Joe Rogan, a longstanding UFC commentator and renowned podcaster, made his promotional debut at UFC 12 in 1997 – before Dana White’s tenure as UFC president.

And White’s loyalty towards Rogan had remained steadfast throughout the years.
Including the most recent controversy including Spotify.

The outcry for Rogan’s cancellation intensified, particularly as several music artists withdrew their catalogs from Spotify – which held an exclusive deal with Rogan at the time.

During a recent interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast, White explained how and why he stood up for Rogan even back then:

Anybody who is with me, has been with me, knows.
When you’re with me, you’re with me. It’s a two-way street. It’s not a one-way street.

I’m not one of these guys that is gonna roll over.
It’s like going through COVID. I wasn’t laying [off] any of these people.

Some of these people have been with me for 20 years. We’re gonna lay ‘em off?
This motherf*cker will burn, burn before I would do that to my people. It’s just never, none of that type of stuff is ever going to happen while I’m here.

I can’t say what’s gonna happen when I leave, but when I’m here, the people who are with me and have been with me they know exactly what’s up, and Joe knows what’s up.
It’s a two-way street.

Joe Rogan has been very loyal to me, and I am very loyal to Joe Rogan.

White revealed that Rogan provided commentary for the first 13 UFC events without compensation, back when the organization was still striving for profitability:

It’s a fact that he doesn’t care about money and he did the first 13 shows free for us.

That was at a time when we were hurting and he was, like: “Wait a minute. You want me to do the commentary? You’re saying I get to sit in the best seat in the house and watch these fights for free? Yeah, I’m in.”

Then, obviously, when he turned things around, we made it up to Joe, but Joe is one of the things I loved early about [the UFC].