In short
Dana White discusses UFC Freedom 250, a UFC event planned for the White House South Lawn, and covers ticket access, matchmaking/card selection, UFC’s growth, fighter recruitment, and his views on masculinity, politics, family, health, and fame. He also talks about Power Slap’s success, UFC safety/brain health, and personal anecdotes (Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Diddy).
Guests
Dana White is the guest; the host is Katie Miller (KMP Ep.38).
Guest background
White is UFC president/leader, long-time Trump ally, and a longtime promoter of MMA. He references building UFC into a global powerhouse and running recruitment via matchmakers and The Contender Series.
Key claims
The White House fight will be “the biggest fight in history” and will boost global interest even for non-UFC fans. He says UFC has had no deaths or serious injuries in 30 years due to health/safety spending, especially brain health. He argues traditional provider/caretaker gender roles improve family outcomes and criticizes “men’s mental health” social-media posting. He claims fame can destabilize fighters’ marriages and lives.
Notable examples
Ultimate Fighter Season 1 finale (Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar) as the “we got it” moment; Conor McGregor dinner predicting he’d become a star; Ronda Rousey as the surprise that convinced him women fighting would work; Power Slap’s “billion views a month” after investing $1M each with the Fertitta brothers; Bora Bora as his favorite family trip; AI used for the White House promo (his voice not real).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VODebating Men's Mental Health
0:00 to 1:08
A critical view on men's mental health discussions and masculinity.
“I hate this whole men's mental health bullshit that they talk about.”
UFC's Historic Fight on the South Lawn
1:26 to 2:19
Dana White discusses the upcoming UFC fight at the White House.
“I've been in Donald Trump orbit for now a decade.”
Ticket Allotments and Special Guests
2:19 to 3:25
Details about ticket distribution and attendees at the UFC event.
“you know pull this thing off so did you guys do a mock setup elsewhere to make sure that the setup would work on the lawn literally just did it in Philly and now all the stuff is being trucked from Philly to D.C.”
Matchmaking for the White House Fight
3:25 to 4:35
Dana White explains how the fight card was selected for the event.
“And so more military people will be there than actual invites.”
Political Views and UFC Business
4:35 to 5:16
Discussion on Dana's political alignment and its impact on UFC.
“I would have considered myself a lot more liberal.”
Friendship with President Trump
5:16 to 6:39
Dana White shares insights on his friendship with Trump and their disagreements.
“What's one thing you agree with President Trump on and what's one thing you disagree with President Trump on?”
The Impact of the White House Event
6:39 to 8:01
Exploring how the event could elevate UFC and draw new fans.
“but you're not in that position and whoever the president is.”
Surprises in the Fighting World
8:01 to 9:25
Dana talks about unexpected personalities like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey.
“Who surprised you the most behind the scenes as you work with some of the biggest athletes in sports?”
Health and Safety in UFC
9:25 to 11:15
Dana emphasizes UFC's commitment to fighter health and safety.
“That would probably be the thing that surprised me the most in my career.”
Passion for the Fight Industry
11:15 to 12:11
Dana discusses the drive and excitement behind his work in the UFC.
“You light up like no one I've ever seen talking, maybe except the president, who talks about what he does.”
Show all 32 chapters
Trends in Relationships and Family
12:11 to 13:43
Discussion on changing family dynamics and marriage trends among young people.
“So your wife you met when you were how old?”
Navigating Modern Masculinity
13:43 to 14:00
Dana shares thoughts on masculinity and social expectations for young men.
Exploring Toxic Masculinity and Gender Roles
14:00 to 17:43
Discusses the concept of toxic masculinity and the traditional roles men and women play in society.
“The only people who hate toxic masculinity are women who hate themselves.”
Family Life and Parenting Perspectives
17:43 to 20:35
Reflects on the impact of traditional gender roles on family dynamics and memorable parenting experiences.
“And it's like, it drives me absolutely crazy.”
Navigating Fame and Personal Relationships
20:35 to 24:50
Advice on maintaining personal relationships amid fame and the pitfalls of celebrity life.
“They have the the huts that are in the water and you literally jump out your back door.”
From UFC to Power Slap: Business Ventures
24:50 to 27:09
Covers the transition from UFC's success to the exploration of new ventures like Power Slap.
“I don't know if I answered your question, but that's the that's the best answer I got.”
Global Talent and the Future of UFC
27:09 to 28:00
Discusses the search for new talent globally and the changing landscape of mixed martial arts.
“I think that, well, they're hardcore Republicans.”
Global Talent Search in UFC
28:00 to 29:18
Explore how Dana White identifies and recruits new fighting talent globally.
“Yes, I still travel a lot, and it's all about finding new talent.”
The Contender Series: UFC's Best Talent Show
29:18 to 30:23
Learn about The Contender Series and Dana White's role in scouting fighters.
“We're always looking, where are we going to put on the next events?”
Memorable UFC Events and Celebrity Sightings
30:23 to 31:41
Discover the most memorable events in UFC history and surprising celebrity attendees.
“When you're in between having kids, and here's what you need to do.”
Fatherhood and Parenting Insights
31:41 to 35:29
Dana White shares his parenting philosophy and experiences with raising his children.
“but I would say the only one that I didn't know was coming was like, we're at an event one time and somebody goes, Bruno Mars is here.”
Teaching Kids About Money and Work
35:29 to 37:29
Dana discusses how he taught his children about money and the value of hard work.
“What's been the hardest part about stepping back as your kids have gotten older?”
Success Redefined: Happiness Over Fame
37:29 to 39:32
Dana reflects on the true meaning of success and the importance of happiness.
“You know, you didn't go to college, you know.”
Would You Rather: Fun and Insights
39:32 to 42:06
Dana and Katie play a game of 'Would You Rather' with entertaining revelations.
“Would you rather have every fight end in a controversial decision or every fight end in 10 seconds?”
Taylor Swift's Concerts and Their Impact
42:06 to 42:59
Explore the surprising lengths fans go to for Taylor Swift concerts.
“They were buying adult diapers so they didn't miss one song.”
UFC Decisions: Pay-Per-View vs. Cornering Children
43:00 to 43:51
Dana White discusses the challenges of running UFC amidst pay-per-view and personal experiences.
