LAS VEGAS — UFC president Dana White’s ties to United States President Donald Trump are well-documented. White spoke on Trump’s behalf at the Republican National Convention in both 2016 and 2020, Trump attended UFC 244 in New York, and White and several UFC fighters were part of Trump’s campaign stops as he sought re-election.
As of Wednesday night, though, it looks like Trump’s re-election prospects are dim. Democratic challenger Joe Biden leads the Electoral College count and indications are that votes in the handful of remaining states yet to be fully counted are trending in the former Vice President’s direction.
If White is concerned that a change in administration would also mean a change in the UFC’s fortunes after being so closely tied to Trump, though, he isn’t showing it.
“I don’t think Biden even knows who I am,” White said at the DWCS 34 post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “I don’t think Biden knows who Biden is.”
White’s relationship with Trump wasn’t the only MMA-related connection to Tuesday’s elections, which played out on the federal, state, and local levels. A UFC Hall of Famer earned elected office, as Tito Ortiz was elected to the city council in his hometown of Huntington Beach, Calif., taking first place in a field of 15 candidates competing for three open seats and earning a four-year term.
White and Ortiz have clashed over the years, with White frequently questioning Ortiz’s intelligence. But he resisted the opportunity to take a swipe at him on Saturday.
“Good for him,” White said when asked about Ortiz’s victory. “Good for him.”
