‘Aspinall IS My Heavyweight!’ Dana White On Fighting Eddie Hearn, UFC White House Boxers & More

15:59Dana White:I do too. you know and you know when you have the best versus the best you know people know it people feel it and when you get the right fight in the right place at the right time everybody wants to watch it think about this so when I got into this you were just saying about the business when I got into this everybody was telling me this will never work you know nobody's gonna ever care about UFC you'll never be bigger than boxing you'll never get Saturday nights because boxing owns Saturday nights, well, here we are, and now I'm getting into boxing.

16:32Piers Morgan:You've become staggeringly rich, Dana, I mean that as a compliment, and you gave a fascinating interview in the street recently to a random guy that just stopped you and asked you about life lessons. It was really interesting, because you talked about that you had some of the happiest moments of your life when you were broke, when you had nothing. And yet, whenever I've met you or interviewed you, and it's a number of times, and I see it as a great honour to talk to you, because I think you're one of the significant figures in world sport. I just get a feeling of a guy, yeah, you're stinking rich, but you're actually a happy guy.

17:10Piers Morgan:And you're quite a well-adjusted guy, I think. I don't know you as well as you know yourself. But, you know, it looks to me like money hasn't corrupted you like it has a lot of people.

17:20Dana White:Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, you know, money, money ruins everything. When you, when a lot of money gets involved at, you know, everybody thinks that the, the, the answer and the key to happiness in their life is going to be, if they can make a lot of money, you know, you know, what money does money doesn't make you sweat the things that regular people sweat. How am I going to pay the mortgage, the car payment, you know, you know, it's what that stuff, but money brings a lot of other problems to your life. And if you're not a happy person who loves your life, when you're broke, you are definitely not going to be a happy person that loves your life when you have a lot of money I can guarantee you that and yes you know I told that kid some of the greatest times of my life were when I was broke I had a blast when I was broken

18:06Piers Morgan:what's the best and worst thing about being highly successful and very wealthy

18:12Dana White:um you know there's a lot of things that people don't see um a lot of people coming at you all the time you really can't trust people um you you can't let your guard down with anybody um you know and and everybody needs to borrow money man everybody needs to borrow money there's people in line everything you know pierce i'm sure you know you deal with it yeah and and uh and here's the other thing somebody says to you hey i want to borrow some money that money's never coming back okay there's no such thing as borrowing money you just so you just gotta say here you go and uh And you try to make sure that the money doesn't destroy relationships is what I really try to focus on in my life.

18:58Dana White:I care more about people than I do money. So I always just try to make sure the money doesn't destroy any of my relationships that I care about.

19:08Piers Morgan:It was interesting. You gave another interview where you were talking about how you run your business. and you were saying that you don't care whether people get in at two minutes past nine, as long as they do the work, right? So if they finish it at nine o 'clock at night, that's fine. But also you said that if you've got a family and they've got a kid who's got a school match or a play or whatever it may be, you want them to feel they can go to those things. And I thought that was such a refreshing attitude for a boss of a major company to have because so many bosses, I think, have a sort of negative view of that kind of thing.

19:46Piers Morgan:You've got to be in there. You've got to be in there five days a week, nine to eight. There's no time. If your family comes first, you're not for us. You seem to have that work-life balance for you and your team the way it should be.

20:00Dana White:Well, thank you. Yeah, it's very important to me. So my team that works here, we go every Saturday. There's a lot of traveling involved. And in the summertime, I throw big parties out back here. I do like carnivals and stuff. And I want them to bring their kids to the office and see where their parents work and, you know, make it a fun place, you know, for their families too. On this board here, I got fights. March 7th is this weekend. And then we go all the way to June 20th that we lay out. And once we start getting into this, you know, you get into the year, it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

20:37Dana White:Now my kids, my kids are, my two boys are 23 and 24. My daughter is 19 and they're all out of my house. And it went by so fast. Now, everybody that works here is an animal. I have a building full of animals here. My team is incredible. And they're all grownups. They know what they need to do. They know what needs to be done. And I don't care when they get their job done. It could be at three in the afternoon or it can be at three in the morning. This building is 24 hours. And if your kid has a game, a play, a parent-teacher conference, anything like that, get the hell out of here and go do that stuff and be there for your kids and enjoy these moments with your family because it's going to go by quick.

