{"id":58911,"date":"2023-12-06T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=58911"},"modified":"2023-12-07T18:48:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T18:48:42","slug":"ufc-president-thrills-fans-during-meet-greet-at-fort-cavazos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=58911","title":{"rendered":"UFC president thrills fans during meet, greet at Fort Cavazos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n UFC President Dana White shakes hands with retired Sgt. Osvaldo Gierbolini during a meet and greet event Nov. 30 at the Fort Cavazos Main Exchange. (U.S. Army photo by Shawn Davis, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs)
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 <\/strong>Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White delighted UFC fans in uniform during a meet and greet event Nov. 30 at the Fort Cavazos Main Exchange here.<\/p>\n

White was in the Central Texas area for the UFC Lightweight bout Dec. 2 at Moody Center in Austin, Texas, and stopped by Fort Cavazos to visit with Soldiers before he made his way south.<\/p>\n

The crew from Fort Cavazos\u2019 Great Big Podcast sat down with White to talk about his steadfast dedication to the armed forces and his philosophy on life and success.<\/p>\n

White began with a declaration of his support for the military that would echo throughout the remainder of the podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a huge military and law enforcement guy so anytime that I can ever do anything, no matter what it is, I\u2019m all in,\u201d he expressed. \u201cThe level of respect that I have for military personnel, it\u2019s unexplainable. I\u2019ll probably say it 30 times during this podcast, I love the military. I have so much respect for people who defend this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how it felt to be at Fort Cavazos, White replied, \u201cTo meet the people who actually are here, doing it and willing to defend our country, there\u2019s no place that I would rather be than here today meeting them and shaking their hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the people that are the real heroes and the real superheroes,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen you are willing to dedicate a massive portion of your life, and sometimes your entire life, to protecting others and protecting your country, it\u2019s one of the things that I respect the most in a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n

White recounted the early days of trying to establish the UFC and the mantra that inspired him then and still pushes him to achieve great things today.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople thought it was crazy, what I wanted to do. The idea of going head-to-head with boxing. Boxing was massive and was sort of cemented in over a hundred years of history in the United States, and when you say that you want to start what I wanted to start and do what I wanted to do, it seemed impossible and could never be done. Nothing is impossible and everything can be done,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople out there who have an idea and it seems too big and it seems too crazy and other people think you\u2019re nuts, none of that\u2019s true,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnything is possible and anything can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

White talked about his work with the Fisher House and his immense respect for the organization and its efforts to support the military.<\/p>\n

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\n Spc. Trey Thacker, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, poses with Dana White during a meet and greet Nov. 30 at the Fort Cavazos Main Exchange. (Courtesy photo)
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\u201cWe\u2019re huge supporters and I don\u2019t know if anybody\u2019s done more than the Fisher family for the military,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Before wrapping up the podcast, White reiterated his support for service members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would literally do anything,\u201d he asserted. \u201cI met a couple of guys here today and I gave them my cell phone number already, I\u2019ve been here 10 minutes \u2026 you know if you ever need anything from me or the UFC, whether it\u2019s fundraising, people showing up to bases or any type of support that we could possibly give, I\u2019m your guy, I\u2019m all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spc. David Briseno, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, was one of a group of Soldiers who met White and took photos with him before the meet and greet.<\/p>\n

Briseno recounted memories of watching UFC bouts on television with his father and seeing White ringside. He said he never imagined meeting him and described the encounter as, \u201ctruly a once in a lifetime experience for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese big people in Hollywood, they care about guys and girls like us,\u201d he said. \u201cThat truly makes us feel special and makes us really want to keep working and doing our best to protect this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spc. Falecia Long, 1st Bn., 9th Cav. Regt., agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes you feel special,\u201d she expressed. \u201cI think it\u2019s cool that he supports everything that we do. There\u2019s a lot of people that support the military, but it was nice to have someone that\u2019s super big to be like, \u2018You guys are doing great stuff.\u2019 It made me feel important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dressed in a black t-shirt with green letters that read \u201cARMY,\u201d White\u2019s appreciation of the armed forces and his humble and friendly demeanor were on full display as he posed for photos and laughed and talked with Fort Cavazos leadership, Soldiers, Main Exchange staff and VIP guests before greeting throngs of fans awaiting his entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just outside and there\u2019s a line probably a hundred yards long of Soldiers in uniform, out of uniform, waiting patiently to come see him,\u201d said Col. Kevin Brown, command engineer, Army and Air Force Exchange Service.<\/p>\n

Brown explained that White\u2019s visit embodied AAFES\u2019 long-standing slogan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAAFES, we go where you go, and this is one time he came where we are,\u201d he said. \u201cFor Mr. White to come here and meet our Soldiers and family members in our main store, is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown added that the event was a great way to usher in the holidays for Soldiers and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really good morale boost for the beginning of the holiday season,\u201d he conveyed. \u201cThey have something here to kind of break up the monotony, to give them something to look forward to and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC President Dana White shakes hands with retired Sgt. Osvaldo Gierbolini during a meet and greet event Nov. 30 at the Fort Cavazos Main Exchange. (U.S. Army photo by Shawn Davis, Fort Cavazos Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL FORT CAVAZOS, Texas \u2014 Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White delighted UFC fans in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58913,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58916,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58911\/revisions\/58916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}