Dana White: Going to get UFC back on track over next few months
Tim Marchman: What are you looking at? Dana White: First of all, there’re things going on that I’m unhappy with,…
Tim Marchman: What are you looking at?
Dana White: First of all, there’re things going on that I’m unhappy with, here at the company, that we’re going to fix and change over the next few months, and you’re going to see us get back on track here in the next few months. As you start to get bigger and you start to expand into all these different places, and you’re working on all these crazy deals, things start to get out of control. I’m going to get some more control around here in the next three months. And that includes my business as a whole, my actual office and employees and departments, right down to s— that’s going on with the fighters.
TM: If we’re looking at the high-water mark being UFC 100 and that run of huge shows coming off that, it seems like the level’s dropped a little bit over maybe the last year.
DFW: The last year? We just did 55,000 people in Toronto a couple of months ago!
TM: That’s true, big fights have been big, but the month-to-month pay-per-view numbers seem to be down a little bit, TV numbers seem to be down a little bit.
DFW: If you look at the economy right now, all right, the economy is not getting better. The economy is getting worse. Nobody’s out there going, “Wow, look at how things are picking up and things are really…” It’s bad. First of all, if you talk to these venues, all these concerts, you know, these concert acts. Nobody’s selling tickets. They’re canceling shows left and right. They’re canceling full tours, you know? Duran Duran was supposed to tour this summer, they cancelled the entire tour. It’s crazy out there right now, man. And in this economy right now, we’re still kicking ass.
People were talking about the TV numbers being down last year, let’s be honest. The season of The Ultimate Fighter with Brock [Lesnar] and Junior [dos Santos] wasn’t as exciting as everybody thought it was going to be. And not only that, the fights sucked, right? We still never went below 1.1 million viewers. You ask anybody in television, they’ll tell you those are outstanding numbers for cable.
You know how many cable shows out there wish they were pulling 1.1 million viewers? A lot of them. Right? Then as far as, as many shows as we’re doing, and as much as we get around, believe me. We’re doing just fine. Everything’s great, considering. You’ve got to look at more factors. Trust me, we’re far from losing steam, and I’ve already admitted and said to you on the call, there’s some things that we need to tweak around here, and there’s some work that needs to be done in this office over the next three months. And mark my words, it will be done, and you will see what I’m talking about over the next six months.
TM: Do you think the presentation needs to change? Are there too many shows being booked?
DFW: Yeah, no. There aren’t enough shows. The question isn’t are we doing too many shows, there’s going to be more. We’re going to be doing more shows. We’re going to be doing The Ultimate Fighter in other countries. There’s going to be a fight — let’s say we’ve got this fight August 6 in Philly, right? There’s going to be a day very soon where we’re doing a fight August 6th in Philly, and Australia, and Germany. You know, there could be three shows going on at the same time.
TM: What do you think the future of pay-per-view is? Do you think it will be viable in five years?
DFW: Yeah. Yeah, not only do I think it’s going to be viable, I think it’s going to be bigger. I think it’s going to be much bigger. My philosophy has always been, and the way that this company has always been built, is that everybody will be watching TV on the Internet. That’s what I truly believe. Not only do I think you’re going to be watching TV on the Internet, but your computer and television are going to be one. And you’ll be able to watch what you want to watch on television, and you’ll be able to talk to people almost like social media through the television while you’re watching whatever you’re watching, OK?
Right now for me, as far as I’m concerned, the ceiling, when you ask about a ceiling for pay-per-view, for the fight business, it’s about 2.4 million. And I think that number’s even bigger.
TM: It seems as if you’re really positive about things. There’s definitely been some negativity going on with hardcore fans, if you want to put it that way.
DFW: Dude, there’s been negativity from hardcore fans since the day we bought this company. If you listen to those idiots, we wouldn’t even be where we are today. What I call the hardcore fans, it’s such a small segment. This negative population. You can’t listen to hardcore fans. You can’t do it. We wouldn’t even be where we are today if it was up to the hardcore fans.
TM: With that said, as far as the sport getting as big as it can be, when you’ve got a commissioner who’s the way you are and is pretty aggressive, or however you want to put it, how do you think that plays into the sport expanding?
DFW: I think it’s good to have someone aggressive in there. I think it’s good to have someone who completely believes in this sport and what it’s capable of becoming. Let me tell you what. There’s been a lot of people, lot of smart people, lot of people who are a lot smarter than me, who’ve tried to get into this business and had all the money and all the other s— to do it, and couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it! Couldn’t make it work. Right? Well, that ain’t me. Ain’t me.
TM: So you’d say results speak for themselves.
DFW: Yeah, I do, and get ready, because there’s going to be a lot more coming very soon. Yup. Listen, you don’t have to love me, man. I’m not asking for anybody to love me. I’m not asking. I’m not looking for any more friends, not looking for anybody else to be screaming my name from the rooftops. I really don’t give a s— what anybody thinks, you know what I mean? I know what we’re doing, I know where we’re going, and over the next several years I’m going to be the guy to do it, whether you like it not.
TM: So you’re talking about big developments in the next six months, and without pulling the rabbit of the hat and all that, at the end of the year, what are we going to say was the big development? What improved?
DFW: Everything’s going to improve. Everything’s going to change, and everything’s going to improve over the next six months. This really isn’t the conversation for right now, I’m still working on some s—. In six months, when you and I talk again, you’re going to go, “You were right, man. You were right.”
Image courtesy of Elias Cepeda
