The potential partnership between the UFC and renowned trainer Trevor Wittman has been discussed for years, and UFC CEO Dana White shed more light on why the deal never materialized following a recent event at the Apex.
The topic resurfaced after Wittman revealed during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience that UFC executive Hunter Campbell had contacted him about the possibility of bringing his gloves to the promotion.
Asked about those comments during the post-event press conference, White confirmed that discussions with Wittman date back much further.
“We’ve been talking to Trevor for years,” White said.
He explained that the connection was initially made through former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.
“Rashad Evans, whom I love and respect, came to me and said, ‘Hey, listen. I’m invested in this thing. I want to introduce our glove to the UFC, that Trevor built,'” White recalled.
Praising Wittman’s reputation as an innovator, White added, “All those guys like Trevor’s a genius. He makes these bags and his gloves.”
According to White, he was enthusiastic about the idea from the beginning and instructed his team to make it happen.
“I literally told my finance team, ‘Get this deal done. I don’t care what it takes. Get the deal done,'” he said.
Despite that directive, negotiations eventually hit a wall over the financial terms being requested by Wittman’s side.
“They wanted like a hundred million for the glove,” White said. “How many gloves you got to sell to make a hundred million? It’s impossible.”
As a result, White said, “So the deal never happened.”
White also praised the UFC executive responsible for handling the negotiations, saying she did everything possible to try and reach an agreement.
The girl who runs that department, is a brilliant woman. Brilliant,” White said. “She came back to me like cross-eyed, like ‘I can’t get a deal done with these guys.'”
White emphasized that his interest in the partnership wasn’t purely business-related, noting that he wanted to help Evans, who had introduced the concept to him.
“I was already… I mean, that deal should have been done a few years ago,” White said. “I wanted to do that for Rashad.”
When asked whether he believed an agreement could still be reached in the future, White didn’t sound optimistic.
“I am not confident at all,” he said.
He then ended the discussion with a joke about just how far apart the two sides remain.
“We’ll fight in the Colosseum before that deal gets done,” White said with a laugh. “It’s almost the same money.”
