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Dana White is tapping out of politics.
After embracing President-elect Donald Trump, the Ultimate Fighting Championship chief executive said in an interview this week he won’t help future presidential campaigns, stating he “want[s] nothing to do with politics.”
“I’m never f***ing doing this again,” White told The New Yorker. “I want nothing to do with this s***. It’s gross. It’s disgusting.”
White played a key role in Trump’s second ascension to the White House, helping him reach millions of young male voters. A longtime friend of the president-elect, White stumped for Trump on the campaign trail, praised him at the Republican National Convention and walked alongside him at Saturday’s UFC match at Madison Square Garden.
White also used his connections to leverage appearances for Trump on friendly, right-leaning podcasts with millions of young listeners. White was upfront about his motivation in connecting Trump with so-called manosphere or bro-casters, saying the move was intended to tap into young voters.
“You’re getting conversations in these podcasts, and you yourself, as a young kid, get to really see who Donald Trump is,” White told The New Yorker. “Not the bulls*** you hear from the far-left media.”
In interviews with UFC fans outside Madison Square Garden, young voters told they decided to support Trump after listening to podcasts helmed by Joe Rogan and other influential figures.
A recent study from the Pew Research Center showed that 40% of young adults aged 18 to 29 “regularly” get their news from these types of news influencers, many of whom skew conservative. Trump’s sit-downs with Rogan, Theo Von, Adin Ross, and Andrew Schulz, all of whom boast millions of followers across social media platforms, allowed him to reach directly to young voters without the scrutiny that typically comes with interviews with journalists.
After Trump was reelected this month, White attended Trump’s victory party in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the president-elect discussed helping White secure venues early in his mixed martial arts enterprise’s existence.
“Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does. This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White said of Trump at his election night party. “This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.”
But White’s surprising decision to bow out of politics entirely presents a blow to Republicans hoping to continue harnessing the entertainment giant’s platform. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on White’s decision.
Still, even as the UFC boss backs away from future political campaigns, he remains firmly in Trump’s corner as he returns to the White House.
“Donald Trump is tougher and more badass than anybody,” White told The New Yorker. “You can only pray that you’re a quarter of the man that Donald Trump was when a guy tried to take seven shots at his head with a high-powered rifle with a f***ing scope on it.”
