UFC CEO Dana White got emotional recounting the time he helped a family in need.
While appearing on the In Search of Excellence Podcast, White was asked about the importance of philanthropy in regards to people in White’s financial position. The longtime face of the UFC went in-depth about one particular instance where he saved the life of a “girl in Thailand” many years ago.
Dana White gets choked up discussing donation that saved girl's life.pic.twitter.com/ix4NXTckji
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 21, 2024
“I literally would stay off the internet — however many years ago this was — on the weekends, and for some reason, I ended up on the f*cking internet on a Saturday,” White said. “There was this guy that had posted something that he had just got back from Thailand, and he was training Muai Thai over there with this legendary coach, and his daughter was dying because she needed some type of heart surgery, and she was going to die in the next several days if she didn’t get the money. And it was going to be $50,000.
“And the guy was like, ‘Dana White, you need to f*cking put this money up right now and donate it to her. You f*cking bet this much playing blackjack,’ ... basically coming at me like that. The people on the thing were going, ‘Whoa, he can do whatever he wants with his money, why do you expect it [to happen]?’ But this is the way I talk. This guy was talking to me the way that I talk. And he isn’t wrong. I was like, ‘This dude is f*cking absolutely right. He’s not wrong, he’s f*cking right. I’m supposed to do this. It was f*cking weird.
“So I end up reaching out [to] find out if it’s real. It’s real. And I send the $50,000 over, and her and I ... when you go into their gym, there’s this massive picture of me in there, and there’s big picture of me over her bed like I’m her guardian angel.”
The donation was given in 2010 when the girl was just a baby, UFC said in a release in 2018 when White went to visit her.
The UFC CEO says he isn’t doing it for the pats on the back.
“I pay for her schooling, I pay for all of her medical stuff,” White said. “Anyway, I don’t like talking about a lot of this stuff, but I’m in a position that I’m very lucky that I can help other people, and I’m not one of these guys who likes walking out with a f*cking big check, and doing all that bullsh*t.
“I do stuff because I should do it, and I do stuff because I want to do it. I don’t do it because I want to be recognized doing it. But I don’t like talking about it.”