21:26Dana White:And I'm all about that. You know, there's no, hey, it's 9.05. Where's Eric? Why is he not at the office yet? If I need Eric, I'll find Eric and I'll track him down. And, you know, but yeah, I don't want people to sacrifice their relationship with their kids and their families for work.

21:45Piers Morgan:Did you think you're a good father then?

21:49Dana White:Try to be. It's important to me. It's important to me. So it's a very high priority on my list. So I try to be.

21:59Piers Morgan:My dad's given me two pieces of advice that I can remember. He's still with us. And one was always be polite to police officers. And the other one was always drink the best French wine you can afford. Both excellent pieces of advice. But what advice do you try and give? What advice do you try and give your kids?

22:19Dana White:I always try to tell my kids, you know, I don't ever want my kids to feel like they have to compete with anything that I've ever done in my life. I want my kids to choose their own path. And the only thing I care about is that they're happy. If my kids came and told me, Dad, I want to pump gas for a living because I love getting up early in the morning. I love the smell. I love the, you know, love it. Knock yourself out. I'm not trying to have my kids be doctors or lawyers or businessmen. I just want my kids to live happy, full lives. And that's it.

22:53Piers Morgan:One of the things you mentioned that money can ruin relationships, which is obviously so true, but so can politics. and there's nobody that is more divisive in that sense, I guess, than Donald Trump. You and I have been friends of his for a couple of decades and we've seen the good, bad and ugly of him and he's a unique character. As my daughter put it, he's almost too unique. But he's someone we've known very well for a long time. If you say you're a friend of Donald Trump, as you've discovered and I discover, There's a lot of people that instantly that puts their shackles up. They hate you. They want to judge you for it.

23:33Piers Morgan:And I've seen families break down over this, relationships, friendships, work colleagues all falling out over Trump, politics generally, but particularly Trump. You must get that all the time because you speak out in support of him. How do you deal with that? What's your view of that?

23:54Dana White:It's a fascinating thing because I have a lot of relationships, obviously, with people who are very conservative, but I have really good relationships with people who are very liberal, too. Back when we grew up, you didn't talk about religion or politics. Now, I think these things have changed everything. So it's a different world we live in. But I'm not as political as everybody thinks I am. So when I'm around, I don't really talk a lot of politics. And any time that I've ever spoke at the Republican convention or for Trump or any at any of his rallies, you never hear me putting down the other side.

24:34Dana White:I never put down the other side or or any of that type of stuff. I can have my opinion. And Donald Trump is a very good friend of mine. And he's he's a great human being. And I love the guy. I mean, every time I was just with him last week again, and for two days after I left him, I was cracking up laughing about stuff that he said while I was there. He's hilarious. And he's an animal. He is literally the hardest working guy I know. He loves this country. And he cares about people. and how he is being portrayed by the media is actually gross. It's gross the way that they portray him because he's the furthest thing from it.

25:23Dana White:But is he an alpha male? He is an alpha male and he's a tough guy, man.

25:30Piers Morgan:What do you think of what is happening at the moment with Iran? It's the big news story at the moment. Do you have a view about it?

25:37Dana White:Not really. I mean, I do in ways, but again, not anything that I would talk about publicly. You know, it's what I'm talking about politically. Whether it's, listen, the United States is doing what the United States is going to do. Regular citizens like us, you know, you can support it or not support it or feel however you want to feel about it, but it's going to happen. That's that. Just deal with it.

26:12Piers Morgan:On June the 14th, which happens to be Donald Trump's 80th birthday, as part of America's celebrations of the 250th year, of that shameful moment when you gained independence from us, which I have to say, we don't celebrate in quite the same way, Dana.

26:32Dana White:Every 4th of July, I text Michael Bisbing some funny meme about leaving England. It's awesome. I love it.

26:39Piers Morgan:You could have had King Piers I if you played your cards right, but instead you went your own lonely furrow. But there's going to be this big UFC event at the White House in front of 5 ,000 people in the White House South Lawn. It's completely unprecedented. It's going to be an amazing spectacle. A lot of speculation about who may be on that bill, particularly that Jon Jones, who I think last time I spoke to you, said was the greatest of all the UFC fighters, that he might come out of retirement to take on Alex Pereira. Can you confirm that? Can you give me the scoop?

