UFC 100 is only the beginning for MMA
UFC 100 is only the beginning for MMA Dana White, the cocky kid from New England who never had much…
UFC 100 is only the beginning for MMA
Dana White, the cocky kid from New England who never had much money and who survived until he was nearly 30 on little more than his guile and cunning, phoned his buddy, Lorenzo Fertitta, the well-to-do son of a powerful Las Vegas casino baron, and breathlessly told him he heard the Ultimate Fighting Championship might be for sale.
In 2000, that might have been like telling him there was a ’75 Eldorado he could get for $2,500 down at the salvage yard.
Had Fertitta hung up, as he probably should have, there wouldn’t be a UFC 100 on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, a card which is expected to sell upwards of 1.5 million on pay-per-view and for which a pair of front-row tickets is going for as much as $45,000 on StubHub.
There would be no UFC Fan Expo on Friday and Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center that will essentially serve as a celebration of mixed martial arts.
If Fertitta had laughed in White’s ear, hung up the telephone and gone back to the business of slot machines and blackjack tables, mixed martial arts as we know it today would not exist. White’s telephone call on that fateful day not only would make him rich and famous beyond all measure, it essentially saved the sport.