“I did corner my kid in his first pro fight.”
Unusual Purchases: Meteorites and Memorabilia
43:52 to 44:52
Dana shares his extravagant purchases including meteorites and rare skulls.
“Can you explain that further for me, please?”
AI Integration in UFC Promotions
44:53 to 45:38
Learn how UFC is using AI technology for promotional content.
“thought he had a meteorite and it was basically, it was, you know, it was the things that they drop out of the toilets from the airplanes.”
Rudest Celebrities Encountered by Dana White
45:39 to 49:10
Dana recounts experiences with rude celebrities and their behavior.
“Who's the rudest celebrity you've ever met?”
Dana White's Health Routine and Dietary Choices
49:11 to 52:52
Insights into Dana's daily routine and his approach to health and fitness.
“And my niece was like all excited, like, oh my God, Pete Diddy's here and whatever.”
Dinner Party with Influential Figures
52:53 to 56:00
Dana shares his thoughts on hosting a dinner with notable personalities.
“So again, the Gary Brecca thing, I was on a bunch of, of, uh, you know, doctor's pills for blood pressure and all.”
Dinner with Trump: Unexpected Connections
56:00 to 57:29
Explore how a dinner with President Trump can change perceptions and reveal common ground.
“If you look at the people that hate on President Trump, I tell everybody this.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00I hate this whole men's mental health bullshit that they talk about. Unfortunately, when you're a man, you are the provider. You are the one that takes care of your family. You are the example for your kids when they grow up. You can't be that guy that's... I see these guys posting on social media. Oh, I had a bad day and I'm so sad and all this other crazy shit. So unattractive. Power slap. literally I saw these guys at 17, 18 slapping each other on social media. I took a deeper dive into it and I said, holy shit this is interesting. This thing does a billion views a month. It's the most successful thing I've ever been a part of in such a short amount of time.
0:41If I took you to dinner with him for an hour you can be as far left and have whatever perceptions of him you have it is impossible for you to get up from that dinner and walk away and say I hate that guy. It's impossible.
1:08Katie Miller:Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the Katie Miller podcast. It's our first week in our brand new studio in Washington, D.C., and we're joined by the one and only Dana White. Thanks for having me. So you are the talk of D.C. right now. Maybe you know it, maybe you don't. But the hottest ticket in town. I've been in Donald Trump orbit for now a decade. I've never received more text messages for people begging to tickets to UFC. Why do you think there is so much interest? Yeah, well, I mean, obviously, because we're going to be on the South Lawn, but, you know, which has never been done before.
1:42And the card is incredible and it's going to be a great night. But, you know, what's funny is we did a fight outside of Virginia, you know, over 10 years ago. But I've never really been to D.C. until his first term. And now I've been here so many times. I actually love this city. It's a great city. I love walking around here. The people are great. And I'm looking forward to doing this fight. all the all the division the logistics and everything are done now we just got to execute and you know pull this thing off
2:22Katie Miller:so did you guys do a mock setup elsewhere to make sure that the setup would work on the lawn literally just did it in Philly and now all the stuff is being trucked from Philly to D.C. right now who came up with the idea the president didn't we were at a fight and he leans over and says we should do a fight at the White House and I said Yes. Yes, we should. So how does one get tickets? This is the question. So there's allotments. Obviously, the president has the most. I have 200. Ari Emanuel has 200. And, you know, we sent out invitations to people that we wanted to invite. RSVPs are coming in now.
3:04And, you know, I guess the best way to get the tickets is through the president. He's got more than anybody. But there's going to be like people that we do business with, people that we invited, Ari and I, and then the president's invites. I think there'll be world leaders there, but there's going to be a lot of military there. The president wants all the branches of the military represented at the fight. And so more military people will be there than actual invites.
3:31Katie Miller:So this is going to be a complete ignorant question. How did you select or who selects the card for this specific fight? Yeah, so I have a matchmaking team. The matchmakers went out and laid out every fight that was possible. And then I picked the card. And is this for those fighters, this is like their peak, they're very excited? Were people reaching out to you saying, hey, I want to do this on the White House lawn? Yeah, I mean, a lot of guys wanted to fight on the, and girls wanted to fight on the card. You know, I went with what fights really matter in the division, what fights we think will be great fights, and who can I count on that I know is going to show up and deliver.
4:14Katie Miller:You've been openly supportive of President Trump for a long time. Has that ever cost UFC any business, either domestically or abroad? I don't give a shit. I don't know the answer to that question. I've gotten to a point in my life, especially after COVID and all the nutty shit that went on during that time, that I only want to be in business with and talk to people that I'm aligned with. Were you always red-pilled? Always what? Red-pilled, like conservative. No, no, no. I would have considered myself a lot more liberal. I would have considered myself an 80s or 90s Democrat. You know, but I'm more of a common sense guy.
4:54I'm not a very political person, but I'm all for common sense.
4:58Katie Miller:What was it that changed for you? um the world losing its mind and everything going nuts and most of the things that you and i have talked about during this podcast um i uh you know i i would still consider myself liberal in certain ways but very conservative and others a little bit of both do you think politics and sports should stay separate and even outside of usc right you're talking nfl nba listen i would love to i think you know when you think about in the 80s and 90s religion right that's basically what like politics now it's like religion i mean these guys are everybody's fighting over all this crazy shit and and um i think we should go back to you don't know who you voted for and you don't you know but i think it's up to the athlete or the organization or whatever, if they want to be involved in politics or talk on politics, it's up to the individuals or the teams or the leagues or whatever they are.
6:07Katie Miller:What's one thing you agree with President Trump on and what's one thing you disagree with President Trump on? Well, I don't think that... It doesn't have to be political. Yeah, yeah. Well, what we don't agree on is the best Rocky ever. We argue about that probably more than we should. It's kind of weird. But I think when somebody is president, they're going to do things you agree with and things you don't agree with. but you're not in that position and whoever the president is. And at the end of the day, my relationship with him, we're friends. And you don't always agree with your friends on lots of things, but it doesn't mean you don't be friends with them anymore.
6:58He's a great guy. He's a great human being. He has a great family. I love his family.
