Dana White shares Mike Tyson phone call ahead of Hulu hatchet job — ‘I’ll squash this deal’

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is the subject of an eight-episode limited series titled “Mike” from the creative team behind the Tonya Harding biopic, which is scheduled to air on the Hulu digital streaming service on Aug. 25.

The 56 year-old Tyson has been openly critical of the “unauthorized” and “no-holds-barred” series, which according to the official synopsis, “explores the tumultuous ups and downs of Tyson’s boxing career and personal life,” which exist to this day.

That’s why UFC President Dana White, a longtime friend and admirer of the aging pugilist (despite this DICK move), put the kibosh on a lucrative advertising deal that would have marketed “Mike” to combat sports fans during televised UFC events.

“So we did a deal, or were about to do a deal, were on the verge of a deal with Hulu to promote this Mike Tyson unauthorized biography,” White recently told reporters (via MMA Junkie). “Craig Borsari, my head of production, came to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m hearing that Tyson isn’t happy about this thing.’ So I called Mike and I said we’re in a deal with these guys – we have a verbal (agreement) to do this deal with them. And he said, ‘Dana, they’re fucking me,’ and that’s all I had to hear. I said, ‘I’m out, then. I’ll squash this deal.’ So I killed the deal and I told him that it was over and I killed it and we won’t be promoting that show for Hulu. Then he did what he did.”

Tyson retired from boxing back in June 2005 but made his exhibition comeback in late 2020, opposite fellow “sweet science” icon Roy Jones Jr., a bout that proved Tyson could still look “fucking awesome” inside the ring. As of this writing, there are no plans for “Iron Mike” to continue fighting because promoters made it “all about money.”

Something White refused to do when Hulu came calling.