I
naVIP-onlyloungeinthebasement
of Chicago’s United Center (home to
theChicagoBulls),directlybeneath
theiconic3.7mstatueofMichaelJordan,
DanaWhiteisdoingwhathedoesbest:
espousingthevirtuesofasportthatseestwo
eliteathletesbeattheshitoutofeach other
by (almost) any means necessary.
Injustafewdays’time,Australia’sRobert
WhittakerwillfaceYoelRomeroofCuba
here,inwhatwillbecomeoneofthemost
devastatingightsinUFChistory.(With
acombinedtotalof128strikeslanded,
Whittaker was able to defend his
middleweightworldtitleinaightthat
wasasinspiringasitwasbrutal.)
Whenitcomestopassion,eventhe
mostskepticalofpotentialmixedmartial
artsfanswouldbeswayedbyWhitein
person.TheformerboxerbelievestheUFC
willbethebiggestsportintheworldand,
based on the organisation’s growth over the
past decade, he might just be right.GQ:Let’sstartbroad.Why are people so
captivated by fights?
Dana White:It’sfunnybecauseifyoulook
atalltheothersports,thoseathletesareall
fans. Players of all these other sports are hugefans of ighting. Hitting a ball over a wall
isgreat.Throwingaballthroughacircle
isgreat.Allthatshit’sgreat,buttobethe
heavyweightchampionoftheworld.That
reallymeanssomething.Idon’tcarewhat
colouryouare,whatcountryyoucomefrom,
what language you speak, we’re all human
beings and ighting’s in our DNA.
GQ: You could say fighting is the first sport.
DW:Right. It’s the irst sport on earth
andit’llbethelastonetoo.
GQ: With this universality, is there
nolimittohowpopularUFCcanbecome?
DW:Absolutely.LookathowbigConor
McGregoris.ThethingwiththeIrishis
everybodythinksthey’refuckingIrish.
ImaginewhenIindmyirstChineseworld
champion, whether it’s a man or woman,
howbigthat’llbe.
GQ:YoutookovertheUFCin2001.
Whatwasitlikewhenyougotinvolved?
DW:Basicallywhenweboughtthisthingfor
$2.6m,itwasanoldwoodoctagonandwe
hadaboutmaybe50guysincontract.That
was it. That was all we owned. Everything
else had been stripped down and sold to keep
the thing alive. We wanted to get regulated
and sanctioned, because at the end of the day
these guys are real athletes.GQ: In terms of training, how does MMA
differfromthewayaboxermighttrain?
DW:Well,boxingisonlyonecomponent
of mixed martial arts; striking to the head
andbodywiththehands.Theseguyshave
todoeverything.Theyhavetolearnboxing.
They have to learn Muay Thai, kickboxing.
Someguystraininkarateandallthese
differentformsofmartialarts.Thenyou
havetohavewrestlingandyouhavetohave
jiu-jitsu. You have to be well-rounded. It’s
funnybecausetheoriginalUFCwasput
together to answer the age-old question
of which ighting style was the best: if a boxer
fought a wrestler, if a karate guy fought
akung-fuguy.Well,oncetheystarted
actually doing it in UFC, the answer was
youhadtohavealittlebitofeverything,
andthat’showmixedmartialartswasborn.
GQ:Thesporthasgrownimmenselypopular,
especiallyinthepastfiveyears.Why?
DW:It’ssuchafun,excitingsporttofollow.
There’s all different types of athletes and
personalities – when you show up to the
ights, we deliver.
GQ:Whathaveyoulearnedaboutyourself
andhowtorunabusinesssince taking over
aspresidentoftheUFC?
DW:I’vesortofgrownwiththebusiness.
When I irst started out, we were all gung-ho
thinking,‘It’sgonnabefun.We’llbefriends
withalltheightersandwe’lldothisandthat’.
That isn’t exactly how it works. At the end of
theday,Irunabusinessandyouhavetorun
itlikethatoryouwillgooutofbusiness.
GQ:Wheredoyougetyourdrive?
DW:Wecontinuetobreakrecords.Wejust
broketherecordinLiverpool[UK]lastweek
for the biggest gate ever at that arena, and I
love that shit. I love this business. I love this
sport.That’sthekindofstuffthatgetsme
outofbedinthemorning.There’ssomuch
work to be done in this sport, and I believe
I’mtheguytodoit.
GQ: When you took over, it was before
social media. How has it changed the fight
promotion game?
DW:It’sincredible.Socialmediaisoneofthe
best things to ever happen to business. I look
atallthepositivesinsocialmediaandI
fuckingeatnegativeforbreakfast.Peoplewill
gooutthereandblockthenegativepeople
andstufflikethat–Iembraceit.Italkshit
backtotheseguysandIloveit.Youcan’t
just have all positive. You’ve got to have that
balanceofboth.ButwhatIdon’tdois,I
don’treadthemedia.Idon’treadthemedia’s
opinions.Theyneverbuiltafuckingbusiness
intheirlife.Ibuiltthissport,Ibuiltthis
industryandtherealityistheydon’tknow
what’s next until I tell them what’s next.THE OPINIONATED AND ANIMATED UFC PRESIDENT OPENS
UPABOUTMAYWEATHER,TRUMPANDWHYALLTHETALK
DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING ONCE THE FIGHT STARTS.DANA
WHITE
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHYHANS ASCHIM&A
AUGUST 2018GQ.COM.AU 43