As Shaquille O’Neal and NBA Struggle With TNT Controversy, ‘Cautious’ Dana White Finally Reveals His Relationship With UFC’s TV Deal Partners

UFC CEO Dana White is excited about Power Slap and is determined to take it to new heights. The ‘slap fighting’ league was launched by the UFC head honcho in 2023 and he recently held Power Slap 8 with 3,500 fans in attendance. This fight drew a lot of attention because former UFC fighter Paige VanZant made her debut in this new league. The show is being broadcast live and for free on Rumble but the UFC boss plans to take the show to a different broadcast destination.

Amid the NBA and TNT controversy, reporters asked him about this in UFC 303 press and White’s answer might clarify the fans on the future of UFC and Power Slap.

Dana White clears his relationship status with ESPN.

In the present time, UFC is a mainstream sport and has a huge fan following. After Dana White took over in 2001, UFC became a billion-dollar business slowly and posted $1.3 billion in revenue. Since 2019 PPV fights have been only available on ESPN + and ESPN even has linear rights to UFC events. Meanwhile, in the wake of the deal running through in 2025, fans fear that a similar uproar to ‘Inside the NBA’ might happen. The NBA show is on TNT but the NBA is formalizing new broadcasting deals. In this note, the reports asked about their concern but White assured them of his relationship with ESPN.

He said that their relationship was strong and healthy. He elaborated, “This is crazy but we talked to ESPN and you know listen I said this a couple of times. When I first got into business with ESPN you went to work out all the kinks and bugs and working with each other. We have done that and I’m in a great place I have a great relationship with ESPN and you know we work together to build the sport, build the brand, build their platform and we work well together now. That’s how that works.” He also said that the incredible relationship with the channel will not end and as far as the new deal goes he gave a cryptic answer saying, “It is what it is. “

 TNT is going through troubles with ‘inside the NBA’ and many fans are concerned about the show that features  Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal. They might have to end their 10-year-long partnership but White has previously assured of different plans.

Dana White revealed that Power Slap is in talks with ‘everyone’

At the post-press conference after Power Slap 8 the UFC head honcho spoke about his thoughts on the plans for Power Slap since the broadcasting rights now are coming to an end. He openly shared that the right deals were ongoing and he and his team were talking to every broadcaster right now. He and Lorenzo Fertitta were speaking to different streaming networks and he gave the signal that they were not leaving any major broadcasting channels untouched.

The boss indicated that he was working in all possible ways to ensure that Power Slap got the best outcome in the future. “…we are already in talks with all the majors right now for this thing, you know what we’re going to do. I don’t how many f**king times I gotta sit in front of everybody and tell everybody what I’m gonna do and then we go out and do it,” he said.

He is extremely confident in the growth of Power Slap and even stated that this might get bigger than UFC. The new league already has more than a billion views on YouTube which indicates that viewership appeal is present. While the NBA’s broadcast future remains in the shadows Dana White has already started his strategic moves and promises a bright future for Power Slap. Do you think Power Slap can overpower UFC in terms of popularity and fan base? Share your ideas in the comments below.