Dana White Makes a Cameo in 2024 Super Bowl Ad for Bud Light

Getty Dana White salutes a Las Vegas crowd in 2021.

UFC boss Dana White stars in a new 2024 Super Bowl commercial that dropped Tuesday, February 6.

The ad was released days before the February 11 Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.

The ad, which will air during the game, opens with a football fan opening his refrigerator to find a bottle of Bud Light shaking inside it. The “Bud Light Genie” then appears amid a puff of smoke to grant the wishes of the fan and his friends, who ask for a big bicep, a limousine ride and a seemingly infinite supply of Bud Lights for patrons at a crowded bar where the genie has granted them entry.

The fan and his friends also wish for Peyton Manning as a best friend, Post Malone to appear at the bar and, of course, a wish to attend a UFC fight. That’s where White enters the ad.

“It was an absolute blast to be a part of Bud Light’s Super Bowl commercial this year,” said White in a statement, according to MMA Fighting.

“Anheuser-Busch and the Super Bowl are two of the biggest American brands in the world. The cast, the director and Peyton were fun to work with and it was such an incredible way to kick off my new partnership with AB and Bud Light.”

UFC & Bud Light Have a Preexisting Relationship

Bud Light reunited with UFC in January 2024 in a deal worth more than $100 million, SportsProMedia reported in October 2023, ushering in AB InBev as the official global beer partner for the market-leading MMA firm.

“Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light were UFC’s original beer sponsors more than 15 years ago,” White said at the time. “I’m proud to announce we are back in business together.”

He added: “There are many reasons why I chose to go with Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light, most importantly because I feel we are very aligned when it comes to our core values and what the UFC brand stands for.

“I’m looking forward to all of the incredible things we will do in the years ahead.”

The contract will run for six years and is the MMA promotion’s “largest ever on a per-year basis,” SportsProMedia said.

The deal arrived less than a year after the beer brand aligned with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, leading to boycotts from right-wing figures. In a video, Kid Rock famously shot a case of Bud Light with a machine gun.

Bud Light sales declined after the boycott, and UFC also faced criticism on social media for aligning with Bud Light, according to Newsweek.

“When it comes to Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light, everybody talks about, ‘Oh you did it for money!’ Hey, dummies, all sponsorship deals are about money.” White told Heavy and other reporters in October last year. “I am more aligned with Anheuser-Busch than any of the other beer companies that were offering to pay us money.”

Dana White’s Cameo Isn’t the UFC Figure at the Big Game

Prior to White’s performance for the beer brand, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer also got in on the act.

Buffer — long-regarded as one of the voices for MMA because of the energetic way he introduces fighters — introduced the competing teams to much fanfare at Super Bowl opening night February 5 at Allegiant Stadium.

Here’s his intro for the reigning defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs: