Tony Khan Shares Voicemail He Received From UFC’s Dana White

AEW's Tony Khan says he and UFC President Dana White became friends earlier this year. He says the two got to know one another while White was in Jacksonville for a UFC show in April.

"We were, like, actually in adjacent bubbles," Khan told My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox. "Because at one point there was a hotel that basically was split up between AEW and UFC on different parts of this biggest hotel in the region. And so there was a lot of conference space and rooms. We had set up bubbles in different parts of this hotel, did our testing, and did all that stuff and that was pretty cool."

At the time, AEW was still running all of its shows at Daily's Place. UFC's show in Jacksonville last April was the first full-capacity major indoor sporting event to follow the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was cool getting to know Dana and become friends with him," Khan recalled. "And they have such an amazing promotion, UFC."

Tony Khan shared a voicemail he received from Dana White after White learned that Khan had won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Promoter Of The Year award for 2020. White has won the award eleven times, from 2005-2013 and in 2015 & 2016.

"Today Dave Meltzer wrote a story about me going to Jacksonville," White is heard saying in the voicemail. "And he's like, obviously completely against it. And he says, 'For all the people that were bitchin' and wondering why Dana White didn't win Promoter Of The Year last year, now you know'. And I'm like, 'If I didn't win, who the f*ck won?' I looked it up and it was you. I was like, 'Well, if somebody's gonna win it, let it be f**kin' Tony'."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.