7:08Ivanka and Jared are two of the greatest people you'll ever meet so I don't really get into any of that stuff as friends I would say the biggest but weirdest thing we've ever disagreed on is Rocky is the best Rocky movie
7:25Katie Miller:how do you see the event at the White House shaping the future of UFC do you think it draws more fans in Do you think it forever elevates that of combat sports? Yeah, I think that more people are going to tune in globally for this fight, whether they have ever watched the UFC, like the UFC, don't like the UFC, just to see it at the White House. So obviously for the brand, I mean, even leading up to it, I mean, it's all anybody's talking about every time I see people or talk to people. So, yeah, it's really big for the brand. Who surprised you the most behind the scenes as you work with some of the biggest athletes in sports?
8:09Surprised me as far as what?
8:11Katie Miller:That either was kinder than you expected, crazy than you expected, drunker than you expected, some type of when you meet somebody and you're like, huh. I wouldn't say that anybody really surprised me, but I mean, somebody like Conor McGregor, the first night that I went to dinner with him and met him, I literally left the dinner and called my partner, Lorenzo, and I said, let me tell you what. I don't know if this guy is good enough or not, if he can fight, but this guy can even throw a punch. He's going to be the biggest star ever. So I did know that. And then I would say, if you want to talk about surprised, it was probably Ronda Rousey because I was not even remotely interested in having women fight in the UFC at that point in time.
9:00I was trying to get people to accept men fighting in a cage and get it on television, let alone women. And then I sat down and I met with her and we talked for like 20 minutes. And 20 minutes into the conversation in my head, I started going, holy shit, I might actually do this. She's the one that I think I can launch this whole thing with. This might work. That would probably be the thing that surprised me the most in my career.
9:30Katie Miller:You walked away from fighting because the long-term effects. I've previously talked with Mike Tyson on the podcast and talked about how he has some issues from fighting as well. What do you say to others who are engaging in fighting? How has it shaped the way you run UFC? Have you put in place other things? Good question, yeah. Let's think about this. In the 30 years of the UFC, there's never been a death or serious injury. Cheerleading can't say that, okay? We spend so much money on health and safety, and obviously the big one is brain health.
10:08but when you're a young aggressive male that comes from places that people like you and I can never even imagine and fighting is your way out or fighting is what you were put on this earth to do you know there's just no talking you out of it and the stuff that's wrong with me from fighting I wouldn't take back one punch I wouldn't change any of it And it was some of the greatest times of my life. It was what I was passionate about. And you can look at, there are people that work in coal mines and end up dying because of what they do. And many other jobs. Construction, you name it. Life is dangerous.
10:51And one thing we know is we're all going to die someday. But how do you want to live? And what do you want to do? And what gets you out of bed every day? And what excites you? And what are you passionate about? And no matter what it is, you know, some people it's jumping out of airplanes. Some people, you know, everybody has their own crazy shit that they're into. And as a grown adult, you make these decisions on your own going in knowing what the dangers are.
11:19Katie Miller:Do you think you'll ever not do this? You light up like no one I've ever seen talking, maybe except the president, who talks about what he does. Yeah. Do you think you'd ever not do this? No, no. And I can't even imagine a day where I actually consider retiring. I just can't see it happen. I mean, I go on these vacations for 10 days. The generation before me, when they used to talk about retiring, I'm going to retire and sit on the beach and drink margaritas. You'd be bored. You know, when you do it, how many days can you sit on the beach and drink margaritas? And like, I'll be on a 10-day vacation and I'm like, if I got to put suntan lotion on my body one more time and, you know, get me the hell out of here, I'm ready to go back to work.
12:01You know, there's always these, you could take these breaks, but then you want to get back and you want to get up every day and be excited and passionate about something.
12:11Katie Miller:So your wife you met when you were how old? We were like 12 or 13. I think what blows me away about that is you look at fertility rates in our country. You look at the declining marriage rates in our country. You specifically look at, I was reading an article today about how young women hate men more than ever. They're like, men are good for nothing. You're like, how did we get here? And so for someone like you, how did you know so young that that was meant to be your person and vice versa? Well, I wouldn't say that we knew that young. We were friends. So we were friends when we were in school and, you know, we didn't get together until we were 25 years old, but we'd known each other.
12:53I think that probably happens a lot. People you grew up with, you know, that you've known for a long time and that you trust and have a personal relationship with are usually the people you probably end up with. I'm not saying that's always the case, but I bet I would bet the majority of the time that's the way it works.
13:12Katie Miller:You have a lot of experience with young men and with young women. Are you seeing that trend where people are delaying finding their significant other, starting a family and for sake of their careers? Yeah, I think you nailed it. You know, it's a whole weird thing right now with with with young men and women. I think that the other thing that's happening is, you know, a lot of people are having kids and not getting married, you know. yeah times are changing from when I was young but these young men I think you know we went through COVID and the whole woke era and all the weird shit that went on during that period a lot of the young males felt displaced and I don't know it was a weird time and you know I always get accused I've talked to Lene my head of PR We talk about this all the time because she sits on all these interviews where I'm accused of being the head of the manosphere, whatever that means.
14:18And that, you know, toxic masculinity.
14:21Katie Miller:The only people who hate toxic masculinity are women who hate themselves. Interesting. I got men saying it to me. What's that mean? What's that mean when you have men saying it to you? It means that men in our country need to grow a paracad. Well, what's funny is I did this. I spoke at Harvard Business School and the guy who was interviewing me for the Q &A was the guy who did the Forbes story on me. I was on the cover of Forbes. and he kept talking about the manosphere and toxic masculinity. By the end, I told Lene, he's got me convinced. I think I might be, I might actually be a toxic male. You know, he was talking about my office and the things that are in my office.
15:14And, you know, I grew up in the 80s when, you know, men were men. Now it's a whole nother world out there. And I just think that...
15:24Katie Miller:Don't you think it's that women want a man to take care of them, to step into that provider caretaker role? And so many men are not doing that these days. And that's why it's just called toxic masculinity is what is a traditional gender role. It is never, ever going to change. I don't care how powerful a woman is, what she does. Women want to be taken care of, treated right, and they want to feel safe. It's just it's that's nature. and it's a man's job to do all that. As I get deeper into this, you'll realize how toxic my masculinity is, but it's like the, I hate this whole men's mental health bullshit that they talk about.
