Dana White, King of MMA

apartment. I told them my mother-in-law lived downstairs and it would be very much
appreciated if they were a little more respectful and kept the music down.”
They never did turn the music up loud again, and a few weeks later I ran into one
of the boys in the hallway and he asked me if that was Tito Ortiz that had come into
their apartment. I told him it was. He said one of the boys recognized him and they
had been telling all their friends that Tito was in their apartment and his mother-in-
law lived downstairs. They were quite excited about Tito being in their apartment and
I am sure they still talk about it today.
The problem with Dana starting out as the fighters’ friend and manager is typical
with any business. You could compare Dana to a union fighting for better pay and
working conditions for the fighters. Once he became part owner and a corporate
executive of UFC, however, his goals and priorities were no longer for the employees/
fighters but how he could propel the company to be number one in MMA and make as
much money as he could for the company. That does not translate into a positive for
the fighters. When you start out fighting against management and then you become
management, it is very difficult to change hats and still be friends with
employees/fighters because their best interests are no longer your best interests. Not
that all the fighters still aren’t much better off today than they ever were before
Dana and the Fertittas took over the UFC, but the transition can have its problems.
The complaint that many of the fighters have is that UFC is the fighters, not Dana
White. In the Rolling Stone article of June 12, 2008, the writer recalls speaking with
one of the fighters: “In a private moment, he frowns and says, ‘So how come you’re
doing a story on Dana? I don’t understand that. The fighters are what make the
sport.’” The fighter is right to a degree. Obviously, there is no UFC without the
fighters, but Dana has built the sport to what it is today and he did it by putting his
face out there. People associate Dana White with the UFC and in fact tend to think of
them as one in the same. The situation is comparable to when Dana started Dana
White Enterprises and the Bullenbeiser logo was the symbol of his business. Dana’s
face is the symbol of the UFC and MMA right now. There are always new fighters
coming up, wanting to make a name for themselves and be part of the UFC, but
fighters come and go. A fighter’s life span in the UFC can be very short lived. Any