Dana White has done a brilliant job of remaining free from woke politics as he has grown the Ultimate Fighting Championship into one of the premier sports leagues in the world. This makes his most recent move to sign his name on a six-year partnership agreement with the Bud Light brand perplexing to anyone who has followed his actions in recent years.
During the COVID pandemic that shut down many other sports leagues, Dana White insisted that the UFC would avoid becoming woke and caving to the demands that shut down so many other sports. He has also not shied away from a positive relationship with Barstool Sports which the left constantly tries to cancel.
Now, in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, White explained some of his reasoning for the head-scratching new partnership. He said, “When you do sponsorships, you definitely do sponsorships for the money, too. Money is definitely a part of it, but money was not the decision-making [factor].”
He continued, “There’s more to being aligned with a sponsor, a major sponsor like that, for as long as I’m going to be… There are many other things that are important to me other than just the money. And the people that were all involved in this negotiation, on every side, absolutely, positively know that my choice was not determined by money.”
This begs the question, what did Dana White learn about the Bud Light brand that made him so confident that this long-term deal would be a wise one? The entire Anheuser-Busch name has been blemished by the advertising blunder that saw Bud Light lose its place as the most popular beer in America, and the company has been trying to distance itself from that mistake ever since.
This is clearly another attempt to make fans realize that the company still embraces those on the right side of the political divide in America. It clearly makes sense for them to partner with UFC, but why does the UFC want to do this?
Dana explained, “They were the first beer company that we really did business with. They were our first real big sponsor when we were getting started, and now we’re back with them,” White said. “I know all the controversy and everything else, but for myself, going into a long-term deal with another sponsor, I want to be with somebody that I’m actually aligned with.”
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He also went on to explain the merit of the company and why he felt that they aligned with his organizations morals. “They employ 65,000 Americans. They have thousands of vets that work for them. They spend $700 million a year with U.S. farmers using their crops to make their products and many, many other great things that Anheuser-Busch has done in this country.”
Time will tell if this is more than a marketing trick. If Bud Light really is trying to revert itself back from its social justice stance that it emboldened with its partnership with influencer Dylan Mulvaney, then out may have a chance to regain some of its lost market cap.