“Degenerate” Gambler Dana White Risked $600,000 Putting Joe Rogan Into Anxiety as JRE Host Confesses to Luke Bryan

Due to his gambling habits, UFC head coach Dana White has made headlines on a number of occasions. From joining the Nelk Brothers for their live gambling sessions to getting unofficially barred from casinos for winning absurd sums of money, White’s gambling addiction has surely taken him on several adventures, including losing three million dollars.

But it’s not as if the 54-year-old isn’t aware of his gambling obsession. White claims that he is aware of the problem, but he believes it is not as bad as it seems because he has won millions of dollars playing these games. However, Joe Rogan would surely like to disagree with his friend. In Joe Rogan Experience # 2216, Rogan sat down with country singer/songwriter Luke Bryan as he revealed an anxious moment he witnessed when he saw Dana White gambling once.

Joe Rogan started off by calling Dana White a “real degenerate.” for his habits. “I’m good friends with Dana White, and uh, Dana’s a.. he’s a real degenerate.” However, he had good reason to believe so. The UFC commentator revealed an incident to Luke Bryan where he visited the UFC Head Honcho while he was gambling. And much to his surprise, White was already losing $600,000. But rather than calling it quits, the UFC boss also asks Taylor Lewan to join the table, and within minutes they’re down to $120,000.

The JRE host said, “Well, Jamie and I went to visit—we went with Shane Gillis and a bunch of other guys to visit Dana while he was gambling. When we got there, he was down $600,000, and I was like, What is happening here? I was getting anxiety just sitting there watching. Then Taylor Lewan came over, and Dana and Taylor have this deal where Dana teaches Taylor what to gamble and how to do it. They’re down $120,000 in, what, five minutes? Five minutes, and they’re down 120 grand, and I’m just sitting there going—what the—look, Dana is rich as s**t. I know Taylor is wealthy, but there’s a level where losing $125,000 is still $125,000.”

Well, it surely looks like White is open to taking risks when he is at the gambling table. $125,000 is surely a major amount. So it was no wonder that even Joe Rogan felt anxious about White losing that kind of money. And maybe that’s why White is also often called out by other sporting personalities for underpaying his UFC fighters, especially when he is losing out such high amounts in mere minutes. Something that irked boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

Oscar de la Hoya calls Dana White a miser

By now everyone is aware of the enmity between boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya and UFC President Dana White. The two often butt heads on social media, and the exchange of words that both have on social media truly indicates that there is bad blood between the two. It all started after finishing the main event of UFC 266, where Alexander Volkanovski retained his featherweight title against Brian Ortega.

De La Hoya sent a message on his social networks lashing out at Dana White, specifically pointing out the low salaries they give fighters. The boxing promoter claimed that despite winning a brutal battle in the UFC, ‘Volk’ will only make 1/20th of Dana White’s net worth. Even YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul constantly called out Dana White for underpaying his fighters, something that according to him led to a ban from UFC events.

What makes matters worse is that during his appearance at the Lex Fridman Podcast, the UFC head honcho revealed that he forgot he lost $3 million playing blackjack. And this isn’t the only incident since White also once lost $6 million in blackjack back in 2023. This surely infuriates fans and other sportspeople alike as they believe the amount truly could’ve been distributed among the fighters instead. But what do you think? Is White actually underpaying his fighters? Let us know in the comments.