Dana White and Khabib Nurmagomedov are arguably two of the all-time greatest combat sports figures in their respective fields. The back-and-forth relationship between the UFC CEO and the UFC Hall of Famer has played out in the headlines and on social media ever since he inked his first promotional contract back in late 2011.
Nurmagomedov retired and vacated the UFC lightweight title in October 2020. Despite walking away from competition, “The Eagle” has remained closely connected to the sport and the UFC, and their relationship has continued to make headlines.
Earlier this summer, White made contentious remarks about Nurmagomedov’s retirement, prompting the former UFC champion to fire back with a strong response. However, Nurmagomedov recently offered a very different assessment of White while appearing on The Lex Fridman Podcast.
Fridman asked Nurmagomedov about White’s success as a promoter and the qualities that have helped him build the UFC into the premier MMA promotion in the world.
Nurmagomedov explained that his own experience running a league helped him understand White’s position and praised the UFC CEO for keeping business separate from personal relationships.
He’s very good at separating business from personal relationships. For him, the two never overlap. He draws a clear line between them. In business, he’s extremely cold-blooded.
“The Eagle” then compared the UFC head honcho’s approach to the mentality seen in mafia movies, emphasizing that the MMA promotion always comes first in White’s business decisions.
He’s made decisions… some major decisions, regardless of whether people like them or not. And those decisions, they were best for the league and for the UFC.
Nurmagomedov added:
You know, like in those mafia movies where family comes first, right? Well, for him, the UFC always came first. That’s the only way he was able to push their brand forward.
The 37-year-old Dagestani also acknowledged that plenty of people have contributed to the UFC’s success, including Bruce Buffer and Joe Rogan, but he believes White deserves enormous credit for turning the promotion into a global powerhouse.
There were a lot of things that made the UFC unique, but the cherry on top was always Dana.
The UFC legend went even further when discussing White’s promotional abilities, calling his work over the past three decades a remarkable achievement.
“Dana did an incredible job promoting the UFC, and he still does. No matter what, the UFC is always there.”
