Dana White has been a prominent figure in Donald Trump’s corner in each of his last two presidential campaigns, and it should come as no surprise that the UFC chief will be there for him again.
According to The Wall Street Journal, White will speak at next week’s Republican National Convention, just as he has twice before, only this time White has been given the distinction as the final speech before Trump’s nomination acceptance in Milwaukee.
In 2016, White attended the RNC in Cleveland, speaking mostly on Trump’s character as he explained how Trump threw his support behind the UFC in the early days when MMA was highly criticized for being too barbaric. White said in his speech that Trump’s “sense of loyalty and commitment will translate into how he will run this country.”
Trump went on to defeat Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election.
In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, White gave a pre-recorded speech that aired on the final night of the RNC. That time, White’s speech was more political in nature and he called it “critically important to re-elect President Trump.”
Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, UFC president Dana White, and Kid Rock pose for a photo during the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Since then, Trump has been mired in a plethora of scandals, led by becoming the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime after he was found guilty on all 34 counts in his New York criminal “hush money” trial in May. None of Trump’s ongoing and recent controversies – which includes an indictment alleging criminal effort to overturn the 2020 election and a civil jury finding that he sexually abused Jean E. Carroll – have inspired White and the UFC to distance themselves from Trump.
If anything, White and the UFC have embraced Trump even more, inviting him as a special guest to premium events four times in the past year. Trump attended UFC 290 in Las Vegas in July 2023; UFC 295 at New York’s Madison Square Garden in November 2023; UFC 299 in Miami this past March; and UFC 302 in Newark, N.J. on June 1, just days after his criminal conviction.
It’s no wonder White will stump for Trump yet again.
