“When You’re With Me, You’re With Me’

Dana White is eternally loyal to Joe Rogan.

The longtime UFC commentator and standard podcaster made his promotional debut at UFC 12 in 1997, years earlier than White and the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for $2 million. Nonetheless, it was White who gave Rogan his first shot on the commentary desk, reserving the then-Worry Issue host for UFC 37.5 (yeah, that’s a factor) in 2002.

20 years later, Rogan discovered himself in a heap of sizzling water after multiple clips of him using racial slurs emerged on-line. Requires Rogan’s cancellation grew, significantly as a number of music artists pulled their catalogs from Spotify — which had an unique cope with Rogan then.

Throughout a current interview with Lex Fridman, Dana White revealed that the UFC’s mum or dad firm had thought of giving Rogan the boot amid rising backlash. White made it clear that if he had been compelled to dismiss Rogan, they’d have to search out themselves a brand new UFC CEO as nicely.

“Anyone who’s with me, has been with me, is aware of,” White stated. “Whenever you’re with me, you’re with me. It’s a two-way avenue. It’s not a one-way avenue. I’m not one in all these guys that’s gonna roll over.

“It’s like going via COVID. I wasn’t laying [off] any of those individuals,” he continued. “A few of these individuals have been with me for 20 years. We’re gonna lay ‘em off? Uh uh. This motherf*cker will burn, burn earlier than I might do this to my individuals. It’s simply by no means — none of that kind of stuff is ever going to occur whereas I’m right here. I can’t say what’s gonna occur once I depart, however once I’m right here, the people who find themselves with me and have been with me they know precisely what’s up, and Joe is aware of what’s up. It’s a two-way avenue. Joe Rogan has been very loyal to me, and I’m very loyal to Joe Rogan.”

Joe Rogan labored his first 13 UFC occasions without cost

Sharing some perception into his relationship with Rogan and the ride-or-die friendship they share, White shared that Rogan labored his first 13 occasions as a commentator without cost whereas the promotion was nonetheless working to turn into worthwhile.

“It’s a indisputable fact that he doesn’t care about cash and he did the primary 13 reveals free for us,” White stated. “That was at a time once we had been hurting and he was like, ‘Wait a minute. You need me to do the commentary? You’re saying I get to take a seat in the most effective seat in the home and watch these fights without cost? Yeah, I’m in.’ Then, clearly, when he turned issues round, we made it as much as Joe, however Joe is among the issues I liked early about [the UFC].”

Right this moment, Joe Rogan has a web price of roughly $200 million. In February, it was revealed that Rogan had signed a new deal multi-year deal with Spotify price an estimated $250 million.

In February 2022, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek denounced the host’s use of racist language however stated, “I don’t imagine that silencing Joe is the reply.”