16:12Unfortunately, when you're a man, you are the provider. You are the one that takes care of your family. You know, you are the example for your kids when they grow up and your sons, you know, and your daughters. And unfortunately, you can't be that guy that's, I see these guys posting on social media, oh, I had a bad day and I'm so sad and all this other crazy shit. So unattractive. Oh, it's just, it's unattractive to other males, let alone women. I can't even imagine. And yeah, I'm really against all that shit. So, yeah.
16:55Katie Miller:I'm a strong believer in that, like, when feminism started increasing in our country, so did the decline in the birth rate. Because as they told women, you need to be equal to a man. You need to go to a workplace. Women stopped having babies because they thought that's what they needed to do is have this career that served. And the career ladder is how they were going to become equal to that of a man. And it's like when women lost their femininity instead of having a baby and having a family is the most beautiful thing I can do as a contributor to this society. It doesn't matter how much I make.
17:24Katie Miller:It doesn't matter how much I earn or what my job title is. Being a mother is the preeminent role. And when society told women that that wasn't it anymore is when you started having weak men. That's my theory. Yeah, you could be right. I don't know how it all started, but there's nothing I hate when men don't act like men. And it's like, it drives me absolutely crazy. So there's two divergent ways to discuss this with you. One is to say that in your own family, you have three kids. You have a wife that you're not on your second or third wife, to my understanding. So how do you think that having those traditional gender roles has benefited your family?
18:04Katie Miller:And benefited your children? Yeah, well, in every way. I mean, I'm the guy that goes out and I work and I provide, you know, for my family. and what my wife is really good at. Like, I'm busy. You were just saying, are you traveling as much? And yeah, I travel a lot. She's the one that says, I don't give a shit what you're doing. We're taking 10 days and we're going here for this. And the kids have a play and this and that. You know, she runs the house and makes sure that I am aware of what's going on with the family. And we're going to go spend some time together. Like I might not be there every day, but, you know, we'll take three big trips a year and go away for 10 days and spend real good time together.
18:48I showed up, you know, my kids are older now. They're 24, 25. My daughter is 19 and she goes to college. and you know I was there for if I wasn't there for their games or their plays or their whatever what I was lucky in that I had the one of the biggest production studios in in Nevada so we would literally live stream their games and I would watch them and I could interact with them through you know because technology was I was very lucky where technology was when my kids were growing up, but I've been a part of everything that they did growing up and still now today.
19:28Katie Miller:What's your favorite memory of raising your children when you're like, we were at home, we were doing this, or I was carting them to this or that thing. Yeah. So no matter how busy I was or what I did or how late I was out the night before, I always drove my kids to school and taking the kids to school. I used to love it. And, you know, there's tons of great memories of we went on a trip to Bora Bora one time. And I tell everybody, it's a pain in the ass to get there. But it is the greatest time that you will ever spend with your family if you take them to Bora Bora. It's amazing. Probably the greatest trip I've ever been on.
20:08And I love, like, Italy and some other places. But Bora Bora, you have to when you when you're done having your 43 kids, you guys need to when they're old enough, you know, when the youngest one is old enough, go on a trip to Bora Bora for a few days. And it's it's special.
20:28Katie Miller:Is it because you're off the grid or is it the landscape? Like what made it better? Everything about it. It is definitely off the grid. They have the the huts that are in the water and you literally jump out your back door. and Bora Bora, basically this is Bora Bora. It's the mouth of a volcano that Bora Bora is in. And then once you get out, it's like in the middle of the ocean. But inside the mouth of this volcano, the greatest, and I'm not a big ocean guy and all that shit, but the greatest snorkeling you could ever do. It's just, it's hard to explain. You have to experience it. I'm just telling you, I've done just about everything you could do.
21:04When your kids are young, take them to Bora Bora And I promise you, when I see you in a few years again, you'll tell me you were right. Greatest trip we've ever been on.
21:13Katie Miller:I heard I'll add it to our list. So what did your wife cook dinner every night for your family? And how did that work? Family dinners, that's very important. Yeah. Well, she's Italian. So yeah, family dinners are important. You know, and on Sundays, she'll have her family over and our kids. And her family is very involved with the kids and everything, too. grandparents are, you know, there's nothing better than having good grandparents. I had incredible grandparents. So, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's special. So I said, there's two divergent ways to look at this. One was through the fact that you live by example and you have a beautiful family.
21:52Katie Miller:And then the second is to say that you have a lot of young men I would say that you're responsible for at UFC and young women. What do you say to them? And what encouragement do you give to them to kind of stay on the right path, so to speak? Nobody has ever asked me that before. So obviously, we get into situations where we will take these people that nobody knows. And then all of a sudden, whether it's coming off the Ultimate Fighter, Contender Series, or just coming into the UFC, and then all of a sudden you start to become famous. And fame is a very weird thing. And some people deal with it well and some people just nosedive and mess their whole lives up.
Read the full transcript
22:44And I've dealt with both. And one of the things that I've noticed early on, and I'll give the best example I can give you is The Ultimate Fighter. So The Ultimate Fighter, we filmed this show, then it airs and um there's a gap between when they leave from filming to when it actually airs so i always tell them you know i don't know anything about your life personally but as soon as this show airs everything's going to change and it's going to get really weird um whoever gives a shit that you're coming home tomorrow is probably who you should stick with. And it could be girlfriend, wife. It could be your trainers, your managers, whoever they are.
23:34As soon as you start to become famous, all the creeps are going to come out of the woodwork and start, you know, trying to work their way into your life and tell you all these things that they can do for you. And it can be anything, managers, women, whatever. Whoever gives a shit that you're coming home tomorrow is probably who you stick with. And I've seen a lot of these fighters start to head toward divorce once they become famous and they start to make money. And I always try to encourage them not to do it, especially if they have kids, especially if they have kids. Because I've seen so many people, you know, you go out and you're on the road, 22 ,000 people are going crazy when you walk into the arena, pictures, autographs, and then you get home to reality and you got two or three kids and your wife's like, take the trash out, do this, do that.