27:32Dana White:So I'm literally, I'm in the war room right now. All the fights, like I told you, March 7th all the way to June 20th are laid out. We've kept this card so private and secret. Lene, my head of PR, is sitting right across from me, and behind her is this big whiteboard that we moved in here. And the whole card is laid out right here on the whiteboard. So you know who it is? I'm looking at it right now. I'm staring at all six fights. We're scheduled to do six fights.

27:59Piers Morgan:Are you looking at the name John Jones as you stare at that whiteboard?

28:05Dana White:we were going to do six fights i might actually do seven i might add one more but uh yeah i'm excited i'll announce i'll announce the word is the word is your surprise edition maybe conor mcgregor interesting you know it's funny every day when i wake up uh you know somebody will send me uh leaked this car this fight's happening like all these guys on the on the internet are putting like every fight that is possible to make out there that is going to happen at the White House. I think if they keep throwing enough shit out there, something's going to stick. And eventually they have to be right. You know what I mean?

28:42Dana White:There's only everybody in each weight class, the top 15, you know, they keep putting together every fight that's possible. So eventually they're going to be right. Are you going to answer it?

28:55Piers Morgan:It'll be announced this week. Yeah. and have you had to clear the the names with the president is he taking an active no no

29:05Dana White:listen listen the president's got more important shit to do right now than than worry about the card he he's a big ufc fan and obviously he trusts me and knows that i'm going to bring the best available card and the best production anybody's ever seen the the production on this fight is so incredible it is going to be a a one-of-one special event and not just for the fighters uh and the fans but for my staff that gets to work this event it's going to

29:34Piers Morgan:be incredible any chance of of an eighth bout of the ring between you and eddie hearn ah no no

29:44Dana White:How old is Eddie Hearn? How old is Eddie? In his 40s or something? He's still pretty young, I think.

29:50Piers Morgan:Yeah, I mean, he's a big unit. He'd probably fancy himself. Yeah, he's huge. He did box his dad. Yeah, I mean, who do you think would win if you had a fight? He boxed his dad, yeah.

30:03Dana White:Well, let's put it this way. We were talking about this earlier. First of all, we're both too old. That would have to be like a Jake Paul Netflix card, okay? Or we could both fight Jake Paul. We're actually in his age bracket of guys he likes to fight. Yeah.

30:22Dana White:I don't know. Eddie Hearn boxed his dad, and who won? Can we watch that? Is that available?

30:28Piers Morgan:They actually got in the ring. You know, when Eddie was in his teens, he got in the ring with his dad, and they went about three or four rounds. And I think Eddie won, and Barry walked away. but the age difference then was a little bit more than it is between you and Eddie now. I mean, Eddie has a 10-year advantage over you. He's got the youth, but you are Dana White. You are the biggest animal in world sport. You know, if it actually happened, who would win?

30:56Dana White:Listen, if Eddie wants to box, we can box. We can box if Eddie wants to box. I don't think Eddie wants to box. Would you be confident? Yeah, listen, I used to, you know, back in the day, I used to box with all the guys, you know, boxers and UFC guys. I have boxed.

31:20Piers Morgan:So if Eddie Hearn's up for it, you're on for it. Absolutely.

31:27Piers Morgan:I might promote that. I want to talk to you just about somebody that I interviewed, Dana, a while ago, Tom Aspinall. He, obviously, he was your heavyweight champion. He's recovering from double eye surgery. He is my heavyweight champion. He is your heavyweight champion. Right. What is the situation with Tom? Because he had this eye surgery. My understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that you've not had any personal contact with him since then. What is the current state of play with Tom?

31:59Dana White:Yeah, the company has talked to him. I haven't talked to him. And Tom and I obviously need to talk. You know, he came out recently, or his dad, too, saying that, you know, they felt like I was, you know, I don't know how they said it, but that I had sort of shit on him in the way that I had spoke about, you know, his eye injury, which was absolutely positively not the case. Tom Aspinall is a guy that I respect. He's been great to work with the whole time he's been here in the UFC. And never once did I question his injury or speak negatively about it. I said something once that I said, I think he's okay, and I think he's going to be good.

32:44Dana White:And they came out and said, no, that's not the case. And he said, I haven't even talked to Dan. I don't know why he would say that. But obviously my medical team is talking to him. And that was what I had thought. And they thought that I had knocked him in some way, which I absolutely positively did and wouldn't. I like him very much and respect him. I've never had a problem with Tom Aspinall.

