so as the pandemic knocked out sports
leagues around the country around the
world one organization had stood strong
it's ufc
with major sporting events like the
olympics still trying to figure out how
to put on their show
dana white and the ufc never slowed down
it was the first major u.s sports
organization
to return during covent and also the
first to do it with a full
arena in jacksonville last week it had
its biggest fights night of the year ufc
264
setting attendance records while
becoming one of the top selling
pay-per-views
of all time it's time now to bring in
the man that made it happen
or one of the many who led the charge
ufc president dana white
dana why was it important for you to get
back into action it wasn't just money
right
no no not at all i mean it was important
for me to figure out a way to go through
the pandemic
and it was equally as important to me to
uh
to to come back first and show everybody
that that could be done too
and what was the result first you
communicated with the white house you
and president trump got along great so
you could directly go
to the man in charge that said can i do
this
correct yeah but it wasn't it wasn't it
wasn't a federal thing
it was harder to go state by state you
know you know
all the state different states the
no-brainers
florida texas arizona
and then we finished off in vegas we
sold out in jacksonville
sold out in houston sold out in arizona
and then just had
you know the second biggest event in ufc
history
in vegas do you think you created a
loyalty and fans that didn't even exist
before because you're willing to
literally fight
for them to get back into action to give
us all a break from this global pandemic
yeah i i think so and we created more
fans
because we went through the pandemic
there was nothing else to watch so if
you hadn't
seen the ufc before you uh you got into
it during the pandemic
you uh like and nobody else really
represent your sport well you're in the
middle of it you talked very honestly
and candidly on the broadcast before and
and now do you worry when you look
around this country and you bleed red
white and blue they were losing
uh the charge the energy
the the fight to be successful no matter
what we do
are we losing that yeah i think we are
to be honest with you uh it's uh
i don't know i've never seen anything
like it it's it's blowing my mind
but you know what everybody that's
that's slowing down everybody that is
afraid
or what whatever their reason is for for
uh
you know not wanting to get back to work
not wanting to uh
you know to run their business not
wanting to get back to normal in full
capacity
i'll run you all over i'll run you over
right and that's should be the attitude
of the 22 year old to the 32 year old
if people gonna sit on the sidelines
that's an opportunity no one ever gave
you anything
absolutely right there's never been more
opportunity out there than it
is right now you know i keep hearing
about restaurants that can't open all
the way because
they can't get people to come into work
you know you can't get an uber
because nobody wants to go back and
drive uber it's just it's it's a very
weird time
in this country right now and uh yeah
people need to get back to work and
things need to get back to normal
as soon as possible you got the
celebrity row now when it comes to ufc
fights
i did the first four in the beginning at
denver and colorado has almost felt like
an underground situation
people like john mccain wanted to stop
it he later came around on it
and one of those celebrities that came
to your last big event was president
trump how was he received
oh very well he was received very well
he he was in new york too when he came
to the fight in new york
um you know he at the end of the day
he's a fight fan
he showed up to the fights he sat there
he watches all the fights
and he stayed till it was over and uh
you know i've had a 20-year relationship
with the guy and he's always been
amazing to me
conor mcgregor obviously a broken bone
a broken leg he's going to take six
months off you said in the pre-fight
hype
he actually kicked you in the ribs
he needed me in the ribs at the uh
at the press conference yeah
accidentally is he the biggest draw and
do you think he'll be
coming back yeah
he's he's the biggest draw ever not not
just at this sport
he's one of the biggest draws ever in
combat sports period
um you know he's going to be off for
nine months uh so i
i expect him to be back in in roughly a
year and yes he will be back
uh dave check out dana white's ultimate
fighter on espn plus they got big fights
over the weekend also on espn
dana thanks so much for doing it america
really needed a break you provided it
now you got fans
and now your league is thriving thanks
so much dana hi everyone i'm brian
kilmeade i want you to do me a favor i
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