Will Dana White’s ego kill the UFC?
There is no doubt that Dana White’s vision for the UFC was key to bringing it to the current position…
There is no doubt that Dana White’s vision for the UFC was key to bringing it to the current position it is at today. Thanks to Dana, the $2 million investment made by Zuffa is now worth over $1 billion. Even Maxim magazine credited Dana with being the best sports visionary of our time. However, when we look at history and even the present, we begin to notice little things that Dana White has done that in hindsight were not good for the UFC at all. In fact, if Dana had had 100% control we may not have the UFC we all now and love today.
We start at the beginning, when Dana first took control of the UFC. At the time there were still competing agents for the MMA world. The most popular one being Pride. Dana had already has his two main poster boys in Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He figured that the best way to stake UFC’s stranglehold in the MMA world was to ride it all on his bread and butter Chuck Liddell. He talked up his fighter, saying that he WOULD win the Pride Grand Prix in 2003. Dana believed that if Chuck could take down Pride’s top stars Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, that they would get the much needed respect and fan base they were looking for. The result was a disaster. Rampage destroyed Chuck in the Pride Grand Prix. UFC was embarrassed, and had to make do with the fan base it had while Pride continued to remain solid.
By 2004, Zuffa was in trouble. They had lost about $34 million, and the gates and PPV from their events weren’t pulling in the fan base they waned. The Fertitta family was on the brink of selling, however in a last ditch effort to save the UFC they made a deal with Spike TV to launch the reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter. When the idea was first pitched, Dana White said himself that he was pissed and that it isn’t what he wanted. In fact, Dana said he hates reality TV shows. The show as we all know was a smash hit, and some argue the Griffin Bonnar fight alone was what was able to push UFC into the mainstream. From there, Zuffa (and Dana White) watched as the cash flowed in and as a result made more seasons of TUF. We have to wonder if Dana has it his way, would the family have sold the business? We’ll never know, one thing we do know is Dana once again had incorrect instincts.
