Dana White Told Sponsor To Go "F-Yourself' For Asking Him To Take Down Trump Video

The UFC is the only major sports league that doesn't police what athletes say or pressure them to adopt certain progressive politics.

And Dana White is certainly the only leader in sports who is not beholden to the whims of corporate sponsors.

It's part of the sport's charm.

This week, White appeared on comedian Theo Von’s podcast where he addressed the backlash to his public friendship with Donald Trump.

Specifically, White says a major sponsor for the UFC told him to take down a video in which he supported the former president.

He didn't comply:

"I posted a video for Trump on my personal social media and one of our big sponsors called and said take that down," says White. "I said go fuck yourself."

As OutKick's David Hookstead wrote on Sunday, "Dana White has gone out of his way time and time again to make it clear cancel culture, woke nonsense and anything else that’s similar has no place in the UFC."

The marketing opportunity to lean right is profound. Conservative sports fan matter. And they've been neglected by pretty much every other organization in sports --- from the NFL to the NBA, from MLB to the NHL.

Last Saturday, White arrived at Madison Square Garden for UFC 295 flanked by Trump, Tucker Carlson and Kid Rock.

This doesn't happen at other sports venues:

https://twitter.com/ufcontnt/status/1723536824843243833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1723536824843243833%7Ctwgr%5E5e3d20f72a9f0c34729e40b94345078e6d62cc29%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outkick.com%2Fdonald-trump-ufc-295-kid-rock-tucker-carlson-dana-white-video%2F

There are some concerns that the UFC sold out to Anheuser-Busch by agreeing to name Bud Light the official beer of the sport.

But that's not the case.

Dana White and the UFC did not sell out. Bud Light sold out.

The beer company agreed to pay over $100 million to associate itself with the only league that would be willing to admit that Dylan Mulvaney is not a hero for calling himself a woman for 365 days -- the premise of Bud Light's partnership with the so-called trans influencer.

Anheuser-Busch tried to shed its "masculine" and "fratty" reputation earlier this year, per its own management team. Yet those efforts failed. Badly.

So, with its tale firmly between its legs, Bud Light admitted defeat by overpaying for the UFC in an effort to make amends with its former consumers -- those who don't think turning trans is worth celebrating, that is.

Bud Light didn't compromise Dana White. Dana White compromised Bud Light.

As White made clear to his sponsors, they don't control him.