24:28And these guys, you know, egos start to get in the way. And so if you end up getting divorced and then you get remarried and you start all over and you left these kids behind, the grass is a grainer. It's going to be the same shit with a different person. You know what I mean? That's just the reality of life. And I try to talk these guys out of it. And I don't know. I don't know if I answered your question, but that's the that's the best answer I got.
24:57Katie Miller:Do you encourage them to find someone and settle down? Do you find that that makes someone better or do you just not care? No, no, no. That's beyond your purview. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that is none of my business. None of my business. But when these guys start to go through it and their marriage, because fame is a very crazy, weird thing. and everybody thinks they want to be famous, they start to be famous. Then it's lonely. The only thing famous is good for is getting into restaurants. Other than that, it's fucking useless. How much money does a guy go from making? So say they go from being broke to how much, how quickly?
25:35Well, it depends. I mean, the best example would be Conor McGregor. Yeah. You know, he was on what you would consider welfare in Ireland. when he started. And, you know, guys made hundreds of millions of dollars.
25:50Katie Miller:Not doing bad. Yeah. When you took UFC from near bankruptcy to being a global powerhouse, what moment was it for you that you were like, okay, I got it, this is going to work? The Ultimate Fighter, the finale of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1. Forrest Griffin and Stefan Bonner fought. And as soon as the fight was over, I said, that's it. We got it. Is there something else in a parallel today that you look at that's also failing where you're like, I could go take that from zero to hero. That's outside of UFC. Because if you've done it once, you can probably strike gold twice. So what is it? Power slap.
26:29Katie Miller:Literally, I saw these guys in 17, 18, slapping each other on social media. I took a deeper dive into it, and I said, holy shit, this is interesting. And I called the Fertitta brothers, and I said, hey, I'm into this slapping stuff. I think I'm going to do this. And they said, how much money you need? And I said, I need a million dollars from both of you. So all three of us put up a million bucks. And this thing does a billion views a month. No way. A billion views a month. Yeah. It's the most successful thing I've ever been a part of in such a short amount of time. Did you bring them into the Trump orbit?
27:08Katie Miller:Or how did that work? I think that, well, they're hardcore Republicans. Sure. And, you know, my relationship with the president enabled me to create a relationship with them, with the president. So if you look back at the history of what you've done for UFC when you went to the Farida brothers and said, let's do this to present day, you've done a lot of time, energy spending, trying to recruit, retain good talent and really turn around UFC from when you went to them and said, let's get going. Right. What do you think today as you're still trying to build the brand? Are you still traveling as much?
27:54Katie Miller:What are you looking for when you go look for a potential fighter? Where do you think are the new up-and-coming markets? Yeah. Yes, I still travel a lot, and it's all about finding new talent. So the difference is the UFC has become a global sport now, so there isn't a place on earth that I can't find a fighter. I mean, we're going to do a fight for the second time this year in Azerbaijan. on. We haven't done a fight in Spain yet, but I can literally get a fighter from anywhere in the world. So people, when I grew up, your parents would put you in karate or taekwondo. Mixed martial arts is the new martial art that everybody trains in, whether they're going to become a fighter or not.
28:39So it's much easier to find talent now than it was 25 years ago.
28:44Katie Miller:Do you find that consistent across foreign countries? Yes. Oh yeah. Especially in, in, in, uh, places like, uh, Russia and, you know, a lot of these, uh, rough countries, there's a lot of talent coming out of there. How much of your day do you spend just doing operations versus recruiting versus building new events? All of it. I mean, I literally do all of that every day because now I'm involved in boxing. You know, I told you power slap the UFC. Um, so we're always looking for new talent in all of those different companies. We're always looking, where are we going to put on the next events? You know, that's all part of everything that I do every day.
29:27Katie Miller:Do you personally review every new fighter that comes in? Like, do you just know now when you see somebody? Yeah, well, what happens is, well, I have a matchmaking team that tees me up on the guys. We do a show called The Contender Series, which is literally the best show on television if you're a fight fan. All unsigned guys come in. They fight right there. It's like a job interview. And I don't care what you've done in the past. You're obviously really good. That's why you're here. Or the matchmakers wouldn't show me right here, right now, who you are and what you have. The best fight show on TV.
29:59And we do that once a year. And that is like my favorite thing to do. I could do that. I actually like that better than seeing the big stars fight. So I'm all about recruiting and watching and evaluating young up-and-coming talent.
30:17Katie Miller:What's been the best event you've put on and the best fight you've watched? The best event I've ever put on. It would have to be the sphere. I would have to say the sphere. Have you been yet? No. All right. When you're in between having kids, and here's what you need to do. Okay. Whatever band you and your husband love, you have to see them play at the Sphere in Las Vegas. It's a really cool experience, or what you do is you take your kids, and you all go to Vegas, and you do the Wizard of Oz, because they have the Wizard of Oz playing in there. Much more my speed. Huh? I said that's much more my speed.
30:57Katie Miller:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, the Eagles did a stint there, and, you know, all these great bands. It's a really cool experience. So the best event I ever did was there. Hardest one we've ever pulled off until the White House. And the best fight I've ever seen. I mean, that's a tough one. We just figured out that in my 25 years of doing this, I've watched over 10 ,000 fights. Wow. Yeah, so to pick one that was the best I've ever seen would be tough. So there's been a lot of celebrities who have come to UFC. Did you know that they were coming in vans? and who's been like, oh man, I cannot believe they came to my event.
31:36Katie Miller:There's got to be one of those moments. Well, yeah, probably. I don't remember exactly when it was, but I would say the only one that I didn't know was coming was like, we're at an event one time and somebody goes, Bruno Mars is here. I'm like, Bruno Mars is here. So I walk over to him. I'm like, what are you doing? He's in these seats over. I'm like, what are you doing? Why didn't you? He's like, no, no. Buy my own ticket. Buys his own tickets. Walks in the front doors like everybody else does. Sits in his seats, then leaves. Bruno Mars. And speaking of Bruno Mars, have you ever seen him? No.
