UFC's Dana White to Speak Right Before Trump at RNC

UFC CEO and President Dana White will address attendees at next week's Republican National Convention right before former President Donald Trump accepts the party's presidential nomination, The Wall Street Journal reported.

White will speak next Thursday night, the four-day convention's final day, the Journal reported Wednesday. He will be among the prominent speakers, expected to include Trump's as of yet unannounced running mate, and members of the former president's family.

Trump, who has been the presumptive GOP nominee since dominating the early primaries, will officially become the party's pick to oppose the Democratic Party's nominee, currently President Joe Biden.

Democrats have been in turmoil over Biden's candidacy since the president's disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump.

Trump has attended UFC events, which has helped him appeal to a younger audience. On June 1, he attended an event in Newark, New Jersey, two days after his felony conviction in a New York criminal trial.

As often the case, Trump received an enthusiastic reception from the crowd when he appeared in Newark.

"[expletive] Joe Biden!," the crowd shouted as Trump took his seat next to White.

Earlier that evening, Trump posted on TikTok for the first time with a video showing him and White before a UFC event.

At a campaign rally in Claremont, New Hampshire, late last year, Trump joked he'd be willing to make White his defense secretary in a second administration.

"Dana White, you know Dana White? The great Dana White," Trump told his supporters. "There's a guy I'd like to make my defense chief.

"I wouldn't call him my defense chief. I'd call him my offense chief. He'd be my offense chief. But he's doing a great job."

White previously spoke at the 2016 and 2020 GOP conventions. He thanked Trump for helping to grow mixed martial arts — e.g. hosting events at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in the early 2000s — and for working to end COVID restrictions.

"Nobody took us seriously, except Donald Trump," White said in 2016, the Journal reported. "Donald was the first to recognize the potential that we saw in the UFC, and encouraged us to build our business."