UFC CEO Dana White originally wanted ‘nothing to do with’ Brock Lesnar

Following an extremely successful WWE run from 2002 to 2004, Brock Lesnar became one of the most talked-about athletes in the country. Shortly after his successful and expensive WWE run, Lesnar jumped ship to the NFL, before moving to Japan for another wrestling career.

However, after trying his hand at different sports, Lesnar settled in MMA and UFC. His UFC run began with a loss in 2008 against Frank Mir. Despite losing, Lesnar was offered a new contract. However, he did not enjoy a seamless and smooth run when trying out for a UFC career originally.

Speaking on the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Lesnar revealed that UFC President Dana White “wanted nothing to do with” Lesnar. “Dana White wanted nothing to do with me,” Lesnar said. “He wouldn’t return my phone call.”

“So what happened was I fought at the LA Coliseum for K-1 Dynamite. And then I wanted to get into the big leagues. And there was only one big league at the time, it was UFC. So my team reached out and wanted to do something with the UFC,” Lesnar said. “So I said, screw it, and I bought four nosebleed tickets to the MGM Grand, where Randy Couture was headlining against Gabriel Gonzaga for the Heavyweight championship. I sat there in the stands through the entire event, and as soon as Randy won that fight, I scaled the security railing, ran to the Octagon, grabbed Dana, and I introduced myself. I said, I’m Brock Lesnar and we went to the back, and he says, well, listen, I’ll give you a shot.”

Brock Lesnar talks getting a deal with the UFC and how Dana White wanted nothing to do with him at first.

Full podcast here:https://t.co/87F6B0qAbT pic.twitter.com/oTTU7JFROP

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 24, 2026

Brock Lesnar’s rise in UFC

His shot came against the MMA veteran, Frank Mir. While Lesnar lost against Mir, there still remained hope for him. “I went back to the locker room, and I was like, I screwed it up,” Lesnar said. “And then Dana comes in. He’s like — because they know the pay-per-views buys instantly, right? So the numbers must have been really, really good— Dana is like, ‘No, you’re not done.’ And then the next day, we negotiated a real contract.”

Negotiations soon led to a full contract, and Lesnar later went on to become UFC heavyweight champion by defeating Randy Couture at UFC 91.

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