There was an awkward moment during the recording of Howie Mandel's podcast when guest Dana White abruptly walked out minutes into the show. After Mandel introduced his guest with plenty of praise, White dropped the mic. "Howie, thank you for the kind words. But I'm f-cking tired of doing podcasts. I'm not doing any more podcasts," White said before abruptly leaving. The cameras continued to roll as everyone just looked at each other in shock.
White has been on a hell of a media tour lately in the run-up to UFC 300 later this year. It's unclear if he had just reached his breaking point or if there is a deeper issue for the UFC boss. This is a developing story and we'll have any updates as and when they emerge.
Dana White Defends UFC's Partnership With Bud Light
Of course, as the face of the UFC, White is usually first in the line of fire when people have a problem with the promotion. This was incredibly apparent last year when the UFC partnered with Bud Light. The brand returned as the promotion's official beer after the two sides originally parted ways in 2019. "Everybody on every side of this deal that were involved -- other beer companies and everything else -- absolutely, positively knows that this was not about money for me. We were going to end up with money no matter who we ended up with," White said. Furthermore, he said it was "f-cking stupid" for people to say it was just about the money. White argued that all sponsorships are about money.
Bud Light has been the target of right-wing outrage for most of the year. It follows the brand's decision to partner transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. That led to many right-wing individuals saying they were going to boycott the beer. This in turn led to wild inflated claims as to how much money Amherser-Busch reportedly lost over the deal. At most, Bud Light saw a year-on-year decrease of around 10% during the second quarter of 2023. However, the brand remains one of America's top beer products.
[via]