32:22I don't care if you don't like that type of music. I don't care if you don't know one song. If you've never seen Bruno Mars in concert, it is one of the greatest. He's one of the greatest performers of all time.
32:33Katie Miller:Did you go to his concert after he went to UFC? Yes, I did. So I went and saw a show. He does this, he plays at the Park MGM Theater, which is a small venue. When him and his band play, you feel like there's nowhere they'd rather be than right there on stage playing. It's one of the greatest shows you will ever see. Anybody watching this, if you've never seen Bruno Mars, trust me, you need to. I want to go back quickly to how you raised your family. You've said publicly you've raised your sons differently than you've raised your daughter. How so? How so? Yeah. Well, my sons could do things that my daughter couldn't.
33:08And I don't give a shit what anybody says about that. There are things that your boys can do that your daughter can't. And I was very involved in her, you know, her relationships, you know, from the first one.
33:25Katie Miller:what happened when she brought a guy home the first time i've had some i'd be very scared to do that if you were my dad the first one that that you know she was a freshman in high school without telling this whole story but you know uh she was supposed to be home uh and me and my daughter are like you know we're cool her and my wife fight like they're sisters uh and my wife was out of town she's like hey starts blowing me up savannah is supposed to be home at 11 you make sure i said relax i got it you know me and savannah whatever 1103 1104 1105 so I FaceTime her. She pushes me to, you know, and we're not like that.
34:19So this whole thing blows up. Now she had somebody who used to drive her around and whatever because she's a freshman until she got a license, got a car and she wasn't with her. So this whole thing blows up and let's just say the poor kid that brought her home. Yeah. Yeah, he knows. It was, I'm like, this is going to be interesting. Let me see if the dad calls me on this one. But without getting into it, it was not a good night.
34:53Katie Miller:Oh, boy. She was on her way home, but the person who was supposed to be driving her home wasn't driving her home. It was somebody else. Did you go outside? Oh, you're damn right I did. Yeah. And I've never done anything like that with my sons. My sons are going to have to deal with their own relationships and all that stuff. But my daughter, yeah, I've been very involved in all that stuff. Did the poor kid survive? He did. He did. And then he ended up becoming her boyfriend. And he never came to the house ever the entire time they dated. Never once. Never once did that kid come to the house after that night ever again.
35:33Yeah. Yeah. But he ended up being her boyfriend. Yeah.
35:38Katie Miller:What's been the hardest part about stepping back as your kids have gotten older? It hasn't been hard for me. It's been really hard for my wife, but not for me. I'm actually happy for them that they're transitioning into these new places in their life. I'm happy for them. When my oldest son left the house, first it was weird. A certain energy leaves your house when your first kid leaves. And then, you know, obviously the second and the last, you know, you go through all these changes. The first one leaves and it's weird. Then the second one leaves and it's weird. And then, you know, you kind of know what to expect by the time the third one leaves.
36:22I've been OK with it. I've been good.
36:24Katie Miller:How did you teach your kids about money and privilege growing up probably the way they did? we never talked about money ever or you know we we just and and i gotta credit my wife 100 for all this we just lived like like normal you know and what your kids what is normal to them like we had a nice house and we had nice cars and things like that but we never talked about money or it it it It wasn't like that, and it's still not like that. And my youngest son wanted to drop out of school, college, and start a business. And I said, he came back, he pitched me it. I said, this is actually not a bad idea, but you're going to work.
37:19You're not going to just, you know. So you're going to go out, and you're going to put in applications. I'm not going to make calls. I'm not. So I made him go out, put out applications. I said, if I drop dead tomorrow, this is what you're qualified to do. You know, you didn't go to college, you know. So he went out, put out applications and he ended up working at U-Haul for a while.
37:41Katie Miller:Did he drop out and work at U-Haul? So after he dropped out, he had to go out and look for jobs and he got a job at U-Haul and he had to clean out the back of the trucks. He had to fix broken taillights. He had to do, you know, move trucks from different places. You have to have that shitty job that you don't like at a young age so that you can understand, you know. I could have made a thousand phone calls and got him some, you know, uh-uh. Nope, we're not doing that. And to his credit, he went out, he did it, and he learned. Did he go back to school or did he start doing this? He's involved in this business.
38:21He's, yeah, he's, it's a great idea. Everything he said to me was dead on with this business and how it would go. And it was actually a brilliant idea. And it's what he's into and what he's passionate about.
38:37Katie Miller:Has fatherhood changed your perspective on success and what really matters? Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. And that's the other thing. growing up their whole life. I was never, you know, you should be a doctor or a lawyer. You got to do this and that. My thing is for my kids is when everybody asks me what the key to being successful is, people think the key to success is money or fame or any of this stuff. If you get up every day and you're happy and you like your life, you are more successful than most of the people in this world. The key to success is being happy, whatever that means. My kids told me, hey, dad, I want to pump gas when I get older.
39:25I love being, I love the smell and this and that. Awesome. Knock yourself out. Go be happy.
39:31Katie Miller:So in every episode of the podcast, we play the game of would you rather. You can choose one or the other. That's it. Would you rather have every fight end in a controversial decision or every fight end in 10 seconds? Neither. I want neither of those. Those are both horrible. We'd be out of business in six months. Those are both horrible. So which one? Neither. Those are brutal. Controversial decision that pisses everybody off or over in 10 seconds, which would piss everybody off if every fight was over in 10 seconds. the great thing about fighting is and especially in mma is there's so many different ways to win and lose that i say this what i sell for a living i sell holy shit moments right so when i put on a fight and i put on a fight almost every saturday i'm asking you to stay home every saturday or to come to my fight and i gotta have three or four holy shit moments where you know if you're at home at a bar or you're live in the venue where everybody jumps out of their seats and you know and it's the variety of wins, you know, the way the fights end that makes it so exciting.
40:44Katie Miller:Would you rather have Taylor Swift handle all of your sports betting picks for a year or face Logan Paul in a slap fight challenge? I'm actually, Taylor Swift is impressive with what that woman has built. I'm going to tell you a crazy story. Okay. You're like, no, this isn't how this game works. You're just supposed to answer the fucking questions here. So I'm in a meeting with Walmart, corporate. And they're telling me about their business. And they were telling me that one of their stores, their whole sporting goods section got wiped out. Canoes, tents, this. People went in and bought it. And the store was like, this is crazy.
