Dana and the UFC
Dana White became involved in the sport of mixed martial arts in Las Vegas,
Nevada back in 2000 when, by chance, he met some MMA fighters and started training
with them in a gym he ran in Las Vegas. Soon he was representing a couple of these
MMA fighters, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, as their manager. At the time, Dana was
teaching boxing aerobics at gyms in Las Vegas and giving private lessons to many of
the Las Vegas elite. Who would have ever guessed that a chance meeting with a few
MMA fighters would propel Dana into the world of MMA the way it has. In four short
years, he has become a multimillionaire and MMA has become a sport seen around the
world, including in Canada, Europe, Australia, the Philippines, China, and Mexico. In
fact, the UFC has created a monopoly in the world of MMA. Many have tried to take a
portion of that monopoly but all have failed. The UFC has the money, resources, and
power to dominate the world of MMA and either buys out the competition or drives
them out of the sport. Dana is ruthless in his control and dominance of the sport.
Sadly, however, that ruthlessness has also spilled into his personal life and
relationships.
Those who meet Dana and write about the sport very often refer to him as a
colorful and outspoken head of the UFC, and to be certain, Dana is the person
responsible for bringing the sport of MMA to where it is today. Few people would
dispute that fact. Dana has taken MMA from a little known and little respected sport
— a sport that Senator John McCain once referred to as human cock fighting and
campaigned to put an end to — and turned it into a well-recognized international
sport that pulls in record revenues. For example, the fights in Boston this summer
pulled in more money than any sporting event ever at the Garden.
In the beginning, every state in the country, with the exception of New Jersey,
banned the UFC. Today fight results are reported in the mainstream news, 47 states
sanction MMA, millions of viewers watch the fights on pay per view, and Harley
Davidson and Anheuser-Busch are sponsors (and Bud-Light is the “official beer of the
UFC”). In 2006, the UFC’s revenues for pay-per-view events surpassed all other pay-