In this exclusive Al Arabiya English interview, presenter Michael Prendergast sits down with UFC President Dana White to get the inside story on Conor McGregor, the rumoured “White House fight”, the latest on President Trump and the Paramount deal.
Addressing Conor McGregor’s claim that he’ll face Michael Chandler at the White House event, White was quick to shut it down: “That’s not true. We haven’t made one fight yet, he’s speculating.” On reports that former U.S. President Donald Trump was behind the idea, White confirmed: “He was the inspiration, all of it.
“He’s the one who asked me, ‘You know, I think we should do a fight at the White House.’” After calling Trump a “badass” at a campaign rally, White brushed off U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris: “Let’s just say the right person won the election.”
ON THE UFC FIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND PRESIDENT TRUMP: “He was the inspiration, all of it. He's the one that asked me, ‘You know, I think we should do a fight at the White House.’ And I said, I'm in. Say when. So, yeah, it was his idea. He's got this big thing about the White House belonging to the people, and he wants to bring more events and more people to come and experience not just Washington, D.C., but the White House.”
ON SECURITY AT THE WHITE HOUSE FIGHT GIVEN TRUMP’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT’S: “It's a big issue. But that's going to be Secret Service, and there'll be less than 5,000 people there, and we don't even know how we're going to do ticketing yet. But the ellipse across the street we can have 85,000 people over there. We'll do screens and a big stage. We're going to basically roll in and take over Washington, D.C. that week. The UFC will.”
ON CONOR MCGREGOR ANNOUNCING HE WILL BE FIGHTING MICHAEL CHANDLER AT THE EVENT: “That's not true. We haven't made one fight yet. He's speculating. He wants that fight very badly.
“I don't think there's any secret about that. He and I actually talked today, and he seems like he's in a good place, mentally, emotionally, and now he's got to physically get ready if he wants to fight on that card. If we can get the motivated, fired-up Conor McGregor from the past back, then maybe he'll be headlining the White House.”
ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE INTRODUCING DONALD TRUMP AT A RALLY: “It was, I mean, it's always an honour. I love the guy, and, yeah, I mean, when he calls, whatever he needs, I love the guy. He's been a great friend of mine for a long time.”
ON WHITE CALLING TRUMP A BADASS WHILE INTRODUCING HIM AT THE RALLY, KAMALA HARRIS: “I don't think I want to go there, but, yeah, listen, let's just say the right person won the election.”
ON JOHN JONES BEING BACK FOR THE WHITE HOUSE FIGHT: “I don't know. We'll see. John retired, and he wants to fight at the White House. The likelihood of him fighting at the White House is, I don't know. I don't see it happening.”
ON POWERSLAP IN SAUDI ARABIA THIS WEEK AND ON HIS EXCELLENCY TURKEY AL SHEIKH WITH ZUFA BOXING: “I saw Powerslap and I thought that it could do well if it was presented right. The live event is incredible.
“If you go to the live event, you immediately become a fan. And then as far as Turkey Al Sheikh with Zufa boxing, it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for him.
“I probably would not have gotten into boxing if it wasn't for Sheikh Turkey. Listen, in boxing, it's all about the money. The big fights that you want to see don't happen unless, you know, it took Saudi money to make those fights happen.
“And I think that he has reinvigorated and kick-started the sport of boxing. So enough to get me interested again. So yeah, what he's done is pretty incredible.”
ON THE WORK ETHIC OF YOUNG PEOPLE NOWADAYS: “I mean, it's everything. If you have work ethic, if you have anything that you want to accomplish in life, any goals you've ever set for yourself, any dreams that you have, the only way to get there is by hard work.
“You have to work hard. You have to, lots of bad things happen every day that you have to power through. I don't ever try to come off like I'm trying to be some motivational speaker or anything like that. But there's no secret that I think that this younger generation is soft. And I also think that right now, with technology and all the things that are going on, there's never been more opportunity for young people than there is right now.
“So, I say it all the time. If you got this much of it in you, it's all out there for the taking. Everybody, these kids have opportunities these days that my generation never had. Go get it.”
ON HOW ‘EXCITED’ WHITE IS ABOUT THE PARAMOUNT DEAL: “Very. And I think what makes me even more excited is how excited they are for this. So, we've gotten the teams together a few times now, and the Paramount CBS people are so excited about being in business with us. It makes us even more excited being in business with them.”