41:31What's going on? And they realized like 10 miles out of town, there was some sort of festival. So people were coming in and buying tents and all this stuff. So they try to see what's going on in all the different areas. Then adult diapers started selling out in all of their stores. One store got hit. All the adult diapers were gone. Then a week later, another store in another city, all the adult diapers got wiped out. Taylor Swift concerts. They were buying adult diapers so they didn't miss one song.
42:14Katie Miller:No. Yeah. So when you really know you've hit a level of success where grownups are buying adult diapers so they don't miss one of your songs at your concert. I don't know. Grownups. How you can gain success better than that? Taylor Swift, good for adult diapers. Yeah, I'll let Taylor Swift do my sports betting for me. Would you rather run the UFC with no social media or no pay-per-view? No pay-per-view. Money? We're not pay-per-view now. We just went to Paramount. We're on Paramount now, and it's streaming. It's no pay-per-view. Would you rather corner your kid in their first pro fight or be the referee for it?
43:00I did corner my kid in his first pro fight. My son Aiden fought and I cornered him. Yeah.
43:06Katie Miller:Who would you rather have co-host the roast of Dana White, Donald Trump and Tony Hinchcliffe or Joe Rogan and Theo Vaughn? That's funny. You'd have to do Trump and Tony. I mean, that would be brutal. Joe Rogan doesn't like roasts. He doesn't believe in roasts. That you have a friend that you care about and you go shit all over him. And, you know, he doesn't believe in that. Trump and Tony absolutely believe in it. What's your go-to cheat meal?
43:40Italian. Pasta.
43:43Katie Miller:What's the craziest thing you've ever spent money on? Meteorites. What? Yeah, exactly. There you go. See? Great answer. I own a bunch of meteorites. Can you explain that further for me, please? When you make money, you buy some dumb shit. You buy some dumb shit. So when you go into the UFC offices, like I have, I have a saber-toothed tiger skull. It's like the nicest skull that exists. If you went to the La Brea Tar Pits, it's where they have the most. None of them are like my skull. The full skull, the teeth, everything. What's that run you these days? I don't know what it's worth now, but I think I paid like$500 ,000 or$600 ,000 for it when I got it.
44:25Cool. I have a full samurai from the early 1600s. I have samurai swords from the 1600s and I own meteorites. One of the meteorites is from the 1800s, was found in the 1800s. I have like six.
44:44Katie Miller:Where do you go to buy those? Did you ever see Joe Dirt? Yeah. Where do you go to buy the meteorites though? You buy them in auctions, like through Sotheby's. So you remember in Joe Dirt when he thought he had a meteorite and it was basically, it was, you know, it was the things that they drop out of the toilets from the airplanes. So I actually bought a meteorite and I sent it to David Spade and I said, Hey, Joe dirt. Now you actually really own a meteorite. Do you use AI at all at UFC? How are you going to integrate it? So the, the white house, uh, promo that we just did is AI. That's cool. Yeah.
45:21The whole promo is AI. Even my voice isn't my real voice.
45:25Katie Miller:Wow. Yeah. My guys put together the whole promo for the White House without one guy going into the sound booth filming or anything. The only thing that's real in the spot is the fight footage. Do you think that's going to be the future? It already is. It's not the future. It's now. It's already happening. Who's the rudest celebrity you've ever met? Oh, that's a good question. What a great question. Let me really think about this so I can really fucking stick it to whoever it was. Who will we run into? Diddy. Who? Diddy. Oh, Diddy. 100%. The biggest douchebag ever. But the other one is the owner of the...
46:10Katie Miller:Warriors. The owner of the Warriors. I love going to NBA games and I'm a big Celtics fan. and me and Ari Emanuel go to Celtics versus Warriors, right? So I got my Celtics hoodie on and we're sitting there and I can't remember his name, the owner of the, he's like the majority owner, him and his wife. And they come in and they're sitting a couple seats over from us. And he walks up to me, he's like, oh, I heard you were here, this and that. He's like, are you serious with that hoodie? You know, I get it. Whatever. I think he's joking. So he literally starts trying to unzip my thing, my hoodie and whatever.
46:55So, well, fuck it. I start grabbing his. And I'm going to pull his off, too. If we're going to, what do we, you know. And, you know, his wife's talking smack to me. And, you know, I'm thinking this is all in fun and whatever. And then she goes like this. And she's got championship rings on every finger. And I go, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. So we go through this whole thing. And he sits down. And we're watching the game and halftime's coming up. Now, if you've ever gone to an NBA game, at the end they have like a green room and stuff that you're going back in. And Ari leans over to me and says, he says, you're not going to be able to go back there if you don't take that hoodie off.
47:39And I said, well, tell him he can keep his stale fucking pretzels and his fucking shitty beer. I'll sit here during halftime I'm not taking my fucking Celtics hoodie off right? And to Ari's credit, me and Ari's are out there during halftime and just like are you fucking kidding me? What makes this fun is that you have Warriors fans and you have, I'm actually pissed off because I didn't realize last night the Celtics played in Philly right? So I go into Philly when the Celtics, it's the playoffs right now and the Philly fans are incredible man they're always yelling at me you got some balls wearing that in here with UFC socks you know they're all they're yelling stuff and it's part of the fun of being a fan of these different teams and you're getting these these owners and these these guys right now that like don't want the opposing fans I just saw these two guys talking about the the Red Sox which is my team in baseball bitching because they sell Yankee gear to the Yankee fans and listen, I am not a Yankee fan.
48:45I'm a Red Sox fan, but you want different fans to show up and just create this energy and buzz inside your arenas. It's like if I only wanted Conor McGregor fans to show up to all my fights, it's just it's a weird thing that's going on in sports right now. But, you know, obviously he's one of the rudest people that I've ever come across, like just blatantly it was fucking crazy the other one is p diddy tony hawk used to have these uh these charity events and when my kids were little you'd go to these charity events and like lots of celebrities would be there so everybody would do things for each other's kids so i had my niece at one of them and Diddy shows up and it was at Ron Burkle's house.
