “The two reasons were, number one, you don’t want to get anywhere near politics, and number two, he’s never going to win.”
Work is under way at the White House for a UFC match to be held on the president’s birthday (Getty)
But White still chose to do so because Trump had supported the UFC when it first began, even when others refused. The CEO has indicated that the moment has redefined his relationship with Trump, bringing the two closer together.
Yet White maintains that his relationship with the president is fairly normal.
“I don’t want anything from him. I’m not looking for anything from him. There’s nothing transactional in our relationship. We’re friends. And when we get together, it’s literally no different than any other person in this room when you get together with somebody you’re friends with,” White told Rolling Stone.
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The CEO’s comment comes as he prepares to take UFC to the White House for the first-ever cage-fight at the People’s House. The event is expected to take place on Trump’s birthday, June 14, as part of a series of events to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
White has said the event is not meant to be political – “you can make anything political if you want to,” he told Time magazine – in keeping with his low-key attitude toward politics.
White spoke in favor of Trump at both the 2016 and 2024 Republican National Conventions. (AFP/Getty)
White and Trump’s relationship dates back to the early 2000s, when Trump hosted a UFC event at the Trump Taj Mahal (now the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) in Atlantic City. At the time, White was struggling to break free from the stigma of brutalized fighting.
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White has seemingly spent years repaying it forward to Trump – speaking at the RNC, helping boost Trump’s popularity with young white men during the 2024 presidential election and hosting the president at UFC events.
“At the end of the day, everybody has to remember Donald Trump is human. And as human beings, we all need that — everybody’s got a thing. Donald Trump’s thing is the UFC,” White told Rolling Stone.
