Dana White snapped back at critics who have threatened to boycott the promotion after announcing a $100 million deal with Anheuser-Busch.
Beginning January 1, 2024, Bud Light will once again be the official beer of the UFC after White confirmed that the two companies signed on the dotted line for what will be the most lucrative deal in the fight promotion’s 30-year history. The announcement comes six months after Bud Light faced nationwide boycotts by conservatives who were infuriated over the company’s very brief partnership with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney.
Mulvaney, who has more than 10 million followers on the platform, shared a brief video promoting Bud Light’s March Madness giveaway while toting a tallboy can with her image on it. The company immediately received widespread criticism and saw multiple celebrities, including musician Kid Rock, call for a boycott of the product. Sales have since plummeted for Anheuser-Busch, knocking Bud Light off its pedestal as the No. 1 selling beer in the United States.
The UFC is already facing backlash over the partnership, but as you probably guessed, Dana White doesn’t appear to give a sh*t what anyone thinks.
“Everybody talks about, ‘Oh, you did it for money,’ hey, dummies, all sponsorship deals are about money,” White said during his appearance at the Power Slap 5 press event. “So, when you talk about being a sellout, I had multiple deals in front of me. It’s not like, ‘Oh, Bud Light showed up and they were the only option I had to make money. You know how f*cking stupid that is to think that?”
White seemed to take particular offense by the suggestion from one unidentified fan online that his initial announcement of the partnership with Bud Light was scripted.
“I saw some other f*cking a**hole today saying, ‘Oh, it sounds like they wrote him a script on what to say,’ nobody writes me a script. Nobody tells me what to say, ever,” White continued. “I do things because when I come out and I say something publicly, if you look at every quote that I put out, every quote is me. Everything that’s posted on social media is me, and everything that comes out of this mouth is me. Nobody tells me what to say and nobody tells me what to do, ever.”
Dana White INSISTS the UFC's sponsorship deal with Bud Light isn't about money, and he couldn't care less about backlash from the beer company's Dylan Mulvaney controversy.
"It was about values, core values for me." pic.twitter.com/VZC0UsNOqI
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 26, 2023
Dana White Chose Bud Light For Its ‘Core Values’
Offering some insight into the UFC’s new deal with Bud Light, White said it ultimately came down to the company’s “core values” and how they align with his own. Specifically, his appreciation for military and law enforcement.
“I am a big military-law enforcement guy,” White explained. “They have this folds of honor where they’ve spent $44 million over the last however many years, fallen first responders and military people, their families get taken care of with this money. Scholarships for their kids, etc. That is right up my alley. Almost a billion dollars a year go to U.S. farmers for their crops for their products. That is right up my alley. That’s exactly who I am. 65,000 Americans are employed by Anheuser-Busch and thousands of them are vets. Right up my alley.
“I could keep going on forever, and tell you why I am more aligned with Anheuser-Busch than any of the other beer companies that were offering to pay us money.”
Watch the full press conference below:
