I've already built the biggest fight

brand to ever exist. The UFC was

purchased for $2 million. And if the

Lakers sold for 12.5 billion, then the

UFC is worth 50 billion. And every day

that I show up here, I'm here to win.

When I'm dead, it's going to be

impossible to beat what I built. And I

am addicted to chaos. And if there isn't

any, I create it. From UFC fighters to

CEOs of multi-gazillion pound companies

to world leaders, I see in you a man

that is truly obsessed. Early on, I knew

exactly who I was and I knew that I

wanted to be involved in fighting.

That's what I wanted to do for the rest

of my life.

>> Was there any athlete that you sort of

put in a class of their own?

>> Conor McGregor, Habib Mamedov, and Ronda

Rousey, but I didn't want women in the

UFC. But Ronda Rousey grabbed me said,

"Can I get 15 minutes with you?" And she

came in with the whole [ __ ] bravado

and I'm like, "Holy [ __ ] I think I'm

going to do this." And she's the one to

do it with. If there were principles

that you would most attribute to the

success of the UFC, what would it be?

>> When you decide who you are, what you

want to do, what you're going to

accomplish, and you work toward it. It

is impossible for you to fail. Do not be

afraid to take the risk. But some of

these kids that think they want to be

entrepreneurs, they don't know what it

really takes. And there is a formula.

And guess who has it? And we can talk

about this.

>> And then this is a book your mother

published about you unauthorized as a

biography. She's critical of you at

certain points. I I don't go on shows to

speak negatively about my mother, but I

mean that's one of the grossest, most

disgusting things. You couldn't even

imagine possible until it happens to

you. And sometimes family is the worst.

And that was the beginning of the end

with me and her. Have you forgiven her?

>> Um,

here is a strange fact. Most of the

people watching this right now, about

58% of you aren't yet subscribed to this

channel. Statistically, that is probably

you. So, could I ask you a small favor?

If this channel has ever given you any

value at all, please could you do me a

favor and hit the subscribe button? It

costs nothing. It helps us more than you

could know. And the bigger the channel

gets, as you've seen, the more we can

invest in the guests and the production.

So, thank you so much, and I hope you

enjoy this episode.

Dana, you know more than anybody that to

become a great fighter,

often times you have an anomalous

upbringing. And I have some of these

fighters in front of me like Khabib and

Islam and Mike Tyson. And when you look

at their backgrounds and where they came

from, they have atypical origins. And

when I look at you, I consider you to be

a great fighter in your own regard. So

that's my question is what is that early

context that's made you the fighter that

you are?

>> I don't know. Uh, you know, I I I always

have trouble when we start talking about

me and my upbringing and psychoanalyzing

me. I I I don't know how to really

answer those questions. Um,

I don't know. It's not like I grew up

like these guys grew up, but

>> early on I knew exactly who I was and I

knew that I wanted to be involved in

fighting. That's what I wanted to do for

the rest of my life.

>> In terms of your mom and dad, I I I

listened to you talk about your dad and

his absence and his difficulty with

alcohol. Divorced at 8 years old,

>> left with your mother and that was also

a turbulent relationship as you as you

grew up. Is there anything from that

early context that you look back on? I

know you don't like being

psychoanalyzed. I've heard you try I've

heard you respond to like Pierce Morgan

and others who who have talked about

your childhood before, but is there

anything from that early context that

you think did shape you into this sort

of like%.

>> You know, I I always say that, you know,

you see these people that play the

victim, you know, the victim mentality.

It's like, oh, I didn't have any role

models when I was growing up. Yes, you

did. You just didn't look at it the

right way. when you grow up, everybody

who's involved in your life, they're all

role models in good and bad ways, right?

I I used to look at, you know, some of

my uncles and and and and my dad and

some I was like, "Yeah, we don't we

don't want to go in that direction.

Let's let's go in this direction." And

in America, you you can start drinking

when you're 21.

>> Mhm.

>> I quit drinking when I was 21. I believe

that that I wouldn't be able to

accomplish all the things that I wanted

to accomplish if I was drinking. And I

saw a lot of, you know, family members

and other people where drinking had had

been detrimental

to their life. And and uh, you know, I I

think I had some pretty talented, you

know, family members that could have

lived a different life had they not

drank.

>> You and your sister?

>> Yeah, it's me and my sister.

>> If I was a fly on the wall during that

period of your life, what would I have

seen?

>> I don't know. I I don't really remember.

Me and my sister, you know, now that

we're getting older, we talk about this

stuff a lot. Me and my sister are super

close. You know, both our parents are

dead and it was just us. So, yeah, my

mom was an animal. My mom worked her ass

off and, you know, if she wasn't

working, you know, and picking up extra

shifts. She was a nurse. She was going

to school. And she effectively raised

you on her own.

>> Definitely.

>> Because your dad was he he was absent. I

I remember he reciting a story of you

him taking you to the cinema drunk.

>> Yeah. Yeah. And just I mean what I got

from that was I guess carelessness. The

story of him taking you to the cinema,

telling you asking you if you wanted

something, throwing $20 your way,

telling you to go get it for your

sister. Yeah. The

>> himim him embarrassing.

>> It's one of those moments and you know

you have these these things that you

remember from your young life. And I

have I have a few with my dad, but you

know the the movie was Beverly Hills

Cop. It had just come out and it was

like the biggest movie in the world. And

we got there late. He showed up drunk to

pick us up and take us to the movies,

you know. So getting there was was a

whole, you know, scene on its own. And

then we get there, the place is packed.

There's no seats. He walks in and

screams, "We're going to have to start

moving some people, you know, and throws

money at me to go get to go get food and

popcorn or whatever." In my opinion, my

dad was a very selfish guy. And uh, you

know, he lived the life that he wanted

to live and everybody else didn't

matter. Did you ever understand him as

you People always say that when they get

older they understand their parents

better.

>> Well, what I understood was once I

became a parent. I was like, "Holy [ __ ]

this is the way you're supposed to feel

about your kids and this is the way

you're supposed to, you know." So, yeah,

I I think that my parents made me a

better parent.

>> You've got a very atypical drive in you.

There's a certain relentlessness that

I've seen. I mean, I've seen it all. And

one of the sort of defining traits when

I think of Dana White is this sort of

relentless insatiable ambition. So my

line of questioning isn't really to

psycho analyze. It's really just to

understand like how that comes to be the

case. One would guess that there's some

kind of chip on your shoulder in to some

degree.

>> Yeah, it's true. But I try to I try to

focus on

I like to win. Winning is fun and

everything in life. But uh you know I

also make sure that the obligations that

I have you know I I I pay attention to

those too. Like listen nobody's perfect

but I've tried to do the best I could to

be

>> the best at everything I could at work

at home with the kids you know.

>> And if id asked you when you were a

young boy like some of these photos what

you going to be when you grow up would

you would you have had an answer for me?

>> I didn't really know that until I was in

my late teens. you know, literally

walked out of a job that at the time and

in the place a lot of people would kill

for. Um, and had checked all the boxes

and made cash every day, got a paycheck

every week, 401k, full dental and

medical and, you know, all the things

that people are looking for. But I I

didn't like working for other people. I

I always felt like working in the hotel

industry was incredibly disrespectful,

the way that they would treat you and

talk to you and and uh I never liked it.

it was never for me. So, I walked out

one day and I said, "I'm going to get

into the fight business." At the time, I

didn't know exactly what that meant or,

you know, at what level, but that was my

goal.

>> Have you always had a problem with well,

an issue with, dare I say, authority?

>> You have?

>> Yes. Very, very much so. Yeah. It was

never for me.

>> Where does that come from? Do you know?

>> I don't know. I honestly don't know the

answer to that. But I never liked it. I

never liked working for other people. I

never liked being told what to do and

and I don't treat my employees like

that.

>> Did you think you were going to be

successful in your life when you were I

don't know 14?

>> I did when I was younger. I I believe

that I would be. Yeah.

>> Based on

>> I sort of had these you know these ideas

in my head which at the you know at that

time you don't know exactly

what it means or at what extent but let

me tell you what. So when we worked when

when I lived with my mom me and my

sister were just talking about this the

other day. So my mom worked all the time

or was at school and me and my sister

were home alone all the time, but we had

chores that we had to do. I mean, we

were mow the lawn, you know, cleaning

the pool and trimming the bushes and all

that. And I was like, let me tell you

what, the day I make a dollar, I'm never

doing this [ __ ] ever again.

>> So that's probably an important lesson

she taught you.

>> No doubt about it. And I I you know, I

try to do this with my kids, too.

My kids have been great and done

everything the right way. And I've told

this story before, but my son Aiden, my

youngest son, flies home from college

one weekend and says, "I I don't want to

stay in school. I have an idea for this

business that I want to do." And

whatever. I said, he lays it all out for

me. And I'm like, "This is a pretty good

idea. I get it. I like it. But you're

not going to quit school and just try to

do this. This doesn't this won't chew up

8 to 10 hours of your day. M

>> you're going to go out and you're going

to get a job and you're going to put out

you're going to go put in applications

and you're going to try to get a job

because if I die tomorrow,

>> that's what you're qualified to do. And

he did it and he went and he worked at

U-Haul and you know, you got to have

those kind of jobs. My son right now, my

oldest is getting his master's degree in

Boston right now. And when I lived in

Boston, I used to work for EJ Paving

Company. They pave roads. I actually

want my son to go do some days at at

this paving company.

>> What is it you're trying to teach him?

>> Well, what hard work really is. So,

people like I run around, I don't sleep

much, and everybody's like, "Oh, you

work so hard. You work so hard." No, no,

no. I'll show you what hard work is.

Hard work is construction. Hard work is

concrete. Right up the street here, I

don't know how many days this summer

were 115 degrees out. 115 degrees out.

These construction guys are out there

working in 115 degree week. Like hard

work, real work. And then in the winter,

people don't realize this in Vegas, but

it gets down into the 30s. These guys

will be outside working when it's 30°

out. So, and hard physical labor every

day, and then you go home, you you eat

and you go to bed, you start get up the

next day, and you go do it again. In

your life, to figure out what you want

to do, you have to figure out what it is

you don't want to do. I have um a bunch

of quotes here that you've said if you

just wanted to look at the first one.

>> There's no such thing as a day off when

there's no such thing as a day off when

you run your own business. You know,

there's no birthdays, there's no

Christmas, there's no Thanksgivings. Bad

[ __ ] will happen every single day that

you need to deal with. But when you like

what you do, it's fun.

>> A lot of people, especially young people

these days, want to be entrepreneurs.

You know, I'd really like to work for

myself and own my own business because

I'd love to plan my schedule. How much

Oh, you're you're you're going the wrong

way. What you need to do is find a

9-to-five job where you have weekends

and holidays off and you know that's

that's your move. If you're looking to

start your own business because you want

more time to yourself, you are picking

the wrong thing to do. I promise you

that. The key to becoming a good uh

entrepreneur is you have to find

solutions to problems every day. The

universe was trying to [ __ ] with me the

other day. I got out of bed. I had to be

at a board meeting at 9:00, right? I go

in, I got a shave. Both my razors died.

I use electric razors. They both died.

Get through that. I get in the car and

I'm driving and and the sensor says,

"Your back right tire is low. Stop the

vehicle immediately." I said, 'Yeah, no,

we're not [ __ ] stopping. We're going.

That's just life, right? When you get up

and it's life standing there to kick you

in the face and and you got to get

through all this [ __ ] Then you get to

work and there's a laundry list of

problems and things you got to deal

with. And this younger generation that

think you can work from home and build a

successful business. It's impossible.

You can't do it. I'm in the office from

8:30 in the morning and I don't leave

the office till 7 8 9 10 sometimes.

still to this day. There are times when

I go to work and my schedule's planned

out for the day. But people will pop in

my office and we start talking about

things and you know when when you have

people a good group of people like I

have at the UFC and we get in a room and

you start talking things pop up that you

would never expect and things happen and

a lot of good ideas come from everybody

being at work. Has being kicked in the

face by business over the last couple of

decades changed you?

>> Definitely. I don't freak out the way

that I used to. I've been through it all

>> and I'm way more calm now. I see this

with a lot of guys. You become uh I

don't want to say you get weaker, but

you do get weaker as you get older.

There's there's a softer side to you

than you had when you were in the early

days of building your business. And I

don't ever want to be that guy. You know

what I mean? I try not to be that guy.

But you do relax and chill out. And you

don't. The things that you used to flip

out about when you were younger, you

don't when you're older. I mean, I went

through a phase where I ripped through

like 10 secretaries in two years. Like I

need people around me that can keep up.

You got to have people that can keep up

and can handle handle the load of work.

You know, it's probably the busiest year

for me this year because I have Zufa

Boxing, Power Slap, and the UFC that I'm

I'm running these three companies. And

then there's a ton of other things that

that I do, too. So, we'll be on the

road, you know, I think we just got off

the last two months. We were home for

like 4 days in the last two months. Then

I get home and I don't stop. I just I go

out and I do things and you know, these

guys that are with me, they have to

they're with me and it's tough.

Nobody owes you anything.

So, you know, we talked a little bit

about my parents and whatever. I had

this kid that I grew up with and you

know this we we were 12, 13, 14 years

old. And I remember his dad had done

really well and you know, they had a

beautiful house, they had cars, you

know, he had all the [ __ ] that you you

would want growing up. And I remember

him telling me one time his dad ran into

hard times and his dad had put a million

dollars away for him in an account. And

then his father ran into hard times and

his father took the money. He's like,

"My father stole a million dollars from

me." And I remember thinking, "Are you

out of your [ __ ] mind?

The fact that your dad even thought of

you that way, that he would put that

money away from for you is incredible.

But that was never your money. You

didn't earn that money. that wasn't

yours. I remember thinking that way when

I was 12, 13, 14, right? I'm like, that

is definitely the wrong type of

mentality. Entitlement.

Brutal. And that guy grew up exactly the

way you would expect that guy to grow

up. He's just, you know, nobody owes you

anything. Nobody. listen to to to have

to be set up in a position where

somebody can make some phone calls for

you and do some things, but then once

they do that, you have to go in and

deliver. There's going to be a ton of

people listening that want to be

entrepreneurs. Do you do you think most

people are cut out for it?

>> No. No.

To be an entrepreneur

is very a very unique thing. I mean, you

have it's hard enough for a lot of

people to get up every day and depend on

themselves

>> to take care of themselves.

>> When when you're an entrepreneur, lots

of people depend on you. Lots of people

feed their families and and I take that

that role very serious. I mean, when I

got into this business, not a lot of

people believed in it. That's why we

bought the UFC for $2 million, right?

Let's be honest here. The UFC was

purchased for $2 million. And if the

Lakers sold for 12 a.5 billion, then the

UFC is worth 50 billion. Okay?

So

the people who did believe in this and

and did, you know, when I was trying to

hire production people, production

people don't want to live in Las Vegas,

Nevada, especially 25 years ago. They

want New York or LA, right? Um I was

trying to hire sponsorship people, New

York and LA. they don't want to live

here. And then I had a group of people

Craig Borsari who is my uh you know my

head of production who is an absolute

rock star, the best in the business. He

was a rising star at Fox. He left Fox

and came here because he believed in the

vision and and what was happening here.

When you think back from on that journey

of buying it for $2 million and then

let's say it's worth $50 billion now if

it was valued, you know, relevant to the

Lakers. If there were principles, if

there were like a couple of principles

that you would most attribute to the

success of the UFC when at the time

nobody wanted to put on the fights

anywhere. Everybody thought it was like

too barbaric.

>> Matchmaking.

>> Matchmaking. Yeah.

>> Is number one,

the live event production.

>> Okay.

>> And the television production.

>> And then on the business side that you

think, you know, if we'd gotten that

wrong, we definitely wouldn't be here.

The big problem, if you look at how 25

years ago when we bought this, you're

never going to compete with boxing.

Boxing is too established. It's been

around too long. It's this and that.

Boxing became a going out of business

sale. Every time these guys would put on

a fight, they try to grab as much money

as they can and run. I am now involved

in boxing. I have the only global

television deal right on Paramount. All

these other guys are on a streaming

service called literally every promoter.

What they've done is they've chased

everybody out of the business.

Television networks don't want to deal

with it anymore. Sponsors don't want to

be a part of it anymore. What we have

done over the last 25 years is built a

brand that not only the consumer trusts,

>> but sponsors, television networks, the

list goes on and on. So,

I make sure that when people show up to

my live event, which is super important.

The people who pay to come to the live

event spend way more money than the

people on TV. And they got to buy

flights and rooms and pay for their

dinners. Every time we put on a live

event, I want the people walking out of

there going, "God damn, that was a good

time. I'm I'm glad we did this tonight

and I would love to do this again."

>> And how do you make sure that's the

case? I heard somebody saying one time,

Dana acts like there's a formula to

this. If you look if you went back, I

don't know the actual number, but it's a

it's a long list and a big number of

guys with a lot of money who are really

smart and have done good things in life

that have tried to get into this

business and couldn't do it. Couldn't

make it work. There is a formula.

>> And guess who has it?

One of the things I've learned as I've

gone through my business career that I

didn't know at the start of my business

career was how much of success is

actually determined by the the people

you're able to assemble. I think at the

start of my career, you think if I work

weekends and I work really hard and have

good ideas myself, then I'll be

successful. And somewhere along the way,

I realized that it's really about like

assembling people and binding them with

the right like philosophy or culture,

whatever they call it. And the question

I have for you is, have you noticed the

same? Have you have you noticed that one

of the like obvious but seemingly

unobvious things about business building

is the quality of people you hire?

>> There's no doubt about it. No one guy

does everything. When we first bought

the company, I was the everything guy.

There was like two employees, me and

somebody else. And you know, you wear

all the hats when you start. Then you

start going out and you start building a

team. And there are people who fit and

people who work and people who don't.

And you have to be really good at

figuring out who fits and who works and

who doesn't. And over the last 25 years,

if there's a superpower that I have, it

has been picking the right people to

surround myself with. And I knew when

there wasn't. We had a we made a big

decision when we sold on people that we

brought in and I knew right away the

people that didn't fit and I fired them.

>> What are you looking for in great

people? First of all, you have to have

talented people. You have to have

talented people that are not only really

good at what they do, but are hard

workers, too, and have the drive. But

everybody has to be on board with the

vision and and has to be, you know, on

the same page.

I am at a place right now with my

production team when we do spots and we

do vignettes and we do they'll bring

them into me and there are very few

changes.

>> What is your talent there? Like if if I

ask the people that work closest with

you, and I know this is a little bit of

a weird question to answer, what is

Dana's three skills that are rare

relative to other people?

>> I am a fight fan to the core. 25 years

later of doing this, I am still a

hardcore fight fan. And

when we put something together and we

nail it, I I know we got it. And now

what I do is I push my team whether it's

production, matchmaking, sponsorship

side, whatever it is. I push all these

guys every day to get us to where I know

I want to be.

>> You are the customer.

>> Yeah, I am the customer.

>> Yeah. And you have been since I saw in

your your sort of early um sort of

mid20s, you you were captivated with

boxing at the time, I believe.

>> Yep. Every time when we go to an event,

there's a red phone on the on the table

where I sit and it goes directly to the

to the truck and there's that our

producer's name is Zack.

>> The truck where the producers are.

>> Yeah. Zach runs all the shows. He has

the freedom to do what he wants and he

tries. So I'll pick up the phone and go,

"What was that?" And he's like, "I

thought we tried that." I say, "Yeah,

let's never [ __ ] do that again."

Okay, bye. And there's no hurt feelings.

there's no whatever or we'll do

something. I'm like that was incredible.

Yeah, congrats. That's incredible. And

you know, once you get to that level

with your team, there's a woman sitting

out here. Her name is Len. She's the

head of PR.

>> I don't really make a move without

talking to her anymore. I trust her so

much and she's so smart and she's so

talented that she's involved in a lot of

different aspects of my life. Craig

Borsari who I talked about who is the

head of production, my head of

sponsorship. Once you build this like

rockstar team, it's all just like it

becomes a welloiled machine where

everything just starts to work the right

way. Like when we were going through co

these people that I'm talking about, you

know, when you go through something like

this, who the hell knows how long this

is going to last? And as crazy as the

world was during that time, here here's

one thing that wasn't going to happen. I

don't give a [ __ ] We were not going to

lay off our employees. These people that

have been here with me and and that I'm

super close to saw this quote from I I

don't know who the CEO was, but says,

"Anybody that's trying to sell you that

we're a family and is is full of [ __ ]

This is transactional and it's the I

don't know who wants to run through a

[ __ ] wall for that guy." But he's

full of [ __ ] Okay, my team. That is the

way I feel about my team. And I do care.

And I will never pick money over people

ever.

Scariest time in our lifetime was co.

You're looking at the numbers and going,

"Oh [ __ ] you know, we uh we got to let

go of some people. We got to what?"

During the scariest time in in human

history. No. Your job as the CEO

is to figure out how to keep your

business running and to take care of all

your people, right? Here's what you

don't do. Oh, we're looking at hard

times. Let's just start [ __ ] putting

bullets in people who have missed their

kids' first step, didn't go to a [ __ ]

game, missed this and missed that to

help build this company. It is your job

as the CEO to take care of these people

and figure out how to make money. That's

the way that I look at it and that's

what we did.

>> The reason why people have a problem

with this whole like uh you know my team

are my family thing is because they

always say well you don't fire your

family and and what you're saying is

actually those that have been loyal to

you are the ones that you treat like

family I'm hearing.

>> Yeah. If you don't have loyalty

>> what do you have? Right. If if you work

in a place where you feel like the rug

could be pulled out from under you at

any minute for no reason other than the

numbers don't look good. You think you

want to be an entrepreneur and you think

you want to be the CEO of a company.

Every day when your foot hits the floor

out of bed, you're going to war. There's

people trying to take what you have.

There's people trying to screw you over.

You know, people are coming after you

every day. And the more successful you

become, the more people that are coming

after you. And I look at the UFC and

other businesses that I run as a

battleship.

And me and my team are going to war. And

we either all go down together or we

don't go down at all.

>> I guess in that context, if you are at

war, then you need, you know, your

brothers in arms. You need

>> you need soldiers.

>> Yeah. You need soldiers.

>> Yep. And I'll tell you this, so I know

lots of different stories coming out of

CO

the day that everything started to shut

down. I literally got all my employees

in a room together downstairs at our

dining room and I said, "Listen, I don't

understand this. I don't know what's

going on, but if any of you feel unsafe

or feel that, you know, you have loved

ones at home that could be unsafe from

this whole thing, you can go home."

Nobody walked out.

Nobody walked out.

I said, "We're going to figure this out.

We're going to get through this

together." And uh you know, every week I

had weekly FaceTime calls with all my

employees. And it sounds weird now, but

I was like, "If you need anything, if

you need groceries, toilet paper, uh you

loved one of yours gets sick, make me

the first call. We'll get through this

together." And and then, you know, it

was only a couple weeks and I said,

"We're going. we're going to work. And

everybody, men, women, they all said,

"We're with you. Let's roll."

>> Do you know what's interesting is the

last time I heard a founder or CEO of a

company say this to me, um, they also

had a very turbulent childhood where

they didn't have a family.

>> And and he ended up admitting to me, he

goes, "You know, I guess to some degree,

as an adult, I've been able to build my

own my own community family that I

really never had." And so I I was just

wondering as you were speaking there if

there's

if there's a link there at all

>> well between how you treat

>> No, here's the link for me. If if I had

again psychoanalyzing me, I've worked

for companies

>> that you go in and you give your time

and your energy to and they treat you

like you don't even [ __ ] matter,

right? It's like, well, if you don't

like it, there's 10 other people right

behind you that would love to have this

job. Wow, that's how much you value me

and what I do here.

>> Yeah, it goes both ways, right? I I I've

been in those positions before and I've

red phone um reminds me of another quote

that I read from you which is that you

are always in the weeds and one would

think you know Dana you're 57

>> yeah 57

>> 57 years old very very successful made a

lot of money in your life peak of your

powers one would assume that by this

time you'd be a little bit out of the

weeds and dare I say even I don't know

delegating and enjoying yourself a

little bit more I mean that's

presumptive the word enjoying yourself

but would be out of the weeds by No.

>> You ever hear the saying, "It's easier

to get to the top than it is to stay on

top." True words were never spoken. When

you're when you're at the top,

everybody's gunning for you. And

everybody's looking at your blueprint

and saying, "How do I how do I use what

he's done and how he's built this to

beat him?

>> How do I steal his people?"

>> It's like being a world champion. So,

you become a world champion and then

everybody starts studying you and how

you fight or how you play or how you do,

trying to figure out how to beat you.

And uh I love that [ __ ]

>> How do you respond to that? Because it

>> because it's easy to get distracted when

there's that many people gunning for one

guy

>> and don't get distracted. You know what

get distracted on? You get into a

business like this, right? And and lots

of goofy [ __ ] starts coming at you like,

"Hey, we want to do a movie about this.

Hey, we want to do a thing on your life.

Hey, we want to

There's three things that I focus on

every day, and I'm not going to say it."

But

>> you're not going to say it.

>> No. Why?

>> There's three things that I focus on

every day. And if I don't [ __ ] this up,

>> you can't you can't mess it up.

>> Why wouldn't you tell me?

>> It's part of the formula.

It's part of the formula.

>> Three things you focus on every day.

>> There's lots of ancillary things that

come around the brand of the UFC, right?

That if you start diving into all the,

you know, and let your ego take over.

you let your ego get into, you know, all

this [ __ ] that you can't mess it up

because I've seen other companies that

are so big and massive and have been

around for a hundred years and you make

a couple of mistakes and then somebody

else is is coming trying to eat your

lunch, man. And and and uh nipping at

your heels.

>> Nobody's nipping at my heels.

All these other guys that are out there,

we are not the same. Okay, this thing

has gotten to a level now. My

competitors are the NFL, Major League

Baseball,

the NHL, and the NBA. We did an 8

billion deal with Paramount. Right now,

I don't know this for a fact, but I know

this for a fact. The NFL are a bunch of

animals, right?

Soon as that deal was announced,

all the powers that be at the NFL got in

a room and said there was $8 billion out

there that we didn't get. We'll do games

on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

You know what I mean?

>> And if you look at me now, we're sitting

in my arena.

>> Next door, I have the performance

institute and our headquarters. We have

everything that the NFL and the Major

League Base, all these guys have. We are

part of the the four major sport uh

organizations in the United States.

>> Dana, can you give me one of these three

things?

>> Um, no,

no, no, no, no. It's it's it's part of

the formula, but you know, we have

gotten to a level now where we are one

of the top four major. All these other

promoters and all these other guys

putting on fights and all this [ __ ]

they don't matter. But on this point of

being in the weeds,

>> is that important for, you know, people

out there that are

>> So here's what can happen, you know, and

people say this to me all the time. We

did the $7.7 billion deal with Paramount

and they're like, "Wow, that's

incredible." You know, you didn't

[ __ ] make it. You never make it. You

don't make Do you know why Paramount did

a 7.7? Because they believe that we can

impact their business. Now, my job over

the next five years is to make sure we

do that because guess what I want? I

want 10 billion after we get out of this

deal, right?

>> And the way that you do that is you

added value to their company and and you

know,

>> is it not tiring though constantly

having to be in the weeds for 25 years

and now you're rich and you've you made

all this money? Like, is it not?

>> I could understand for some people

maybe, but not me. I mean, I'm I'm I'm

57, and I'm sure to a lot of young

people that seems old, but 57 isn't that

old. And and and what the hell would I

be doing? I am addicted to chaos and and

you know, and if there isn't any, I

create it. It's it's a weird thing, but

I'm definitely an addict. Yeah.

>> There's a particular quote in this pile

of quotes which I think is really

relevant.

>> Yeah.

I love the haters. The haters are the

best, man. There's nothing better than

haters. Haters will lay out what they

think is wrong with your business and

how you're not, you know, doing this or

doing that. And you know what this used

to be called was, you know, the critics

or the whatever. Now these days they're

called the haters. And and I I love the

haters.

>> Do you listen to the haters?

>> Yeah. Yeah. It's not like you don't

listen to the haters, you know. It's not

like you don't you know you know what

you know what is real and you know

what's just [ __ ] They're just, you

know, but you have to have these guys.

They they they they sort of keep you on

your game.

>> Now, most people would say I drown that.

What I drown out is like the media that

covers our sport. I don't look at them

as haters. I look at the every [ __ ]

thing they say is wrong. And when I look

at what they say, it's like it's amazing

that you could be involved in this

business for 25 years and know nothing

about it, you know? But I guess that's

why, you know, we've never had any real

competitors cuz when you think about

what we're doing, it's never been done

before. So what I'm thinking and what's

coming next, these guys could never

know. So all literally all the guys that

cover our sport, I block them out of my

feed. I don't want to hear. They're all

wrong and everything they say is wrong

and it's a it's a waste of my time to

even listen to anything they say. But

the hardcore fans, you know, uh, and the

people who hate and the people who say

we're great and all this, I like that

information. I like hearing what they

have to say. The two points you just

made, this one and the point before um,

brought to mind this point of focus. You

talked about these three things. You

talked about blocking out the haters.

When you're at the top, there are so

many things screaming for your energy.

>> Sounds right.

>> There's a Everybody's going, "Look over

here, Dana. Give me five minutes of your

thoughts and energy." Then you've got a

journalist over here. Then you've got

this fighter saint coming out making a

comment over here. And so I wanted to

understand what your relationship with

like focus and how important this idea

of focus has been to your success.

>> Yeah. That's why you have to uh like I

was saying you have to figure out

what you pay attention to and what you

don't pay attention to.

>> Kevin Olir called this signal and noise.

>> Yeah.

>> You told me about great film.

>> Yeah.

>> The noise. You got to block out a lot of

the noise. The problem is these days

anybody with a [ __ ] phone, all right,

can can consider themselves an expert

and and I'm criticizing what they do,

but it's it's just it's always wrong and

it's always just such a waste of time. I

want to hear what the fans think. I

don't want to hear what these guys who

are trying to start a podcast or a

website or a [ __ ] Instagram account,

you know, on the business think. I want

to hear what the real fans think. And

when when you have been doing this long

enough,

you can sort of go through and tell

what's what and who's who, right? So

when when I feel like somebody has made

a really good point or an opinion on the

show or the match, it's like when we put

together a fight, and I've been saying

this since day one, they're like, "This

card sucks."

You can't say the card sucks until it's

over, right? Cuz these are obviously all

really talented people that are on the

card. Maybe some of them are, you know,

are younger and haven't proven

themselves yet, but

you can't judge a card until the card's

over. And believe me, if the card sucks,

I'll be the first one to say that the

card sucked. So, there's just lots of

things that are that make sense and

things that don't.

>> What has made the the biggest difference

to you in terms of your energy, your

health, and making sure that you can

show up really well every day? because

I'm I you're the reason I heard about

Gary Breer and then I brought him on the

show and he did really really well on

the show and then it was that watching

you talk about some of the impact he had

on your life. He's a health expert that

transformed your life.

>> But I I say all this to say that in my

life I noticed this variance between my

good days and my bad days in terms of

energy level, my ability to articulate

myself. And so I'm longing to like get

to a high baseline.

>> So I'm wondering for you like what has

that been for you? Yeah, he completely

changed my life. When I hit 50, Gary

Brea changed everything. So, I have two

doctors, one in Vegas, one in LA.

They're both great doctors. So, when I

started the whole Gary Brea thing, they

they called me up together. They're

like, "Dana, what are you doing? What

are you doing with this shit?" And I

said, "Listen, man." The guy said, "Give

me 12 weeks and I'll change your life.

We'll see what happens in in in six

weeks." I was like, "Wow, I feel

incredible." and all these things that

they couldn't fix. They just kept

switching up the pills and all this

[ __ ] And one of them that was real bad

was sleep apnnea. I was waking up almost

every night and throwing up from from

from sleep apnnea, right?

>> And how how did you meet him? Someone

referred him to you and

>> Carrie Kasem Carrie Kasem was like, "I

want you to meet this guy. I'm telling

you, he'll do this and that." I didn't

want to meet him. And then the the

weirdest thing ever is that my son

turned 21 and I had his 21st birthday

down in Miami

>> and Gary Brea lives in Miami and he

says, "Well, we do IVs so we could do

all the IVs for you guys down there and

whatever." And I said, "All right,

cool." So, we would go out and drink

and, you know, then do the IVs. And then

one day we're doing the IV. And he says,

"Let me let me take your blood and let

me uh let me do your blood work for

you."

>> Gary said, "No."

>> Yeah. And Gary had this thing that he

could predict,

you know, when you would die. And then I

became obsessed with that. I said,

>> he gave you 12 years.

>> 10.

>> He gave you 10 years.

>> So then, so then he he he said, "Uh,

give me 12 weeks. I'll change your life.

It's going to be hard." And I said, "It

won't be hard." Once I set my mind to

it, I'll I'll do exactly what you tell

me to do. It took 6 weeks. 6 weeks in, I

was like, I I never felt better. and

clarity legs and all these other

problems I have and then sleep apnnea

gone. Me and my wife truly believe that

he's wrong. I didn't have 10 years. We

thought I had less because of the way

that I would sleep and all the [ __ ] that

was going on with me. And uh you know

this guy is a is a life changer. I

wouldn't be doing

all the things. I mean I'd probably

still be doing UFC, but I wouldn't be

doing all this other stuff that I'm

doing. I wouldn't be able to run at the

level I run at right now without him.

I hear another one of your quotes here.

>> Yeah. It says, "You either have the

killer instinct or you don't." And it's

so true. So, this happened with Ian

Garry.

>> You know,

>> I saw your interview.

>> I felt like Ian Garry in that fifth

round, you have this opportunity. You're

fighting possibly the greatest fighter

of all time. And you did a damn good

[ __ ] job for four rounds. And you

know, he was battered. His whole right

side was busted up. His face was busted

up, but he was beating you as far as

rounds go. Now you're the younger,

bigger, rangier fighter. You just fought

four incredible rounds. Get out there

and put it on. You go out and start

shaking his hands and hugging him and do

that when they're strapping the belt on

you. Show Islam all the love you want

when the fight's over. This is the fifth

round. You have five minutes

to shock the world and and you know

everything you ever [ __ ] dreamed of

and worked for can happen in this next

five minutes and you didn't do it.

>> Does that mean he doesn't have the

killer instinct?

>> I don't know. You know, he's a classy,

really nice guy, but that's not the time

or place to be it. You you have to go

out and you have to you have five

minutes left to you know, he didn't show

it. If he does have it, he didn't show

it. any any guy,

company or person that wants to be a

sponsor of ours.

I'm not a logo slap guy. You just take

your logo and slap it in and let's hope

this works out. No, I want you to win.

When you're with me and and your name is

on our canvas, I want this to be a

mutually beneficial deal for both of us.

I want you to win. And I want you to go,

"Damn, thank God I spent my money on the

UFC."

>> And you have to get up and you have to

you have to kick ass every single day.

Not just for you, not just for your

employees, but for your sponsors, the

network, and you know, you're never out

of the weeds, I guess, is the answer.

You have to be an absolute savage in

business. I mean, that goes right along

with what I was just saying. You You

>> Are you a savage?

>> I don't like to You know what I mean? I

don't know. I would let other people

judge whether I am a savage or not. But

yes, I will tell you this. I absolutely

positively have killer instinct. And

every day that I show up here, I'm I'm

here to [ __ ] win.

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I'm kind the question I'm kind of

wondering is like is there a way they

can learn this savagery, this killer

instinct? Do you have you ever seen

someone go from not having it to having

it, whether they were a fighter or

someone else?

>> H that's a good question. I don't know

if I've ever experienced somebody who

didn't have it and got it. I don't I

don't think that I have. But here's what

I do know. If you want to get into

business for yourself, you have to have

a certain mindset and you have to be a

killer, man. You have to and you have to

not just think about yourself. There's a

lot of other people that you have to

think of more times than less before

you.

