Dana White Explains How Vince McMahon Prevented UFC From Being On NBC

UFC/WWE

Dana White has explained how Vince McMahon prevented UFC from being on NBC.

On September 12, Endeavor announced that they had completed the merger between WWE and UFC into a new sports and entertainment company, TKO Group Holdings.

For decades, WWE and UFC have ran parallel from each other and seen plenty of crossover despite appealing to two different fanbases and markets.

Speaking on Triggered, White explained why he and McMahon didn’t get along in the past. Dana said:

“It’s been an interesting relationship with Vince McMahon. I never saw Vince as competition, but I’m thinking Vince, in his heyday, he saw everyone as competition.”

“He was one of those guys that would fucking stick it to me, just to do it. We were about to do a deal with NBC, and it ends up, we get to the one yard line, and Vince has the final say of who can go on USA Network and who can’t if you’re a combat sport.”

“Lorenzo [Lorenzo Fertitta] and I flew out to Connecticut, sat down with him, we do all the small talk, ‘We’re doing a deal with NBC.'”

“Vince sits back like Vince sits. ‘We’re about to do this deal, we’re about to have fights on NBC and everything else, but you need to sign off on it.'”

“Vince says, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to do that.’ We’re like, ‘Why?’ ‘Eh, I’m just not interested in it. I don’t like the idea of you guys being on USA Network.'”

“The whole deal blows up. At the end of the day, it all worked out better, we ended up on FOX. That’s just one of ten times where Vince did it,”

White continued on to explain why things are different now between the two sides after the merger, saying:

“Now, Vince and I are in business together, and Vince couldn’t be a better partner now.”

“Now, Vince has been an incredible partner. Literally keeps me in the loop with everything going on, making sure I’m cool with decisions that could affect the UFC.”

Transcription via Fightful

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• Dana White
• ufc
• Vince McMahon
• wwe

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