Dana White, King of MMA

Dana has a particular personality, and both men and women are drawn to him and
want to be his friend. People like being around him and want to help him. For eight
years Dana put every waking minute of his life into building the UFC, and he continues
to do so because he still sees so much potential for the sport and the business. It was
just the perfect time for something new and exciting to come along in the world of
sports. Their target audience is eighteen to thirty-four year-old males. In fact, it was
kind of like the perfect storm coming together, it was the right time for something
new in sports, and Dana and his partners were the right people to pull it all together.
Business schools teach how to build a business by researching and planning your
venture, with market analysis and market strategies, a marketing plan, pricing
strategies, and strategies for managing and growing a business. Dana had no college,
(although he says he does), but he had the ability to recognize an opportunity, to see
the global possibilities, and to be able to grow the business with his passion and
common sense and not to listen to all the people telling him the business was
destined to fail. What Dana has working in his favor cannot be taught in any school: a
belief from day one that MMA could replace boxing and become an international sport
that is followed by millions of fans all over the world. Then he simply worked around
the clock and micromanaged every aspect of the business to bring it to where it is
today. However, Dana and the Fertittas also knew from day one that they needed to
change the image of the UFC and immediately began a marketing campaign to do
that. They have been very smart with the individuals they bring on board to work for
them knowing that image, marketing, and the right alliances are everything. They
have not missed a step in executing this plan.
Others have tried to compete with the UFC, to ride the coattails of the UFC’s
success, but none have been successful. Bellator and StrickForce are out there now
competing against the UFC, unlike others that tried and failed. The IFL, “the company
lost 20 million dollars in 2007 alone.” Elite XC, “bad business decisions that ended up
turning huge viewership numbers into $55 million in losses.” Affliction, “those fights
came at a cost, the chance of long term success was nil.” Johnathan Snowden,
editorial, Bloody Elbow, 2010. It took fifty million dollars to get the UFC over the
hump, but besides the money there has to be a commitment of time, lots of