>> Do you think you have to have a chip on

your shoulder? Uh, I don't know if you

have to have a chip on your shoulder,

but you know, I most guys you see do,

but it's because you get up every day

and it's you versus the world. I mean,

everybody's coming at you. And the more

successful you get, I mean, if if you

look this up, I mean, every business

that's ever been successful, right?

There's a army of scumbag lawyers out

there that will find a way to figure out

how to sue you because you know you did

something wrong. Or the other thing that

happens is people that are involved in

your business that don't become

successful. It's never their fault.

>> It's somebody else's fault on why they

weren't successful. And you know there

there's always a there there are groups

of lawyers like companies out there

massive companies and smaller ones too

that actually fund you can go in and you

can invest in a lawsuit with them and

and be a part of it. So every day when

you get up there's just you know

scumbags

regular people good people that are all

coming after you. question then. Which

person would you of all the

entrepreneurs and killers you've met,

which one would you not like to compete

with

>> as it relates to business? H I don't

think I I I want to compete with them

all.

>> But is there anyone?

>> Listen, we're we're at a level now where

I was saying to you the NFL and

>> yeah,

>> Major League Baseball, these guys are

all, you know, first of all, they've

been around for a hundred years or more

or less or whatever it is. And I'm I'm

at a level now where we're competing

with the elite of the elite in sports.

>> Who is the most badass entrepreneur

you've ever met?

>> Uh I don't know. That's a tough one.

Like there's guys that there's guys that

that that I like and respect like the

the Michael Jordan's uh Carl Icon. I I

like guys like that, you know.

>> What about athletes that you've worked

with? Was there any that you you sort of

put in a class of their own in terms of

>> Conor McGregor, Hhabib Ngamedov, Chuck

Liddell when you know it was his time.

Ronda Rousey, you know, people people

that you know want to talk [ __ ] about

Ronda Rousey. Now let me tell you what

Ronda Rousey came to me. I didn't want

women in the UFC, right? And and the

reasoning is I was trying to sell men to

networks and sponsors and they were like

this is too whatever women. Ronda Rousey

grabbed me at an event, said, "Hey, I'm

Ronda Rousey. Can I get 15 minutes with

you?" We went into my room at the at the

arena and I don't know, minutes into the

conversation, I'm like, "Holy [ __ ]

I think I'm going to do this." And she's

the one to do it with, you know, and she

came in with the whole [ __ ] bravado.

You want to talk about a chip on your

shoulder? I mean, she had it. You know,

so many people now want to hate on her.

She is a [ __ ] unicorn.

>> What do these people have? The Connors,

the Kabibs, the Ronda. What is it?

>> Conor McGregor. I went to dinner with

him when we signed him. I left that

dinner. I called Lorenzo Fertitta. And I

said, "Dude,

I don't know if this guy can fight or

not, but if he can even throw a punch,

he's going to be a massive superstar.

He's he's incredible."

>> What was it?

>> Well, the number one factor in this

business, can you fight?

>> How good are you? Number two is that is

this this mentality

of manifesting and just sitting there

and you're telling me what you're going

to do and how it's going to happen and

how it's all going to play out. And I've

only had a handful of these meetings in

25 years. A handful.

>> Do you believe in manifestation in that

regard?

>> Oh, manifesting is real and I'm a I'm a

big believer in in manifesting. When you

decide who you are, what you want to do,

what you're going to accomplish and you

get up every single day and you work

toward it, it is impossible for you to

fail.

>> Some people just take one side of that

bug and they'll say, "I'll just sit here

and think about it. I'll make my vision

board." But then they won't get out and

press the pedal.

>> Right.

>> It's kind of like getting in a car in

your garage and setting the satnav, but

not, you know, putting your foot down.

>> That's exactly right. Not stepping on

the gas. You're right. Yeah, you go in

there and you program your [ __ ] you

know your GPS system and then you never

step on the gas and you never [ __ ] go

anywhere. But yeah, if you lay out your

plan, you know who you are, you know

what you want to do, it's impossible to

fail. And then then what does failure

mean?

>> Mhm.

>> What what what does failure mean? My

thing about success in life is are you

happy? Do you get up every day and love

what you do? You know, I know a lot of

billionaires that are miserable,

miserable human beings.

>> Why?

>> I don't know why. It's just listen,

being happy is a choice. Do you love

what you do? Do you want to get up? Do

you want to be happy every day? And and

to me, that's the key to success. I

actually I'll tell you a story of my

son. My oldest son called me the other

day and he's like,

"Dad, I need some direction. You know,

I'm thinking about this d and I always

tell my kids, I want you guys to be

happy." He goes, "Dad, don't give me

your [ __ ] happy speech.

He's beat. I need some [ __ ] direction

and help me figure this out. So, I think

we had a good conversation and uh he

seemed happy when we got off the phone,

but yeah.

>> What did he want direction on?

>> Yeah, just just life choices that he's

he's looking down the barrel of right

now.

Don't be that guy that's laying in the

hospital bed dying saying, "I wonder

what would happen if I tried." Yeah. I

don't want any regrets. I don't want to

be, you know, I I I don't want any

regrets.

And I don't right now. I I I don't

regret anything. If you if you pushed me

hard and said, "Tell me one thing that

you regret."

I don't believe that I have any. I don't

believe that I have any.

>> I know you don't like it when I go here,

but I wanted to wanted to ask you if you

have any of that. Your parents have

passed away a couple years ago.

>> Well, that's the thing. when you when

you talk about like you know this

podcast diary to CEO I I don't think

that

>> that it's all you know cookie cutter and

stamp everybody has their own things you

grew up different than I grew up all you

grew up different than we grew up and

there are things that

>> you know obviously had big impressions

on you when you were young but I hate

the past I don't I don't like the past

and it's not just my childhood or

anything like that [ __ ] the rearview

mirror, it doesn't matter. Whatever

happened yesterday means nothing today.

And some of these kids, you can never

let the past affect your future, right?

So people say to me, "Hey, do you ever

look back and go, wow, we did this and

no, [ __ ] that. Cuz whatever we did back

then got me to here."

>> Right? We're here.

>> What just happened a few hours ago

doesn't mean [ __ ] anymore. It's gone.

Right? What's next? what's next? What's

next? I don't ever look back and let you

know, you learn some things and you

learn some lessons and you know, good

and bad or whatever happens. But these

people who sit around go, you don't

understand my dad did to my mom and

[ __ ] who gives a [ __ ] [ __ ]

everybody went through that stuff. Shut

up. That doesn't matter anymore. Don't

let the past affect your future. So

people will say, "Do you ever just sit

around and reflect?" [ __ ] no, I don't

reflect. I'm thinking about what's

happening tomorrow and what's going to

happen and you know who's going to come

after me in the next [ __ ] few days

and you know how do we build and how do

we get bigger and how do we get better

you know I'm 57 but I want to be better

tomorrow than I was today in every way

that you can possibly be better

>> have you always been like that

>> I think so I think I've always been that

way yesterday never mattered to me you

know you took whatever lessons you had

from that good or bad right it's like

it's Like these kids that grew up and

said they didn't have any role models,

you know? Oh, yes, you did.

>> Does that mean you had tons of them?

>> Does that mean that you can't You're not

hurt by things?

>> Never.

>> You're never hurt by things.

>> Never hurt by things.

>> Really?

>> Never hurt by things. Yeah. And people

always, you know, people that are close

to me would like, "When's the last time

you cried?" [ __ ] I don't even know the

last time I cried. What does crying do?