49:37And my niece was like all excited, like, oh my God, Pete Diddy's here and whatever. I said, awesome. Yeah, I go take a picture with him. And, you know, she comes back and I'm like, did you get a picture? She's like, no, they were scary. You know, the guy's there with fucking 10 security guards, right? Like, like 10 security you need security at a fucking kids event and and and and you know and then they were rude to her and and scared her that's your that's who's listening to your fucking shitty music okay that's who's listening to this are you fucking kidding me and that's how you're gonna treat some girl that's a fan and wanted a picture with you and uh yeah so so and conor mcgregor was a P.
50:20Diddy fan. My car ran into him at a USC game, I think, and wanted to punch him in the face when he met him. So, yeah.
50:28Katie Miller:I'm Brad. Yeah. What's your typical day like? I get up every day around 8 o 'clock, go to the gym, work out, and then I'm in the office all day. Because the guys are going to care. What's your workout routine? Well, I'm 56, so my routine now is not to get fat and not to get hurt. You know what I mean? I'm not in there trying to break any world records or anything. I'm just, those are my two goals. Don't get fat and don't get hurt. What do you eat in a typical day? Well, yesterday was a really bad day. What'd you eat? Yeah, I've been, so I met this guy, Gary Brucka, like three, four years ago. And I literally went on this total health kick.
51:12Got in the best shape of my life at like 54 and 55. and then uh uh you know i've i in the last i'd say eight months i've been i got into cigars i started smoking cigars and and i love this yamasaki japanese whiskey that that goes with the cigar so the like last eight months i've been i've been living a little more than i did the last
51:36Katie Miller:three years have you talked to bobby kennedy about the diet he's put everybody else on it's like only protein with fermented vegetables yeah that makes sense so listen these guys that can that can do these hardcore diets and live like that for 20 years i'm impressed i you know rob low the actor i heard this guy's been like keto for like 30 years but that's why he's looked exactly the same but he looks great right yeah looks just like he did yeah i agree well that ain't me that ain't me i could i couldn't do it that long i i get on these kicks so i meet gary brecca i literally build this whole facility at ufc headquarters with the red light bed and and i still do that stuff every day as part of my workout the superhuman protocol i do it every day i cold plunge this morning i have a cold plunge in my room my hotel everywhere i travel to i do not get up and not cold plunge ever.
52:36And, uh, but then I get into smoking cigars. So I built a cigar bar at the, at the, at the UOC headquarters. Now we have, yeah. Anyway, I'm, I'm, I'm all over the map. But when I get into something, I'm like totally into it.
52:52Katie Miller:Are there any supplements you swear by? Yeah. So again, the Gary Brecca thing, I was on a bunch of, of, uh, you know, doctor's pills for blood pressure and all. I'm on no pills. I'm only on supplements. Gary Brecca got me off all that stuff. And the thing that's great about Brecca is he got me to a place where I realized that I could, uh, I could control my health and not with pills, but with supplements and, and, and all these other things like red light and cold plunging and all the other stuff that he does, sauna. So I do that, yet I live a little too. Have you had conversations with Brian Johnson too, the other biohacker out there?
53:37Yeah, I've met with him. We've talked at length. His is hardcore. Hardcore.
53:44Katie Miller:Yeah.
53:48But yeah, I've looked at what's called the blueprint, right? I think it's called the blueprint.
53:52Katie Miller:What advice would you give to somebody much younger than you, say 20s, 30s, 40s about making similar overhauls to their health? Listen, I'd say go guns a blazing when you're in your 20s and 30s. Have fun. Because once you start getting up toward 50, the party's over. Yeah, live your life. Live your life. Yeah, I don't think you have to be overly crazy about anything. Live and have fun and enjoy yourself. The day will come when you have to start really paying attention to your health. Do you eat anything differently when you travel versus when you're at home? That's a good question. I, yeah, I'd say I eat worse when I'm on the road.
54:30I probably eat worse when I'm on the road. I eat much better when I'm home and I'm in my routine. I like routines. And I try to keep as close to my routine as I can when I'm traveling.
54:42Katie Miller:What's your favorite conspiracy theory? The moon. The moon landing. I got a buddy, my buddy Skip, every single dinner we eat at, he and one of my other guys, Hunter, fight over the moon landing the entire dinner, every dinner. Did we land on the moon? Hunter believes it happened, Skip believes it didn't, and we got to listen to this shit every time we eat dinner. Crazy. What song always puts you in a good mood? What song? Oh, wow. What song always puts me in a good mood? Another great question that I should have a quick answer to. I would say Miss You by The Rolling Stones. What's your biggest fear?
55:30My biggest fear? I really don't have a lot of fears.
55:36I would say my only fear if I had to say something happened to one of my kids.
55:45Katie Miller:We close every podcast with the same question. If you could host a dinner party with three people that are alive, who's sitting at the table and what are you eating? Who's sitting at the table? Well, I say this all the time, and it fits in this place, in this podcast, in this city. If you look at the people that hate on President Trump, I tell everybody this. If I took you to dinner with him for an hour, you can be as far left and have whatever perceptions of him. you have. It is impossible for you to get up from that dinner and walk away and say, I hate that guy. It's impossible. And to the brilliance of Kid Rock, we did it with Bill Maher, you know, and you're talking not just on the Bill Maher side, but on the President Trump side, hate each other.
56:47One of the greatest dinners that I've ever been to in my life. I've heard about this. It was hilarious. And then to see those two sit next to each other and talk politics for an hour. And things they agreed on, they actually agreed on things and things they didn't agree on. And then the president gave him an incredible tour of the White House. And I would I would do Trump every time. And you let him pick the menu. The dinners at the White House have been, you know, the best dinners I've ever had.
57:24Katie Miller:The food's really good. Yeah, very good. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. Thanks so much for watching this episode of the Katie Miller Podcast. Don't forget to like, subscribe, share, and follow. We'll be back next week, 6 p.m. Tuesday night. See you then.
57:47Thank you.
From the publisher
New details on the biggest fight in UFC history, UFC Freedom 250, Dana White wrecks WEAK men, Dana reveals the rudest celebrity he has ever met.
