From one combat sports businessman to another, UFC president Dana White has a lot of respect for Vince McMahon. That respect is likely mutual — but it doesn’t mean McMahon is hooking up White with great seats at WrestleMania.
Following the most recent edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, White was asked for some general thoughts on McMahon and his recent retirement. Along with expressing his admiration for what McMahon had built and his longevity in the pro wrestling industry, White told a humorous story about his experience attending the WWE debut of Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 34.
When Rousey herself asked White to attend, he had no problem flying to New Orleans to support the former UFC champion. But he certainly didn’t get any special treatment when he arrived.
“No going in the back and any of that s–t,” White recalled. “They’re at the will call window for you. I go to the f–king will call window, and ‘yeah, we don’t have tickets for you.'”
White made some calls and got his ticket situation cleared up, but they weren’t exactly up close.
“When I tell you I was in the f—king 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 f–k ’em, I’m going to sit right here.'”
White added that when current WWE commentator Pat McAfee pointed out he made it on camera, it was only because the cameraman was able to “crawl over about 75 people” and “kick somebody out of his seat” to get the shot.
You can watch the entire interview below, starting at the 12:43 mark for White’s thoughts on McMahon and his WrestleMania 34 experience.
Suffice it to say that when WWE and UFC had cards on the same night in Las Vegas earlier this month, White gave the WWE contingent (that included Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and McAfee) seats a lot closer to the action when they asked to head over to T-Mobile Arena for the main event of UFC 276.
And hey, with the management change in WWE, maybe White will find himself closer to the ring next time he takes in an event as well. It sounds like he almost literally couldn’t be any further away.