Dana White used his close links to Donald Trump to clear up Tyson Fury’s via issues. Tyson Fury’s return to the U.S. has a familiar face behind it, according to the boxer: Dana White. After being refused permission to board a flight to America in 2022, Fury turned up at the UFC’s White House event in June and is now training in Florida for his fight with Anthony Joshua. He says White helped clear the way by taking the problem directly to his longtime friend, President Donald Trump.
Tyson Fury says his return to the United States came down to Dana White putting his visa problem in front of President Donald Trump. “It all got done through Dana, on Donald Trump’s table,” Fury told The Ring’s Mike Coppinger. In Fury’s telling, Trump responded: “Bang. Tyson’s a great guy. Come on in.” Fury laughed, then added, “That’s how G’s go, innit? They make s— happen.”
Tyson Fury Says Dana White Put His Visa Issue on Trump’s Desk
He was describing what he says happened, rather than quoting a statement issued by the president. The issue dates back to June 2022, when Fury was refused permission to board a flight from Manchester to the U.S. RTE reported at the time that the refusal was understood to be connected to his links with Daniel Kinahan, who had been sanctioned by the U.S. government over alleged organised-crime activity. Fury has denied having business dealings with Kinahan. The precise grounds for Fury’s travel restriction, and how it was resolved, have not been publicly confirmed in the material reviewed for this report.
Fury reappeared in the U.S. at June’s UFC event on the White House lawn, where he was a special guest. He told The Ring he received a prominent walkout despite having no fight on the card. Now he is training in Delray Beach, Florida, with SugarHill Steward as he prepares to face Anthony Joshua. The return followed nearly four years after the reported airport refusal, rather than five full years.
White’s route to Trump’s attention is plausible given their long friendship. White has described Trump as one of his closest friends; Trump’s casino supported UFC events early in the promotion’s history, and White spoke at Republican National Conventions on his behalf.
There are multiple documented examples of Trump using presidential power in ways that benefit allies and people with influential advocates. Pardons are the clearest case: AP has described a pattern in which prominent supporters and people championed by Trump’s friends have had an advantage, while a Reuters investigation found that access to influential advocates played a substantial role in second-term clemency decisions. That makes Fury’s story plausible. White has the kind of access to Trump that few sports executives can claim. Fury says he put that access to work.
There is a second White-shaped argument surrounding Fury. Netflix says White and Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring will collaborate to promote Fury-Joshua, scheduled for December 11 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and set to stream on Netflix.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn disputes White’s role, saying the fight contracts prevent it. Fury has sided publicly with White, while the fighters went ahead with their London launch press conference on September 30. White did not attend.
So White has become part of the build-up in two ways: Fury credits him with helping him back into America, and his proposed role in the Joshua fight remains contested. Fury’s story offers a striking glimpse of how he believes access to Trump worked.
