Mark Wahlberg recently joined Steve-O on the Wild Ride podcast and opened up about his boxing background and his long-standing friendship with Dana White. During the conversation, he also revealed that the UFC CEO once worked as his personal boxing trainer.
Reflecting on his preparation for ‘The Fig hter’, Wahlberg recalled the chaotic atmosphere that surrounded his training camps, including one memorable stay at a hotel in London.
“We have races, boxing, sparring, in the hallway,” Wahlberg said. “When I was training to make ‘The Figh ter’, we were here, and we were sparring in the hallways, and people just pounding the s**t out of each other, and some English couple coming out of their room going, ‘What’s going on?'”
The actor said the antics extended well beyond sparring sessions.
“Stampede races up and down these beautiful hallways, throwing weights around,” he added. “It was bad. I don’t think I’m welcome back here.”
The conversation later shifted to Dana White’s home in Las Vegas. When Steve-O asked whether he had visited the property, Wahlberg spoke highly of both the house and the environment White has created for their families.
He said, “It’s a great spot, and you know what I love, it’s a safe haven for all the kids to go. My kids hang out. My oldest boys hang out with his kids and they’re all friends. It’s small town.”
Wahlberg then made a revelation that immediately caught Steve-O’s attention.
“When I went to Vegas, Dana was the first person I called,” Wahlberg said. “You know, he was my boxing trainer.”
He went on to explain how the friendship began decades ago, long before White became one of the most influential figures in combat sports.
“Dana and I started a relationship, before I did ‘The Figh ter’,” Wahlberg explained. “I was going to do this other boxing movie called ‘Out on My Feet’, about a figh ter named Vinnie Curto who was being trained by Angelo Dundee. Robert De Niro was playing Angelo Dundee. I was playing Vinnie Curto.”
According to Wahlberg, White was brought in to prepare him for the role.
“Dana was referred by another friend of mine to train me as a boxer,” he said. “So Dana came out to live with me and train.”
He also detailed exactly when the project took place and how it ultimately never made it to production.
“It was before ‘Rockstar’, so it was in the 90s,” Wahlberg recalled. “I remember only because I auditioned for the movie. ‘Boogie Nights’ was premiering in Toronto, and I was filming ‘The Big Hit’, and I auditioned for the movie while I was filming ‘The Big Hit’.”
After landing the role, preparations began immediately.
“I got the part,” he said. “De Nirocalled me, said I got the part, and then we started training, and then the movie fell apart.”
Wahlberg also reflected on White’s career trajectory during that period and how his boxing expertise became valuable as mixed martial arts continued to evolve.
“I think he was still training other people,” Wahlberg said. “And I think he started training UFC athletes, because basically they were all wrestlers and stuff, so he was teaching them how to strike, because there were no rules.”
