Martial Arts Mecca

By: Sarah Aswell

A former aerobic kickboxing instructor and amateur boxer, White turned to owning gyms and managing emerging MMA fighters like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz in Las Vegas in the early nineties. In 1992, he established his own business, Dana White Enterprises, and opened three gyms in the Las Vegas area.

When White learned the UFC was struggling and its parent company was looking for a buyer to take the floundering company off of their hands, he contacted his childhood friend, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Lorenzo’s brother, Frank Fertitta III. The brothers quickly bought the UFC and named White president. They also formed Zuffa LLC, the parent company that manages White and the UFC and of which White owns a 10 percent share.

Over the next 15 years, White and the Fertitta brothers transformed the company, taking mixed martial arts from an overly-violent and under-regulated Pay-Per-View oddity to a respected and popular new sport. 

Many agree that their success hinged on a combination of smart advertising deals with energy drinks and supplements and their ability to score a large TV deal with cable network Spike TV. With Spike, the UFC launched their popular reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter, in which the winner is granted a six-figure contract with the UFC and a chance to make it as a professional fighter. 

Dana White is extremely visible – he appears in most episodes of The Ultimate Fighter and is often interviewed pre-fight. He seems to have a great deal of authority over who the UFC signs  – to the point where many believe he has trouble delegating tasks to others who might be more qualified. He has a history of holding grudges and of not giving fighters’ second chances – two characteristics that might have harmed the UFC as much as they have helped.  He also doesn’t often get through a sentence without swearing, which has become an almost-comical trademark. 

But whether or not White has a flawed or egocentric personality, and whether or not you see this as his real personality or as a stage personality (akin to Vince McMahon), it is inarguable that White was integral in establishing mixed martial art competitions as a successful and lucrative business in North America. As to whether he has gotten out of hand as his company has gained a near-monopoly over the sport, time will tell.