UFC president Dana White finally addressed that wacky Bieber vs. Cruise situation, and he took it more seriously than it deserved.
Justin Bieber vs. Tom Cruise. It’s the nonsense celebrity match-up we never knew we needed until Bieber suggested it on Twitter last week. But once he put it out there, the idea took on a life of its own. Other celebrities weighed in. Conor McGregor suggested it go down under his McGregor Sports and Entertainment banner. It was all pretty silly.
But in a recent interview with LVSportsBiz’s Guerilla Cross Radio, UFC president Dana White finally weighed in on the subject, and he actually took it semi-seriously.
”I didn’t know if it was real or not,” he said when asked about the proposed match-up. “I still don’t know if it’s real. Everybody is talking about it, but Justin hasn’t contacted me.”
”Listen, first of all, maybe Justin Bieber wants to fight Tom Cruise for whatever reason. I highly doubt Tom Cruise wants to fight Justin Bieber. I’m 50, I think Tom Cruise is 56. I don’t think anyone who’s 56 is looking to fight anybody. But I’ll tell you this, if Justin Bieber wants to fight Tom Cruise, and Tom Cruise wants to fight Justin Bieber, we can talk.”
In the past, White has taken a pretty negative attitude towards celebrities and even other pro athletes posturing for a UFC position. Old Dana shut down a serious proposal from Shaq to fight Jose Canseco. Old Dana said if he signed Herschel Walker, the football great would be the first death in the UFC. Old Dana was no fun.
New Dana still has CM Punk under contract – even if he’s unwilling to go full freakshow and book him against someone interesting. And while he’s not willing to sell out the UFC’s integrity for Logan Paul level celebrities, we now have evidence that if the names are big enough White may actually consider it.
Alas, the Biebs has already poured cold water on the fight, admitting it was all just random internet trolling.
“I was just playing,” Bieber told TMZ. “It was just a random tweet. I do that stuff sometimes. I think he would probably whoop my ass in a fight. He’s got that dad strength.”