00:00CEO i president of the UFC, Dana White, is here.
00:03Dana, thanks so much for joining us on this special night.
00:08Thanks for having me.
00:09What did Hulk Hogan mean to you and mean to America?
00:16Yeah, I'm 55 years old, so I grew up right in that, you know,
00:19when the WWF was massive and Hulk was becoming a really big star.
00:26And I watched the WWF back then, and I was a Hulk Hogan fan.
00:33I mean, I was watching him just as much as you were.
00:36I mean, the guy defined my era.
00:38You were behind the scenes with him at the RNC.
00:42What was that like?
00:45Yeah, it's funny because I was actually on a family vacation.
00:49I flew from Italy to Milwaukee, and when I got there,
00:53they walked me literally right in to a holding room where they had me and Kid Rock.
00:57But on the way to my room, Hulk Hogan grabbed me and asked me if he could talk to me privately for a second.
01:04And he pulled me aside, and, you know, I'll never forget that conversation that we had that night.
01:12And, yeah, he was a good man.
01:16He was special.
01:17He loved the president, and obviously he loved America.
01:21He did, from the bottom of his heart.
01:24And he sacrificed so much for America and for the American people,
01:27just the toll that his performances take on a body.
01:32What does that tell you about him?
01:36Well, I mean, anybody who's in any type of sport that's physical, you know,
01:41they're obviously very passionate.
01:43They love the sport.
01:44And, you know, when you give your body like these guys do, you're doing it because you love it,
01:52and it's what you want to do for a living.
01:54That's why he, you know, whether you're a fighter, a professional wrestler, a football player,
01:59whatever it might be, it's what you choose to do because it's what your passion is.
02:04And the guy was a real man's man.
02:07I mean, and in the 80s.
02:10He was a man's man.
02:10That is a fact.
02:11That was what it was all about.
02:12You had Hogan.
02:13You had Tyson.
02:14You had Trump.
02:15And these guys were just flying off the wall.
02:17The flag was flying.
02:18What did that era represent?
02:23Listen, I grew up in that era.
02:24That's my era.
02:25And I think that everybody, whatever era they grew up in, is, you know, the best era to them.
02:32But the 80s were incredible.
02:34I mean, and not just them.
02:35Guys like Stallone and Arnold.
02:37And the list goes on and on of the men's men of that era.
02:42And, yeah, to me, Reagan.
02:46I mean, I can go on and on.
02:48It was the best.
02:50I say it all the time.
02:52But I'm really happy that I grew up in the era that I grew up in, the 80s.
02:58And I'm really happy that I'm going to be leaving the era that I'm going to be leaving it.
03:04I'm very, very happy with where my time laid out in this world.
03:10Well, it's been a great time.
03:12You're just a little older than I am.
03:14But I think we're on the same path here.
03:15In a way, did Hogan and the WWF, did that kind of tee you up at the UFC?
03:22Yeah, I was more of a boxing guy.
03:28But to say that the WWE boxing and other things of that time, you know, from the Muhammad Ali's to Hulk Hogan, you know, Vince and Don King and all the guys who paved the way for me to be where I am today.
03:44They all had an impact and a lasting impression in my life.
03:48And definitely the way that the UFC is today and the things that I've done to build it all have a little piece of all those guys and their businesses.
04:01Well, you're a great promoter.
04:03He was an amazing promoter.
04:04And I hope tonight there's just going to be millions of people tearing off their shirts or trying to.
04:11It's not easy, depending on what kind of shirt you have or how strong you are.
