White ready to take combat sports to the next level

A number of people including UFC president Dana White have speculated that once he makes $75 million or more boxing Floyd Mayweather, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor might never fight in the Octagon again.

When the UFC sold to WME-IMG, ESPN’s Darren Rovell estimated White made $360 million. It became clear that White held a less powerful role than he did previously when the new owners fired one of White’s close friends, Chuck Liddell. ‘The Iceman’ had received a no-show job in exchange for retiring after he took too many hits to the head; now he may fight again for Bellator MMA at age 47.

So there was speculation that White might move on, perhaps into the casino business. However, during a recent exclusive interview at UFC headquarters with John Morgan and Ken Hathaway for MMAjunkie, White said he going nowhere.

What am I going to do? asked White. What am I going to do? People treat it like I hit the lottery. I had money before. It’s not like I hit the lottery and I’m just going to take off and disappear. I love this sport, and obviously the hardest part about the sale was leaving the Fertitta brothers. We’ve been together for 20 years in business together, and I went through a hard time. It was like a divorce. I went through that, I got through it, and I’m back on the ball and doing my thing.

I love it. I’m not going anywhere, and we’re actually working on some crazy s*** right now, and I’m looking forward to it. We’ll blow everybody’s minds again next year.

The first half of 2017 has been short of huge fights. Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar have a fork in them, Jon Jones had a suspension on him, GSP hasn’t fought since 2013, and Conor McGregor is boxing.

That’s the way this business works, explained White. When you’re coming off a year like we had last year, you just can’t keep rolling. First of all, all those guys fought, people end up injured, and we’ve still had a killer year even though the blockbuster fights weren’t there for us at the beginning of the year. The way that s*** goes is, as soon as everybody gets healthy again, the second half of your year is going to be killer.

Now we edged into the second half of 2017, and UFC 214 may not have a PPV superstar, but it is among the best cards in years. Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone is the opening card on the main event. And the main event has three title fights. And McGregor, who boxes Floyd Mayweather on August 26, says he wants to fight in December. GSP should fight this year. The UFC just opened an extraordinary new headquarters; the old one had everyone jammed together, and the gym, although authentic, reminded of Rocky’s apartment in Rocky 1. And on July 11, Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series launches on UFC Fight Pass.

It’s a great time, said White. When have I ever told you guys that big things were coming and big things didn’t come? We’re working on a lot of great stuff. Obviously we’re still doing all the things we’re doing. This is just the surface stuff that I’m telling you that we’re going out and looking for opportunities for these younger, up-and-coming guys where the fans will have the opportunity to see some of these rising stars on this new show, and ‘Lookin’ for a Fight.’ Not to mention the fact all the things that we’re doing that you don’t know about to cultivate talent.

We’re working on things in Mexico and China. Mexico, China and the U.K. right now. We’re working on things in Russia, and we’re working on some even bigger s***, which we’ll probably be announcing next year. It’s all good. Everybody thinks I’m going somewhere or doing something. I’m not going anywhere man. We’re dug in like ticks over here and we are working on great s***. … We’re looking at how we take combat sports to the next level.