- Tucker Carlson interviewed Dana White for a segment that aired Monday on Fox News.
- Carlson spoke to former President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting with White in Las Vegas.
- For Trump, White is the "only essential" person involved in all American sports, Carlson said.
Dana White is, according to Donald Trump, "the only essential person in all American sports," Tucker Carlson said.
The Fox News presenter said he spoke to the former president ahead of an interview with the UFC boss that aired Monday on his show 'Tucker Carlson Tonight'.
"I talked to Trump yesterday about you, and he described you as, 'the only essential person in all American sports. You could take people out of any sport and the sport would continue. If Dana White left UFC, there couldn't be UFC'."
Carlson then asked White how long he expected to remain in the combat sports business, as the figurehead of an MMA firm that leads the market.
"Hopefully I've built a business over the last 22 years that, no matter who comes and goes, we last and continue to grow," said White.
"I know for a fact that when I do leave, the right person needs to be in place to take over. There is a formula to this business," White said. "People are trying as we speak" to replicate what the UFC is doing, "but they're not successful."
He added: "When I do decide to leave, which isn't going to be any time soon, I have the right people in place."
White then spoke about his relationship with Trump.
Donald Trump 'loves sports,' Dana White said
White called Trump "a very, very good friend of mine" and said their relationship goes back to "the day I met him."
He told Carlson: "When we bought this company, the company had such a bad stigma in sport, we couldn't get into venues — venues didn't want us."
White said Trump was helpful in bringing the UFC to New Jersey, for events in the early 2000s like 'UFC 31: Locked and Loaded' featuring Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, and B.J. Penn in separate bouts on May 4, 2001.
"Donald Trump saw that this thing could possibly be big. Plus, he's a sports guy. He loves sports. He offered us to do the event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
"He cut us a very fair deal, went down there, and did two events with him," said White on Fox News. "He showed up for the first fight and stayed to the last fight."
Trump became a big supporter of White's, the UFC boss said
Whenever White went on to do something positive in his career, or receive public commendation, he said Trump would be there to send his congratulations.
"We were on the cover of the New York Times one time, and he said: 'I always knew you were going to do it, Dana, congratulations.' And sent me the paper."
White said Trump "was genuinely happy for my success."
He finished by saying: "Then came the day he was running for president, and he reached out to me, called me one day. He started the conversation like this: 'If you don't want to do this, I completely understand and there are no hard feelings, but I'd be honored if you'd speak for me at the Republican National Convention'. I said, I'll be there.
"I spoke, and after that day our friendship went to a whole other level."
White recently called the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid 'madness'
White described the FBI's raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property Monday as "madness," when speaking to Insider and other reporters at a press conference in August.
According to Insider reporting the following month that cited a Department of Justice court filing, federal agents found more than 100 classified documents — three of which were stored in desks belonging to Trump, rather than in boxes.
White said, "the whole world is crazy right now" when talking about the FBI search.
Though White said at that time he hadn't talked to Trump about the incident, he added he'd "probably call him in the next couple days." It's unclear if he has spoken to him since.
Said White: "I didn't want to call him … he has better fucking things to do than for me to call and say, 'Hey, what's going on over there?' But I will talk to him in the next couple days."
White's comments followed prominent MMA fighters Jorge Masvidal and Jake Shields denouncing the FBI raid and echoing right-wing talking points to defend Trump.
Trump has long enjoyed support from many fighters and their fans.
The UFC boss even gave $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action in 2019.