Shortly after taking over the reins of Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001, Dana White had a big problem. No one wanted to host his event.
The cage cockfighting competition has come under increasing pressure from political figures including the late Arizona senator John McCain, who has called it “human cockfighting” while lobbying state governors to ban it. he sneered.
But Donald Trump, who was trying to increase foot traffic to his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, came to the rescue. The venue quickly hosted two fight nights and has since established a close relationship between the two as the UFC began a 20-year journey to becoming one of the most popular venues in global sports. continues.
“I consider Donald Trump one of my very, very good friends,” White said on Lex Fridman’s podcast last year. “He’s the biggest fight fan on the planet.”
This week, as Silicon Valley seeks to foster ties with the incoming Trump administration, White teamed up with fellow self-proclaimed fight buff Mark Zuckerberg to announce the 55-year-old UFC director’s appointment to Meta’s board of directors. agreed.
“I had no interest in joining the Meta board until I received an offer to join the board,” White said. White once tried to organize a cage match between the Facebook founder and another Trump ally, Elon Musk. “I strongly believe that social media and AI are the future.”
Born in Connecticut, White moved to Las Vegas as a child after her mother, a nurse, was offered a job there. He dropped out of college twice and worked as a bouncer before starting training boxers and leading fitness classes at a Boston gym.
After being threatened by notorious local mob boss Whitey Bulger, he returns to Las Vegas, a city that suits his gambling habit (he once lost $3 million in one night playing cards).
White, 28, foul-mouthed and strong-willed, fell in love with mixed martial arts while studying jiu-jitsu. His instructor was a UFC fighter and introduced him to fellow trainees Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. White continued to manage the pair, and both became UFC champions.
While negotiating a contract with one of his fighters, White realized that the UFC was short on funds and persuaded his longtime friends, the Fertitta brothers, the wealthy owners of the Station Casino, to help him with the financial crisis. He persuaded the company to buy the business, which was in trouble, for $2 million. He describes his early years as the “Wild West,” with death threats sent from rival promoters and the global MMA scene rife with corruption and crime.
But amidst the chaos, there was also opportunity. White believes that physical combat is an innate part of human nature, and that those who have never experienced combat are disconnected from the real world. He describes being pinned to the ground during a sparring match as “the most humbling and daunting experience, especially as a man.” He believes that if two people start fighting in the street, people will naturally be fascinated by the graphic violence and want to watch it.
Millions of people agree with him. Under his leadership, the UFC grew into one of the most successful businesses in sports, with multibillion-dollar television deals and sold-out shows around the world.
In its early years, the UFC was shunned from mainstream media, forcing it to make an early foray into streaming and helping build a massive online community. His YouTube channel currently has around 20 million subscribers, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan is now the world’s top podcaster. Along the way, the UFC developed rival competitions, expanded internationally and introduced women’s competition.
The Fertitta brothers sold it to entertainment group Endeavor and private equity firm Group in 2016 for $4 billion. When it merged with WWE in 2023 to form New York-listed TKO, the company was valued at $12 billion. That year, the UFC reported revenue of $1.3 billion. Negotiations are progressing on a new bumper television deal with ESPN.
White still runs the UFC as president and CEO and is also the owner of Power Slap, a television contest in which participants slap each other in the face.
“You can’t underestimate the power of Dana White. We’ve never seen anything like this,” TKO chairman Mark Shapiro told the Financial Times. “All kinds of talent gravitate to him.”
As the UFC’s bombastic frontman, White has cultivated a persona of being outspoken and unapologetic, with occasional exceptions. After he was filmed slapping his wife of nearly 30 years during an argument in a nightclub in 2023, he said: “There’s never an excuse for a man to touch a woman,” adding: “No matter what people say…” spoke. . . I deserve it. ”
There are calls in Washington for White to join the new administration. In his victory speech on election night, President Trump personally thanked him for his support and called him a “tough guy.” But White has so far rejected the idea of entering politics, which is “the dirtiest, worst thing on the planet.”
The key to the UFC’s success was its structure. The company has tight control over hundreds of fighter contracts and can decide who fights whom, in contrast to the highly fragmented world of boxing.
The UFC was also one of the first sports to recognize the importance of storytelling. Three years after the acquisition by the Fertitta brothers, the business was still bleeding money. The popular reality show “The Ultimate Fighter,” which follows mixed martial arts fighters who live together in a Las Vegas home, helped turn things around. The model of using behind-the-scenes documentaries to create stars and drama has been widely imitated to varying degrees in Formula One, golf, tennis, and more.
When the pandemic shut down sports around the world, White chose a different path. He did not lay off any employees or cut their salaries, instead focusing on getting the fight back up and running as soon as possible. The result was the Fight Island venue, built in an Abu Dhabi theme park, where the UFC produced fights, initially without spectators, starting in July 2020.
During the pandemic, White embraced “biohacking” under the guidance of biologist and podcaster Gary Brecka. Brecka believes he has changed his life by curing long-term illnesses such as sleep apnea and leg pain.
White, who also follows a ketogenic diet, has become an evangelist for a “superhuman protocol” that involves lying on an electromagnetic mat, cold plunges, oxygen therapy, and red light therapy, and never visits a doctor. I have vowed not to accept it. Once again about his general health.
“I feel like I’m 25 years old,” he said in a 2023 video posted to the UFC’s YouTube channel.