What does How does crying [ __ ] help

in any way, shape, or form? And you

know, maybe for some people crying's

great. Crying doesn't [ __ ] work for

me. I'm not a crier. And it's pretty

[ __ ] hard to hurt my feelings. And

I'll give that to my mom and dad, my

uncles and aunts. I mean, we had a

[ __ ] tough crew. When people who were

supposed to love you would say the

things that these guys would say to you,

you know what what is [ __ ] this guy

over here. I think I give a [ __ ] what

this guy thinks. It's like when we talk

about getting cancelled. Who can really

cancel you, right? Oh, the New York

Times doesn't like that. I [ __ ] the New

York Times. Give a [ __ ] about the New

York Times. I have a group of people in

my life that mean something to me,

right? That I care about. Their

opinions, you know, my relationships

with them, whatever mean a lot to me.

And if one of them went away, that that

would bother me, right? other everybody

else would I give a [ __ ] what you know

three guys on the [ __ ] internet think

or you know some guy who writes for

something or the [ __ ] New York Times

which you know through co New York Times

was on my ass like crazy but this this

is what I always think about.

>> And are you saying that came from the

fact that people that were supposed to

say nice things and be super

affectionate and cushy when you were

younger they were saying horrible things

so it kind of built a resilience in you?

>> No [ __ ] doubt about it. No doubt

about it. They built me for this for

this life and this uh you know and I

always say I wouldn't take back one

thing from my childhood or want

different parents or a different family

or a different setup. It was incredible.

>> What were they saying to you?

>> Uh I don't listen I I I'm a ball buster.

I like to bust balls and and whatever

even with my friends and my crew and

that's the way my family was. My family

was a hard group. Like my grandmother w-

which I love. Both my grandmothers on

both sides were incredible. You know,

there's nothing better in life when

you're young than to have great

grandparents. I mean, everybody watching

this right now, everybody thinks of

their grandparents and like, "Ah, yeah,

your grandparents were the best and all

that shit." Like my grandmother, my

Irish grandmother on on my that

>> you say, "Hey, I love you, Graham."

[ __ ] nothing back. Good to see you.

See you later. Really? Yeah. Yeah. There

was none of that type of [ __ ] growing

up. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

>> I when I heard about this, I thought,

"Oh, shit." So, this is a book that your

mother

>> I've actually never seen the actual

[ __ ] book.

>> This is a book your mother published

about you unauthorized as a biography.

>> Yeah. And put a bunch of pictures in

here of me when I was a kid and all this

[ __ ] But I think, you know, this

happens a lot. I mean, she put my

[ __ ] wedding pictures in here and

[ __ ]

>> And she didn't ask you to publish this

book.

>> No. Put [ __ ] wedding pictures in here

and all this [ __ ] [ __ ] I mean, I I

you know, I saw some Kobe Bryant stuff

where Kobe had to like sue his mom. She

was selling his [ __ ] from his bedroom

and and you know, it happens, man. It

happens. It's unfortunate and it's I've

actually never seen the book. It's the

first time I've ever seen the book.

>> I'm not going to read it out or

anything, but um in the book, she's

critical of you at certain points.

Specifically, the last page, which I

read, she

>> she says critical things, and I was

wondering where along the way did that

happen?

>> Well, I've never read it. And that's the

first time I've ever seen it. And I was

just flipping through like the pictures

like, you know, it's it's

bat [ __ ] nuts. Bat [ __ ] nuts.

Where along the way did that happen that

you fell out with her?

>> I was on a trip one time. You know, this

this was before uh um you know, I didn't

have emails and all that [ __ ] on the

road. And I was with Lorenzo Fertitta,

my partner, and we were in London for

like two weeks. And when I got back, I

checked my emails and I have like a

bunch of emails from her like

threatening me. You're going to send me

this much money by you have two options.

You can give me this all up front or you

can pay me payments over the next

[ __ ] whatever. I'm I'm looking to buy

a a bar or whatever it was. And then she

wasn't getting responses because I was

in London. And then the email started

getting nastier and nastier and nastier

by the end. And I was like,

I [ __ ] just blew up. And that was the

beginning of the end with me and her.

Yeah. So these things happen when when

you become successful. It's not just uh

listen, sometimes family is the worst. M

>> sometimes family's worse than you know

like like when we talk about things that

are being said in newspapers and things

like that pale in comparison to what you

can get from some family members. But I

have a whole another group of family

like cousins and you know me and my

sister super I mean listen I I say this

all the time. We all fail at certain

things in life. In my opinion, if you

fail as a parent, it's the ultimate

failure.

>> It's the It's the ultimate failure.

My mom passed away without me or my

sister talking to her. My sister had her

own set of issues. You know, with me it

was money. With my sister it was other

things. So, we didn't we didn't talk to

either one of my parents.

>> Have you forgiven her?

>> Um, yeah. Listen, I I didn't I I don't

go on shows to speak negatively about my

mother. You know, I was telling you

earlier, I wouldn't change anything. And

you know, people say, "Do you think you

are where you are today because of your

parents?" Absolutely, 100%. You know,

good, bad, whatever, however you want to

look at it. You know, my parents passed

I don't want to tell bad stories about

my parents, but I mean that's one of the

one of the grossest, most disgusting

things that you couldn't even imagine

possible until it happens to you. And

you know what are you going to do?

You're going to [ __ ] cry about it and

oh, you don't understand my [ __ ]

Well,

>> you got you got an opportunity.

>> It happened and and it you know, it is

what it is. The thing that that that's

bad about that and what she did is a lot

of other people

I think she hurt in that book. She

didn't hurt me, but other people that,

you know,

a lot of things that aren't true and a

lot of people that didn't do anything to

her in that book that, you know, and

again, I've never read it, but I've had

lawyers tell me about it, [ __ ] like

that. And then the, you know, the the

the personal private pictures that she

just threw out there that, you know, she

really didn't have the right to do. Um,

you know, it just it just it's one of

those things that

when you become successful,

this type of [ __ ] happens to you.

You have a wonderful partner like I do.

How would you on PS Morgan you talked

about her psychoanalyzing you? My fiance

does the same thing. I think my fiance

deep down thinks I must be [ __ ] up and

is is in constant search of evidence

that I am [ __ ] up in part because she

knows of my my childhood and my my

relationship with my parents. So, she

assumes that I must be [ __ ] up and

it's everything is confirmation of it.

>> Well, she'll get into this thing where

she'll start telling me she's like

she'll try to talk about my feelings.

She's like, "How do you feel about

this?" And and that's why when Pierce

Morgan was I said, "You sound like my

wife. You know, it's impossible for you

not to be able." Yeah. I said, "It's not

impossible and no, you're wrong." And

then and then once you do an interview

like that, and it'll happen in this

interview, too, it's like then people

start going, "Oh, this this guy's got to

be a psycho not to fucking," you know,

and maybe maybe that's true. Maybe

you're right. I don't know.

>> You didn't need different.

