For starters, I agree with IDRlabs that Dana White is an Se type, for similar reasons mentioned in IDRlabs' video (I have more examples of Se if anyone wants some). So very little needs to be said in that department.
Now, moving on to the more contentious aspects of this argument, I disagree with IDRlabs that Dana White is Fi-Te. Does the Fi argument stem from his passionate and non-conforming behavior? It's not a convincing one. (There's the argument that he's loyal to his friends and family and makes character judgments of others but that's also very flimsy). I don't think he repressed either F or T but I don't think he preferred F. One might argue that his Te is more "developed" than most ESFPs, possibly "muting" his Fi to some extent, but I don't agree with the notion that he extroverts Thinking. Of the 2 Thinking Functions it is my contention that he seems to prefer Ti over Te.
Why Ti over Te
On its own, Te types are more likely to trust external validity, but Ti types could reach that conclusion if it makes sense to them internally (and it does in a lot of cases). It's more about when push comes to shove, whether they rely on some kind of externally valid criteria or not. For example, consider if someone's citing of facts simply because they are facts (Te), or if those facts are only an addition to the core of their argument (Ti). It's important not to jump to the conclusion that someone has Te just because one cites statistics, as many people do so. The difference lies in the orientation and selection of the premises. So if we were to take the possibility of Dana White being a (somewhat conscious) Te user into consideration, in an argument does Dana White multiply facts, piling facts upon facts (Te) or does he value facts as proof of the idea (Ti)? (Here is the link to the interview of the following excerpt, if you're interested):
Interviewer: "Getting into the slap-fighting promotion. Um, not exactly how you probably envisioned working. ... Some good, some bad. A lot of you know, publicity, negative, your own issues as well. How is this playing forward into the next season? We saw promotions of it on there."
Dana White: "It's been incredible—the deal that I just cut for Slap is bigger than the UFC deal we cut with Spike TV after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. I don't give a shit what the media says about it—they don't matter."
I: "So, money-wise, it's working out, is what you're saying basically?"
DW: "It's fucking unbelievable! Not only is it unbelievable money-wise, it's been unbelievable as far as social media goes. We're number one in all of sports—and when I say all the sports, if you take the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, F1, WWE, and who am I forgetting, and added them all together, their numbers don't compare to Slap's."
I: "Um..."
DW: "Yeah."
I: "Seems a little doubtful."
DW: "Yeah, you can doubt it all you want."
I: "I mean I was covering for the finale of it and I saw the numbers on Rumble and there were people watching, but..."
DW: "There were people watching. It did 3.2 million viewers, and 1.7 million of them had never been to Rumble before."
I: "Well, I was one of those, for sure."
DW: "Thank you I appreciate it."
I: "But it certainly... that number didn't show up on that counter that Rumble had today."
DW: "But that's how it works when you stream. When streaming, it's not really the actual number right there. Um, it's the same thing when you go live on Instagram. ... I mean, we were the biggest stream on a Saturday for Slap. The good thing is that most of you guys don't understand social media and how it works."
In this case, while Dana White does cite some "statistics", such as the number of viewers for the Slap finale, he does so in a way that is more consistent with Ti's propensity to coerce the facts to support their internal ideas than Te's tendency to admit more and more facts. He subjectively selects instances of data (and omits certain prevailing facts that don't fit) in order to illustrate his inner idea. Now, Te is not slavish to external data but, all else being equal, they are more likely to give much more weight to it when making decisions so that, as IDRlabs has said, "their concepts are neither as flimsy nor as easy for others to reject as in the case of the Ti type."
Furthermore, this quote's description of Ti from "Teaching Jung" (which is in IDRlabs' article "Ten (Edited) Quotes About Cognitive Functions") very much (and self-evidently) applies to Dana White regarding his conception of Slap: “Extraverted thinking is interested in [data] that ‘holds true for everyone’ and proceeds to organize the external world [according to publicly] agreed definitions, whereas introverted thinking reflects on whether a particular construction [of the data] accords with the conviction of inner truth, regardless of what the received opinion might be.”
I would like to note that I don't believe that Fi is not the driving force behind this situation either. It's true that individuals with Fi>Te types can often cling to their opinions in the face of dissenting facts, but based on the reasons I mentioned earlier (along with the fact that this doesn't come across as a relatively heightened or developed sentimental evaluation either), this appears to be mainly an expression of (possibly unhealthy) Ti in my perspective.
Another potential example of him displaying a preference for Ti over Te:
White: “When you come in here on a Tuesday night, you have to make me say, ‘I have to have this guy or girl in the UFC.' You can be as talented as they come [but] this is your one shot, your one night. This sheet [of your stats] is all I know about you, I don’t read any of this before I walk in. When the fights happen, I see it. You show me tonight who you are. None of this [on the sheet] means [bleep] to me. This [sheet] means nothing to me. It’s great [that] you’re obviously here, you’ve got great records, you’ve done great things [but] show me tonight. On Tuesdays, it’s your night to show me what you are and what you’ve got. Make me say yes." [Source]
While many may say that the quote is mostly indicative of Se's preference for first-hand experience and swiftly grasping the immediate facts, another thing to consider is that he is neglecting statistical measurements (Te) in favor of his idea (Ti) in determining whether or not they have what it takes to be in the UFC. As IDRlabs has said, Ti "is fed from unconscious premises, governed by what is important to the individual" and that "Ti pursues the "theory & then leaves the facts on the table." One might say that this quote could be a good illustration of dominant Se with auxiliary Ti at play, where (like in many STPs) the Ti principle is dependent on Se, reality itself (in this context, the actual performance of a fighter in the octagon). In other words, the Ti in STPs is often practical and connected to the manifest elements of reality rather than being academic.
IDRlabs seems to attribute certain individuals with conscious Ti as being one's own worst critic (such as Amy Winehouse, Miles Davis, David Cronenberg, Charlotte Gainsbourg, etc.) judging by the quotes. I believe this is partly because of Jung's insight into Ti, which states: "Of paramount importance [to Ti] is the development ... of the ... image hovering darkly before the mind's eye, [it] wants to reach reality." With that said, it is essential to remember that correlation does not imply causation, and self-criticism can have various underlying reasons depending on the circumstances. Additionally, not all TP types exhibit self-critical tendencies. However, if the root of one's self-criticism aligns with Jung's description, then considering the role of Ti seems appropriate, which I think applies to Dana White here:
MMA Junkie: “I’m my own worst critic, and I got a lot of [Expletive] critics, believe me,” White said. “I’m a little disappointed that we missed the mark on this thing. I think as great as we did, we could have done better.” ... “I’m pissed off that we’re not the No. 1 gate in the history of this place,” White said. “That bums me out because I think we could have done it had we dialed it in right. But we’re going a million miles an hour, jumping on all these things. I’ve got this thing priced, ticket-wise, for the same price I’ve got L.A. priced for. [Expletive] stupid. We messed up here. I’m a little bummed out about that." ... “We missed the mark here,” White said. “But listen, one of the reporters from here just came up to me and said, ‘Let me tell you what – I want to tell you how proud I am of you. There isn’t anything that comes in here and does what you guys did tonight financially and with getting bodies here.’ The people from Nike were here tonight. All the big top-dogs from Nike were like, ‘You don’t come to a sporting event in Portland and see all these women here.’ Everybody’s telling me how successful this thing was and how great it was, but to me, I know personally we missed it and we could have done better.” [Source]
Here, we can observe that Dana White's inclination towards self-criticism is in line with Jung's excerpt of Ti, wanting the "image hovering darkly before the mind's eye [to] reach reality." He strives to align with the idea itself, as opposed to Te, which seeks to align with more and more facts and “organize the facts and everything else within reach”. Another thing to note is that while it is true that Fi also seeks to align with their internal evaluation, so to speak, but the driving force behind it is usually a desire for and a focus on inner harmony which I don't see in the quote.
Why possibly Ti over Fi:
Here's an example where he appears to be more Ti than Fi where he seems to be guided along the ideas by a process of logical elucidation and seems more focused on attacking the logic of others:
White: "I [continued the UFC during COVID because] didn't get it, I couldn't wrap my head around the whole COVID thing. I was like, 'Wait a minute, if this thing is as bad as they're saying it is, we're all dead anyway. Are we going to hide from a fucking virus?' Come on, man. You could go into a restaurant with a mask on, sit down, take your fucking mask off, eat, and then put it back on? Just a lot of little fucking details like that don't make sense. ... We can't go to work but we can protest, we can all get together in a fucking protest but we can't go to work? I could poke fucking Swiss cheese holes in the whole fucking thing." [Source]
Now, obviously (in the context of this specific quote) FP types are not incapable of attacking the logic of others and the like but I feel like this is one of the few instances where I feel Occam's Razor is appropriate considering the other points I made.
Possible Evidence for an Fe preference
White: "I have 450 employees that I have to take care of who have families that they have to take care of, and I've been building this sport for 23 years and I'm not afraid of this thing—you know what I mean? And I'm not laying off one employee, right. So most—a lot of these people in this building have been with me for 15 years or more, right. And the UFC ... has been a rocket ship of success since 2005, right. And I'm always telling them ‘I love you guys, this and that, we're a team, this and that’—the first time the shit hits the fan, I'm gonna start laying you people off in the scariest time in the history of the world? Uh-uh. This whole ship goes down, and we all go down together or not at all. … My employees are fucking scared. You know, [they're thinking] 'am I going to not get paid?' Some of them have kids, some of them are getting COVID—you know this type of shit’s happening. Mmm-mmm, not on my watch, brother. We're in this together. ... This is what I was telling my employees, right. [That] we're together [and that] we're going to get through this together." [Source]
Now, both Feeling functions have the ability to express this sentiment, as the difference between Fe and Fi does not stem from the contents the individual holds. However, all other factors being equal, individuals with a preference for Fe are more inclined to convey this viewpoint. This is because Fe, as highlighted by IDRlabs, "do[es] not subsume or reject the individual component that makes up the whole but aim to afford each its own place in the overall unity [that is] crafted. ... [Fe] gains an unaffected understanding of how relational situations may be steered towards a common good that allows everyone to participate in its organization on equal terms." Additionally, IDRlabs notes that a well-developed ESTP can utilize their Feeling function to establish a shared objective for an organization or group.
Additional Notes
This part might be the weakest part of my argument, as it focuses in a type's general tendencies rather than cognition, but it is still something I think should be considered. From IDRlabs' ESTP description, I have found several links between IDRlabs' ESTP description and the Rolling Stone's description of Dana White in their 2008 interview with him:
IDRlabs: "ESTPs are in many ways equipped with that extra savvy which allows them to do well in business as well as in life. ... Flexible and pragmatic, ESTPs typically see little need to do things 'by the book' - especially not if doing things 'outside of the book' will get greater results. ... ESTPs ... often have a strong charisma. They tend to have a way with people where they are extremely shrewd at connecting with them and convincing them of their plans. ... ESTPs are in many ways equipped with that extra savvy which allows them to do well in business as well as in life. ... [They have a] charming exterior."
Rolling Stone: "He’s taken mixed martial arts, a sport that was essentially moribund seven years ago ... and turned it into a moneymaking, crowd-frazzling sensation, a new heavyweight pay-per-view box-office champ. He accomplished this by using various business-savvy stratagems and dodges. ... How he did it really is by the force of his own multifaceted personality. At 38, he is profane, charming, ambitious, cunning, ... a whole lot of fun to hang around with, open like a book, closed like a fist." [Source]
I just have to say as a last note, and this may or may not be type related but, was the Fi-Te typing perhaps also based off of his perceived sincerity? Of course, I have to preface by saying that I do believe that, contrary to their "con-man" stereotype, many ESTPs are indeed frank (though it might also be true to say that there are also many ESTP who do have ulterior motives), and not all ESFP are wholly straightforward but even if we were to take that argument into consideration, Dana White is not nearly as sincere as he (or many other people for that matter) makes himself out to be, at least in relative terms. He is someone who lies with such conviction that he's often mistakenly called a straight shooter (and there is evidence if one wants some). He is much more shrewd than he appears at first glance. Just something to keep in mind.
