The UFC world expected Dana White to talk about new fights, business strategies, and even a few controversies in his recent interview. But nobody expected him to grin and acknowledge how exciting it was to help bring down one of the world’s largest illegal streaming networks. The moment he said it, the room shifted.

This wasn’t Dana White, the promoter, anymore. This was Dana the hunter, informing everyone that he had been hiding in the shadows long before the collapse went public. When Streameast went dark in September, most fans figured it was just another piracy site caught in the standard whack-a-mole cycle. What they didn’t realize was that the hammer fell harder this time and from much higher up.

Dana White admits his role in Streameast shutdown

During an interview with Caleb Pressley, the UFC CEO revealed that he enjoys shutting down illegal streaming sites and had his hands behind the crackdown on Streameast. “Shutting down [illegal streaming sites] is one of my favorite things to do… We took it seriously and went after people.”

He didn’t temper it; he said it as if he was waiting for the moment when Streameast would finally collapse. And, based on the extent of the operation that followed, he was not exaggerating. This takedown was not a simple cease-and-desist. Europol, the US Department of Justice, the Office of the US Trade Representative, and the National IPR Center all worked together to uncover a multinational money laundering network.

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A massive raid in Egypt resulted in arrests and the seizure of laptops, cryptocurrency, cash, and real estate—the entire engine powering a site that received 1.6 billion hits in the last year alone. Those aren’t “pirates in a basement” numbers; they represent industrial-scale piracy. And Dana White had evidently been waiting for the right moment to press the button.

But outside the corporate bubble, the story becomes much more complicated. Illegal sports streaming didn’t blow up because fans suddenly became rebels; it became a lifeline. With worldwide media rights exceeding $60 billion, each league divided into separate subscriptions, and massive overlap forcing fans to pay for various services, younger and less affluent viewers turned to the only available choice.

For them, Streameast was more than just a pirate site; for many, it served as a workaround to a system that priced them out. And that’s where Dana White’s confession lands differently. Yes, he relished the takedown. Yes, it benefits the business. But even he must understand that removing Streameast will not stop the cause of its existence.

Piracy will not go away unless access gets simpler, cheaper, or more centralized; instead, it will shift, adapt, and hide again. And while the UFC CEO understands this, he simply prefers being the one who catches them. In fact, he loves playing the villain, as he simply laughed out loud when pressed on about the fighter pay issue.

White takes on the fighter pay allegations

So when the topic switched from piracy to fighter pay, Dana White responded with the same shrugging confidence. He didn’t change his attitude or provide an explanation; he dismissed it as something built into the sport. “That’s always going to be an issue,” he said, almost amused. When Caleb Pressley joked that fighters essentially pay him “five dollars for every hundred they make,” White didn’t correct him.

He laughed, “Sounds good to me.” Acknowledging the criticism without giving an inch. It is worth noting that the media got the same kind of answer back when the UFC had just signed the massive new TV deal with Paramount, one that nearly doubles its media revenue. Would fighters be getting paid twice as much? Well, as per the head honcho, there is no definitive answer.

“I can’t sit here and tell you if it’s double or triple,” Dana White said, “but fighter pay is gonna be good.” And to drive the point home, one can cite the names at the top: Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Jon Jones are fighters who have earned tens of millions of dollars, proving that the system already works.

But behind that highlight reel of success stories lies a reality many do not address: lots of fighters still enter the Octagon with $12,000 to show. They don’t have McGregor leverage, championship bonuses, or guaranteed money. And while Dana White is aware of this, he simply chooses to focus on the UFC’s biggest winners rather than its lowest earners. The criticism lingers, but his message remains the same: the machine will continue to run his way, with or without public approval.