>> But I don't like to talk about this kind

of [ __ ] cuz it doesn't matter at the end

of the day. It doesn't matter. Like I

said, the rear view mirror means

nothing, right? Let me tell you what's

not going to you're not going to get

rear ended in [ __ ] life unless you

did some horrible things in your past

that are going to come back and [ __ ]

get you or whatever. The the the

rearview mirror means nothing to me. I

learned from it. I I had these

experiences, some incredible, some not

incredible, but they all built who I am

today and and and that's all that

matters. I think therefore it does

matter because a lot of people think

they go through life thinking that if

this happened to me I can't possibly

have a future be successful I can't

possibly move forward and so hearing

someone that went through in my view an

objectively very tumultuous very

difficult upbringing and has been able

to separate themselves from it and and

look forward I think means it does

matter because it shows that it's

possible

>> well I don't ever want to sit down and

and talk about things where I I'm like

some victim I'm the furthest thing from

a victim victim. And I think that

especially if you grew up in the 70s and

' 80s, a lot of bad [ __ ] happened to you

in a lot of different ways. It just it

was a different time, a different place.

And I think that

my parents and my grandparents before

them, they grew up in a different world

and different times. And you know,

things things weren't easy for them

either. They went through some [ __ ] that

got them, you know, to to to where they

were. And I don't blame them. I don't

have any ill feelings toward, you know,

me and my sister will talk about my mom

and we'll be like, "How the [ __ ] did she

do it?" She was a single mom. My dad was

what he was. Single mom, worked her ass

off, you know, did all this stuff and

and she did it. She ra she raised two

kids, right? no matter all the bad

things or whatever that happened, the

the book and all that, she she raised

two kids by herself and moved across

country from Boston to Vegas, you know,

with two kids and a dog and a car. We

drove cross country, you know. I

remember we were going through the

Midwest and there were tornadoes coming

and [ __ ] and like all the stuff that we

did and we went through, she did it. She

did it by herself and and my sister and

I, even though we didn't talk to her for

years, you know, at the end of her life,

um, we credit her and respect what she

did.

>> Ann is a little bit right, isn't she?

Cuz my partner is a little bit right. I

don't tell her.

>> Yeah. She's Italian.

>> Your wife an

>> Yeah. you know, they're all together all

the time and, you know, but when when

you have that that type of a family

structure, which is the complete [ __ ]

opposite of what mine was, it it's cool

to see. So, I have sort of the the best

of both worlds and her family's great,

you know, anytime while I was building

this business, her family was helping

with the kids and they all worked

together and they all did all this. So,

you know, I I I've been lucky that I've

been able to experience both.

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Thank you so much. Okay, we got two

more. Here we go.

Trust your gut, not the focus groups.

Yeah. Everything that I've ever done has

been off based off my gut and what I

felt would I mean the power slap thing.

I mean you want to talk about the

critics I mean you know UFC huge sold

all this money and and I remember seeing

people he's going to he's going to

destroy his legacy by by doing this and

that and all the [ __ ] that they said

about the UFC they then said about power

slap. Anything new that people don't

understand or uh or don't get they they

attack and go after.

>> But sometimes your gut is wrong. Yeah.

Sometimes you you're sometimes you get

things wrong. You think something will

be

>> Yeah. There's no doubt. Well, luckily,

not not in business it hasn't yet. So,

>> not the big things.

>> Yeah.

>> But I think that sometimes because I'm

quite weary of the fact that we sit here

and we give people advice to trust their

gut. But like some people's gut is like

not good.

>> Yeah. But if your gut is wrong,

here's what I always think. What's the

worst case scenario?

>> The worst case scenario is you go back

to work. You learn something as well, I

guess. Yeah.

>> Right. If your gut is wrong or if you

don't make it and you don't want to,

your worst case scenario is you go back

to work.

>> It's not a bad worst case scenario.

>> And speaking of work,

>> right? I used to think the day that I

walked out of that hotel, I was 19.

If this whole thing doesn't work out,

I'll have some great experiences, but

if I have to go back and go back to

work, I tried. I gave it a shot. I can't

wake up when I'm 40. And that was the

thing. When I was a Bellman, I was

making great money, right? I was able to

have a good life for myself. But then I

saw these guys that worked with me. One

of the guys was 45 years old.

He made the same money I made. He had

the same benefits that I had. He had the

same schedule that I had. So, what's the

worst case scenario?

I'm 45 and I come back and I, you know,

I do the same thing. It's not a bad

worst case scenario. The worst case

scenario is you never try. You don't try

to do it. And then you wake up and

you're 45 and you're like, "Fuck, man. I

wonder if what when I had no kids, no no

no no no nobody depended on me for

anything and I never gave it a shot.

If you're only in it for the paycheck,

you've already lost.

Yeah, it's absolutely true. Nothing I

ever did was based on money because if I

did base it on money, I'm still standing

in the hotel lobby because that was the

much better option at the time. 401k,

right? all the you check all the boxes,

dental, medical, cash, checks, all these

[ __ ] things at 19. If the money was

the deciding factor, I'm still standing

in the lobby of the hotel.

Now, when I left and said, "I want to be

in the fight business," everybody told

me it was [ __ ] stupid. Right? And

when you say that, what does it mean?

Does it mean where I am right now and

what's going on right now? You could

never predict that. You could never you

couldn't even [ __ ] dream it up. The

[ __ ] that I've done and the things that

I've been a part of

>> in your wildest dreams this wouldn't be

it.

>> Where does luck fit in this equation?

>> A lot I think a lot. And I wouldn't call

it luck. I'd call it timing.

Everything in life is about timing. So

there was this kid, his name's Adam

Corgan. I went to high school with him

and he was a rich kid in high school. I

was not. And I didn't have a car. all

that [ __ ] This guy would pick me up and

drive me to school every day, right? And

think about this and and this is the way

I always think. For him to come get me,

he had to wake up 45 minutes to an hour

earlier, get ready, drive over, get me,

and then we both had to be to school on

time. And I had this blanket pol, like I

told you, I quit drinking when I was 21.

>> And I also had this blanket policy in my

20s. I didn't go to anybody's wedding.

Everybody you ever knew was getting

married when you were in your 20s

heading toward your 30s, right? And it

first of all, you have to fly somewhere.

You know, I lived in Boston. You know,

you had to fly somewhere. Takes a bunch

of time out of you that to go to. So, I

would No, I wouldn't go to anybody's

wedding. So, then Adam Corgan is getting

married. How am I not going to go to

Adam Corgan's wedding with all the

things that he did for me when we were

in high school? I go to his wedding. And

who do I run into at his wedding? Frank

and Lorenzo Fertitta.

>> Who you end up

>> I hadn't seen in 10 years or more. So

Lorenzo comes up to me at the wedding

and says, "Hey, how you doing? I just

got on the on the Nevada Athletic

Commission and I heard you're you're you

know, you got a boxing gym you train. I

want to come in and train with you." He

came in on Monday and me and Lorenzo

have been together ever since. And Frank

>> and you bought the UFC together for $2

million sometime thereafter. Mhm.

>> So, if you hadn't been loyal to your

friend from school and gone to his

wedding, then I mean, who knows?

>> Yeah.

>> Sliding doors moment.

>> Everything in life is about timing.

>> Do you believe in karma?

>> I do. I don't believe in much. Like,

I'm, you know, I'm not religious. I

don't believe in God, the devil, ghosts,

goblins. I don't believe in any of this

[ __ ] But I believe in karma cuz I've

seen it play out good and bad. I've seen

karma.

There is a there is a big fight coming

up um big UK fight coming up between AJ

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. One of

the biggest fights in boxing, you know,

over the last at least the last decade

for sure.

>> Definitely in the heavyweight division.

Yes.

>> Yeah.