Former UFC competitor Brendan Schaub hit back at Dana White and the UFC after Mark Zuckerberg was front and center for UFC Vegas 61 on Saturday night.
Airing live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, it was revealed early in the week that the event was closed to both press and the public, an unusual situation for a company that was eager to bring fans back into the fold following the lengthy COVID-19 pandemic. During the UFC Vegas 61 media day prior to the event, headliner Mackenzie Dern shared that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had rented out the entire facility for his own personal UFC event.
Immediately making headlines, UFC President Dana White was quick to discredit Dern, calling the reveal “bullshit.” Imagine everyone’s surprise when Mark Zuckerberg appeared front and center with his wife at the APEX upon the start of the event’s main card. It immediately sent fans into a frenzy. Not only had the UFC boss seemingly lied to them, but it was another frustrating example of the 1% marginalizing the general public.
Mark Zuckerberg did NOT rent out the UFC Apex. That’s total bullshit. https://t.co/VbdFATcltd
— danawhite (@danawhite) September 29, 2022
Brendan Schaub took aim at White on his Thicc Boy YouTube channel for lying to fans and throwing his own fighter under the bus in the process.
“The main takeaway of that UFC Fight Night with Mackenzie Dern and Yan is, if you were following it and again, this isn’t a big card so maybe some of you didn’t see this so I’ll break it down for you. Mackenzie Dern during her press conference goes, ‘Yeah, it’s interesting. Mark Zuckerberg rented out the entire arena for the fight night.’ So, Zuckerberg is spotted cageside at UFC Vegas 61 despite Dana White’s ‘bullsh*t’ claim. Now technically Dana White isn’t full of sh*t here because he said that Mark Zuckerberg didn’t rent it out just for him.
“Okay, if we’re looking at this, there were a few others in the crowd so it’s not just Mark Zuckerberg. But also, do we think Mackenzie Dern had this weird elaborate conspiracy theory she came up with and just pulled it out of her a**? Did she pull it out of her a** going, ‘Oh yeah, Mark Zuckerberg rented the entire arena out.’ You guys think Mackenzie Dern has some elaborate plan and just made that up and said it at a press conference or do you think there’s some smoke there?
“It’s strange to me for Dana to go against his fighters and devalue them and say, ‘Oh, he’s lying,’ or call another guy a f*cking dummy because he had a conspiracy about UFC 279 because there’s some smoke there.
“Dana lies about it then people want to get mad at me, ‘Oh, dude. Come on. You think Dana would actually do that at UFC 279? Brendan needs a handler’ … Do I? Or does your boy need a handler? I’m not the one playing grab-ass with Mark Zuckerberg, letting him rent out [the UFC Apex], shutting it down for his entertainment. You should have ran that by me, right? I don’t need a handler, these guys need a handler.”
Regarding UFC 279, Bredan Schaub took heat from Dana White after the former UFC heavyweight suggested that the UFC manufactured the chaos resulting in the promotion rearanging the main card in the 11th hour. While there is no evidence to suggest there is any truth to the claim, some believe the UFC intentionally sabotaged its own event, including the promotion’s inaugural welterweight champion Pat Miletich who White called a “f*cking dummy” during a press conference.
Brendan Schaub Likens Mark Zuckerberg to King Joffrey from Game of Thrones
Brendan Schaub continued to discuss Zuckerberg’s invasion of the UFC APEX this past weekend. Not only does Schaub believe that the situation was unfair to the fighters who were robbed of a live crowd, but also suggests that it is reminiscent of ancient roman dictators who would gather in the world-famous Colosseum to watch individuals fight for their own entertainment.
“If I’m Mackenzie Dern, the reason she mentioned it because you’re a main event on a UFC fight card. It’s a big deal. Now imagine this is such a big deal and you thrive off the energy of the fans. Then you find out this rich guy who created Facebook, who has lied through his f*cking teeth about suppressing information that he doesn’t agree with. He lies and then finally on [Joe] Rogan was like, ‘We did make some mistakes with misinformation. We were in cahoots with the White House,’ which is insane. And Twitter’s the same. And YouTube’s the same. This will get me demonetized for even bringing this up. I don’t give a f*ck at this point. Bring it on.
“There’s something weird about a guy because he owns a billion-dollar company and just recently found his passion in MMA and jiu-jitsu. It’s just so strange that he can go, ‘I like that sport, I’m renting it out.’ Now imagine you’re Mackenzie Dern during the main event and that arena is empty because this privileged nerd from Harvard created an app called Facebook and all the sudden fancies himself some UFC and decides to rent out the arena for your main event.
“They’ve never done this for anybody. They’ve had Donald Trump in the arena. They’ve had Shaquille O’Neal. They’d had Elon Musk. They’ve had some big f*cking names in that arena. Now granted this is the APEX so it’s a little different. I’m not talking about MGM Grand. Not talking about T-Mobile Arena. He rents out the APEX. Seats 100 people or more than that… 300 people. Still, you’re the main event and you thrive off fans giving you energy, but this rich kid… Joffrey from Game of Thrones goes, ‘I like that sport. I’m coming, I don’t want anybody else there. Mine.’ Is this not a weird kind of like an old-school Rome dictator thing?”
