UFC president Dana White says he has nothing but respect for Vince McMahon, even though they haven't always gotten along.
The former WWE Chairman stunned the wrestling world when he retired on July 22. In doing so, he ended the previous era in the promotion's history; McMahon had been at the helm since he bought the company (before it was known as WWE) from his father in 1982.
Speaking at a press conference after the first week of Dana White's Contender Series, White was asked about McMahon's retirement and whether he could share any fun stories about him. He responded by noting that he has plenty of stories and describing how he respects what McMahon has built.
"Oh, I got stories about Vince for days, but yeah, what that guy built and what he’s done is incredible. He’s been doing it for 50-plus years. I watched that stuff as a kid, and then to still be here and doing it now, is phenomenal. He’s a killer, he’s buried the hatchet in my back a few times, but that’s what you’re dealing with. You don’t deal with a killer and not expect them to try to kill you. Yeah, I have nothing but respect for Vince," said White.
When asked whether he met up with McMahon when the latter attended UFC 276, he noted that he gave the former WWE Chairman much better seats than the ones WWE once gave him.
“They reached out to me and said that he wanted to come to the fight," White responded. "I gave him much better seats than he gave me when I went to see Ronda. That dude had me in the fucking, I’m not even shitting you, Ronda says,’ You have to be at this event. I want you to be there.’ I said, ‘Ronda, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ She’s like, 'Alright, I’m gonna let them know you’re coming.’ Cool, cool. I show up, it’s in New Orleans. I fly down to fucking New Orleans. No going in the back and any of that shit. They’re at the will call window for you. I go to the fucking will call window, and, 'Yeah, we don’t have tickets for you.' I call some people, 'Oh yeah, we found them, okay, we got your tickets.' When I tell you, we were in the fucking rafters, people were coming up to me and going, ‘Why are you sitting in these seats?’ I said, ‘Well, this is where they sat me. So fuck ‘em, I’m gonna sit right here.’ Then I think it was Pat McAfee today says, ‘Well, no, you had to be in decent seats. You were on camera.’ The cameraman had to fucking crawl over about 75 people, kick somebody out of his fucking seat three rows ahead of me, just so he could get that shot. Yeah, they let me know what they thought of me at that event."
One reporter pointed out that things might be different now that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are in charge, to which White responded, “Triple H and Stephanie were there too. It’s not like it was just Vince. This wasn’t 25 years ago, this was like fucking two years ago."
White noted that there weren't any hard feelings on his feeling about the way he got mediocre seats because he understood that's the way Vince McMahon is.
WWE previously moved the Money in the Bank premium live event because it was competing with UFC 276. You can check out White's comments on the situation here.
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