33:08Piers Morgan:Do you think he'll fight again? I do. Is that from conversations his team have had with your team?

33:18Dana White:Well, you know, he's still dealing with whatever's going on with his eyes. you know and obviously over the last 30 years of being in this business I've seen you know injuries that I questioned whether guys would come back from and and they always have including eye pokes but who knows but if you ask me sitting right here right now do I think Tom Aspinall will compete again I would say yes just finally Dana what what's what ambitions do you have left is

33:48Piers Morgan:you've conquered UFC, you're conquering boxing. Is there a bigger ambition for you, either professionally or personally, that you can talk about?

33:59Dana White:Well, as we continue to build TKO, when you think about what we've done already has never been done in the history of combat sports. Now getting into boxing, and I've always had this, I don't know what you'd call it, goal, I guess. When I grew up here in the United States, We had channel three, channel five, channel eight, channel 13. And then cable came when I was in high school, 30 channels. And then the rest is history. We all know. I believe that channel three, channel five, channel eight and 13 will exist again, but globally. And who are the players going to be? Paramount's making big moves right now.

34:37Dana White:Netflix is a monster, you know. So when you think about my business, right, the fight business as a whole, um i got slapped which is absolutely killing it ufc is killing it boxing's on the right track and when you think about the ceiling for combat sports there's eight billion people in the world and now we're getting to a point uh in in in our lives where streaming is becoming a reality globally so when you put on the right fight in the right place with the right guys what what is your ceiling your ceiling is eight billion people and i just love the idea of that and and uh and i love the idea just building this absolute machine that that has never been done before plus all the people that have told me for the last 25 years that this can't be done that can't be done even when I started Power Slap.

35:38Dana White:Everybody was like, this is stupid. This is never going to work. This is never going to, you know, and it's the same things they said to me about UFC. And Pierce, I love that stuff. I love it.

35:49Piers Morgan:Love it.

35:49Dana White:It's what gets me out of bed.

35:50Piers Morgan:You know, I've got to be honest. I've got to be honest. If you come to me with the idea of Power Slap, I'd have thought you'd lost your mind. I'd have said there's absolutely no way that is ever going to catch on and yet now it's one of the biggest money spinners in world sport right yeah

36:09Dana White:no it's crazy it's it's been incredibly successful in just two years we have over 30 million followers our youtube channel which i'm a big believer in building your own channels out there and our youtube channel has has over four million subscribers for power slap um and growing so So I sort of have this feeling I get, gut, you could call it. When I started watching Power Slap on Instagram, what fascinated me is that I'm so jaded by the fight business. I would stick around to the end. I wanted to see who won and how. And, you know, I'm like, if I feel like this, lots of other people. And again, Pierce, the world is getting smaller every year.

36:53Dana White:So, you know, everybody thinks that, oh, my God, power slap is ridiculous. This thing is silly. It's it. Well, I don't need everybody to like it. There's 8 billion people on earth. I only need this many people to like it, and it's incredibly successful.

37:10Piers Morgan:Yeah, it's so true. This Sunday, you've got your Zufa Boxing Championship belt being contested for the very first time. Just give me a bit of meat on the bone about that.

37:21Dana White:Yeah, so Jaiopataya. is you know the best cruiserweight in the world and one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world he's 29 and 0 he's got 23 knockouts um and he's taking on brandon glanton uh who's 21 and three with uh 18 knockouts and he's coming off a big upset win uh and and his last fight uh both of these guys like uh glanton's got like an 86 percent knockout ratio and uh jayup ataya's got an 80 % knockout ratio. I'm super excited for this fight, and it's for the first ever Zufa belt. So one of these guys is going to walk out the Zufa Cruiserweight Champion this weekend.

38:02Piers Morgan:Well, exciting. Dana, it's always great to talk to you. Thank you very much for taking time out of your ridiculous schedule to come back on Uncensored. I appreciate it.

38:11Dana White:Always a pleasure, my friend. Have a great day.

38:15Piers Morgan:Piers Morgan Uncensored is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask for only one simple thing. Hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Piers Morgan Uncensored on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And in return, we will continue our mission to inform, irritate, and entertain. And we'll do it all for free. Independent, uncensored media has never been more critical, and we couldn't do it without you.

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