Dana White responds to Floyd Mayweather’s surprising on-stage apology

NEW YORK — Floyd Mayweather has been tearing Conor McGregor down verbally for three days. But, at the same time, “Money May” has been building up Dana White.

On all three stops of the MayMac World Tour this week, Mayweather has addressed White on stage, giving him tons of props for helping to make the UFC the global powerhouse it is today. On Wednesday in Toronto, Mayweather went a step even further, apologizing to White for past remarks he’s made about him.

White was asked about that whole situation Thursday in New York before the third leg of the wild and wooly World Tour. He wasn’t expecting the words from Mayweather, either.

“To be honest with you, everything he said about he and I is true, how long we’ve known each other and everything else,” White said. “This is the fight business. I don’t take any of that personal. I don’t take any of that stuff personal. I never felt like I was owed any type of apology from Floyd, but it was nice of him to do.”

Mayweather slammed White as recently as January, calling him the guy “used to carry my bags” and referring to White as a “small boss” compared to the Fertitta brothers in the UFC.

On stage in Toronto, Mayweather attempted to make amends for those words and other shots he might have taken at White over the years. White has certainly crapped on Mayweather on multiple occasions as well.

“Dana, I could never disrespect you,” Mayweather said. “I’ve known you for 21 years. You’ve done a hell of a job with this company. And I want to continue to watch you grow. I want to watch you continue to build the UFC, because it’s all about combat sports. You’ve done a hell of a job. No matter what I’ve said about you in the past, as a man I look in your face and apologize and tell you I’m sorry. But you’ve done a hell of a job with this company.”

No hard feelings, White said. In fact, talking crap like Mayweather does is what has made him and Conor McGregor so famous. The two will meet in a boxing match Aug. 26 in Las Vegas.

“When we were talking about this fight, the one thing that everybody said was, ‘Can you imagine how exciting the press conference is going to be?’” White said. “If you look at Floyd … I stopped calling it 24/7. I called it The Floyd Mayweather Show. If Floyd Mayweather wasn’t on 24/7, it wasn’t interesting. And Conor McGregor, two of the best shit talkers in both sports.”

When asked if these tour stops have taken a page from WWE and pro wrestling, White said this is just how Mayweather and McGregor are.

“I don’t think it’s from the WWE playbook, it’s both of their personalities,” White said. “If I had two other guys that were promoting this fight, neither one of them could hang with either one of these guys when it comes to the shit talking. That’s what these guys are known for. Obviously they’re both great fighters, but what they’re really well known for is their level of shit talk. You couldn’t just say let’s take a page out of the WWE playbook, because some guys have it, most guys do not.”

So if Mayweather slammed White a few times in the past, that’s just rolling down the UFC boss’s back, he said. After all, White is admittedly no stranger to pointed words about others.

“But yeah, this is the fight business, man,” White said. “Who talks more shit about people than I do? I can take it.”