For over a decade, the UFC and WWE have been at opposite ends of the same spectrum. Despite having significantly different grounds, each organization is convinced of being better than its competitor. UFC president Dana White has gone on record expressing mixed feelings towards Vince McMahon on several occasions.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship features world-class mixed martial artists scrapping in actual combat events. Whereas WWE involves working with some really gifted athletes in the squared circle. The 53-year-old has even quoted Vince as a “f**king maniac” while discussing how difficult it has been to deal with the WWE head honcho.
At UFC 276, WWE’s Vince McMahon made a surprising appearance cage side. Reflecting upon this, White said he treated Vince with much more respect than he was once given during a WrestleMania. Soon after transitioning over to WWE, UFC’s ex-megastar Ronda Rousey invited Dana to one of her matches.
The 53-year-old didn’t have the greatest of experiences after arriving at the venue. Dana shared, “I fly down to f**king New Orleans. No going in the back and any of that s**t. I call some people, ‘Ok, we’ve got your tickets.’ When I tell you I was in the f**king rafters. People were coming up to me and going, ‘Why are you sitting in these seats?’ I said, ‘This is where they sat me, so f**k them I’m going to sit right here.’”
Dana is no stranger to arranging front-row tickets to his UFC events for A-listers. Thus, when the WWE threw him to the nosebleeds, Dana believes it was no accident. He further added, “When you run an event like you run and you have the people that you know that are coming that you give a s**t about or respect, you make sure that they are f**king taken care of,”
Vince McMahon offered to fight Dana White
It is worth mentioning that this wasn’t the only incident where Vince had ruffled Dana’s feathers. Over a decade ago, the UFC’s Pay-per-view events were occurring in close proximity that those of WWE. The Las-Vegas based promotion was giving WWE a run for its money because of the latter’s sinking buy rates. In 2010, the WWE took UFC’s threats to their PPV audience seriously.
Vince wanted to use this opportunity to get back to the top, while also being gracious enough to share the profit with the UFC. In 2011, McMahon offered a crazy storyline to Dana. The 77-year-old offered to take on White either inside the squared circle or in the Octagon.
During one of the interviews before UFC 158, White shared, “He wanted to do that one time. Vince wanted to fight me. I swear to god. He called me up and said ‘Let’s do it. We could either do it at the UFC or let’s do it at WrestleMania.'” The intensity of the potentially record-breaking bout totally makes sense, given the era. However, pointing to an aging Vince, Dana declined the offer.
Now with the recent reports of UFC’s parent company acquiring WWE, a lot of things might change, presumably for the better. Fans wonder how the two juggernauts would react to sharing the same room, considering their history. Endeavour, which acquired the UFC in 2016, is now in advance talks of buying WWE in an all-stock deal.