The 15 seminal moments of Dana White’s career
Whether you believe he’s the scourge of humanity, the savior of MMA or somewhere in the yawning middle, UFC President…
Whether you believe he’s the scourge of humanity, the savior of MMA or somewhere in the yawning middle, UFC President Dana White has carved his likeness into the face of MMA like he was Teddy Roosevelt in the South Dakota granite.
Here are the most seminal moments in White’s long-and-winding road to the throne of the UFC and the world of mixed martial arts. I’m not saying they were good. I’m not saying they were bad. I’m just saying they were influential.
15. Hello Toronto
14. Folding in WEC Makes Octagon Lighter
13. I’m Shipping out of Boston
12. Remaking the Rules
11. Tito Blinks
10. Bud Light Endorsement Deal
9. UFC Rio
8. The Fedor That Got Away
7. The Show Must Go on
6. The Ultimate Fighter
5. The Spike TV deal
4. Come On. These Hot Wings Suck, Anyway.
One night my partners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and I were at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. We all boxed and had been involved with boxing for a long time. Frank said, “There’s one of those Ultimate Fighter guys.” It was John Lewis. We were saying how we wanted to learn submission fighting. I went over because I knew him, and I told him we wanted to hook up with him to learn. So we made an appointment and we all got together and started doing submissions. We got completely addicted to it.
3. Swallowing Pride
This was the first sign of the future we would all soon be living in, one where the UFC was the NFL of mixed martial arts, and everything else was pure sideshow.
2. UFC 100
This is where it all came together for Dana White.
Long an advocate of big, crowd-pleasing, star-studded cards, UFC 100 featured two championship bouts and a host of other anticipated matchups.
Long a proponent of fighters mingling with fans, White instituted the first-ever UFC Fan Expo for the event.
1. UFC signs deal with FOX
Not sure what else to add to the reams already spilled on this, other than to echo the popular (if not universal) sentiment that this was the biggest business blockbuster in UFC history.
White seems to think so, anyway.
