UFC's Dana White shares real truth behind viral walkout moment from Howie Mandel's podcast
UFC CEO Dana White revealed the viral moment of him walking off Howie Mandel's podcast was staged.
Over the years, White has gone viral for various reasons related and unrelated to combat sports. In February, the 54-year-old received plenty of attention on social media for a brief appearance on Mandel's podcast, Howie Mandel Does Stuff, where he walked off the set after only a few minutes into the episode.
White recently appeared on Andrew Schulz's podcast, Flagrant, and confirmed Mandel asked him to create the viral moment to promote his podcast. He explained what led to the situation by saying this to Schulz:
"We're walking through [his podcast studio], and [Howie Mandel] goes 'Would you do me a favor?' I say, 'Yeah, what's up?' He's like, 'Would you come in and get up and walk off my podcast?' I go, 'I would be f*cking honored to walk off your podcast because I'm so f*cking sick of doing podcasts.'"
Watch the video from earlier this year of Dana White leaving Mandel's podcast:
Dana White explains why he revealed the truth of Howie Mandel podcast situation
Once Howie Mandel released the podcast, there weren't many speculations of the footage being staged. Most people believed Dana White had genuinely given up on doing podcasts, as he makes frequent appearances on various shows.
While speaking to Andrew Schulz on Howie Mandel Does Stuff, the UFC CEO explained why he revealed the viral moment was fake:
"We go in there and do it, right, and he's like, 'Take this to the grave.' I said, 'Done, I'll take it to the grave.' I'm walking around, I go do this thing with the Nelk Boys. We're doing this monkey bomb tour and the whole f*cking crowd starts chanting 'F*ck Howie Mandel.' I go, 'Woah, woah, woah, timeout, I can't do this.' Howie Mandel is the greatest f*cking dude ever."
At the end of the day, White and Mandel have established a positive relationship after meeting at the latter's podcast studio. It'll be intriguing to see if they reunite in the future and record an entire podcast episode without any skits.
Watch White discuss the viral moment below: