Dana White Shares Thoughts On UFC-WWE Merger, Says Both Companies Will Remain Separate

Coming off a massive UFC PPV in Miami, Dana White was in a good mood as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning. During the post-UFC 287 press conference, the UFC President was asked about the recent deal between WWE and UFC's parent company Endeavor.

"I like the [WWE/Endeavor] deal," White said. "I'm very supportive of it. I knew that they were working on it a long time ago and Ari [Emanuel] is super respectful like that. Ari wanted to make sure that everybody was good with this before we move forward with it and I think that Ari is gonna bring a lot of value. It doesn't change anything over here."

White noted that WWE and UFC have shared talent before, citing Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey and that ultimately the two companies didn't need a deal to work together. "If guys leave here and they love wrestling and they're good enough to do it, before this deal we would've been good with that," White said, "but what's gonna happen now is Ari's gonna add a ton of value to WWE. Whether it's sponsorship/licensing and a lot of other things he can do when he touches the business. The UFC and WWE will become their own stock." Dana then joked that his lawyer was telling him to stop talking about the details of the deal.

"They're gonna do what they do. We're gonna do what we do. The parent company and Ari will help them in a lot of ways they know they can help them," White said later on. White believes that Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will be an asset for WWE's business end.

"Their television rights are up and when your television rights are up there's no one better than Ari Emanuel," White professed.