The following article is the text that I use for the Great Business Stories podcast on this topic. To listen to the podcast, click on this link or alternatively listen to Great Business Stories on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Dana White- his named popped up recently when the news came out that he was made a board member of Meta- and one has to assume that it’s part of zuckerbergs very obvious and cringy backpeddling in sucking up to president Trump.

There were so many things about Dana White that I didn’t know- his run-in  with associates of the notorious Whitey Bolger, his very serious gambling habit, how he and the Ferttita brothers persevered with a sport that was on it’s knees and built it into a into a global powerhouse it makes for a fascinating story.

Dana White and the UFC: Early Life and Connections to the Fertitta Brothers

Dana White’s journey begins in Manchester, Connecticut, where he was born on July 28, 1969. His childhood was a patchwork of moves between Connecticut and Massachusetts, with his mother, June, a nurse, anchoring the family. It was at the age of five, watching Muhammad Ali fight, that White’s fascination with combat sports took root—a spark that would ignite a lifelong passion.

In third grade, the family relocated to Las Vegas and it was there, at Bishop Gorman High School, that White met Lorenzo Fertitta. Reflecting on their teenage years, White described their relationship: “Lorenzo and I went to high school together... He was a rich kid, and I was broke. It’s not like we were best friends, but we knew each other. Lorenzo was super nice to everybody.” 

Now the Fertitta brother, Lorenzo and Frank are central to the UFC story, so I did a little bit of research into their background.

The Fertitta Brothers: Casino Heirs with Ambition

Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta’s father, Frank Fertitta Jr., moved to Las Vegas in 1960, starting at the bottom as a bellman at the Tropicana Hotel and quickly worked his way up, managing some of the most well known casinos at the time like the Stardust and the Sahara. By 1976, he opened his own venue called The Casino, targeting locals instead of tourists. At the time, the concept raised eyebrows. “People thought he was crazy,” Lorenzo later recalled. But Fertitta proved his skeptics wrong.

Building on their father’s legacy, Lorenzo and Frank III expanded the business with ventures like Red Rock Casino and took the company public in the 1990s, raising $294 million in the process.

Divergent Paths, Shared Future

Formative Years: Boston, Boxing, and a Brush with the Mob

In his late teens, White jumped headfirst into boxing, training as an amateur under Boston’s Peter Welch. While learning the ropes, he juggled blue-collar jobs to make ends meet—laying asphalt by day, bouncing at an Irish bar by night. But White wasn’t just a scrapper; he had an entrepreneurial streak. He opened a boxing gym in Boston, shifting his focus toward the business of the sport. He even capitalized on the fitness craze of the time by introducing “boxercise” classes at local health clubs. These classes became a modest hit and marked his first taste of business success.

The Boston Incident: A Brush with Whitey Bulger

But back in the 1990s, in certain parts of Boston, business success brought with it unwanted attention. Enter James “Whitey” Bulger, the notorious leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang. Bulger’s criminal empire was a dark web of extortion, drug trafficking, and murder, all while he moonlighted as an FBI informant.

One day, during a class at a health club, two of Bulger’s associates showed up uninvited. One of them was Kevin Weeks, Bulger’s muscle. Weeks told White he owed $2,500—a debt White was adamant he didn’t owe. 

Threats followed, culminating in a chilling ultimatum: “You owe us the money tomorrow by 1 o’clock.” White’s response? “I literally hung up the phone, picked up the phone, and called Delta to buy a ticket to Vegas.”

Packing only what he could carry, White fled Boston, leaving behind his gym, his classes, and Bulger’s gang. Reflecting on the experience, White has said, “Boston and boxing and everything that happened along the way is all part of the story and what led me here... I wouldn’t change any of it.”

Acquisition of the UFC: From Fringe Spectacle to the Brink of Collapse

By the late 1990s, Dana White had found his footing in Las Vegas. He was running boxercise gyms and training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, gradually immersing himself in the world of MMA. His involvement deepened when he started managing fighters Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, two of the sport’s emerging stars. Then came the pivotal moment: in 2000, White discovered that the UFC was for sale. By this stage White had also reconnected with Lorenzo Fertitta after meeting him by chance at a wedding in Las Vegas. Before we get into White’s UFC adventure, let's have a look at UFC’s origns.

The Birth of the UFC

The UFC’s  story begins with a bold idea shared by marketing executive Art Davie and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Rorion Gracie. Their mission? To settle an age-old question: which martial art reigns supreme in real combat? They enlisted the help of screenwriter John Milius for creative input- Milius is famous for Conan the Barbarian, he was also involved in Jaws, saving Private Ryan. They formed WOW Promotions and  joined forces with Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG), a company known for producing offbeat events.

One of SEG’s most lasting contributions was the Octagon-the eight-sided cage became the UFC’s defining symbol. The first-ever UFC event was on November 12, 1993, at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. It was raw, unregulated, and unlike anything the sports world had ever seen. 

From Spectacle to Scrutiny

In its early days, the UFC was less about sport and more about spectacle. Fighters from a mishmash of disciplines—kickboxing, wrestling, even sumo—stepped into the Octagon, often pitted against wildly mismatched opponents. It was a no-holds-barred free-for-all designed to shock and entertain. Art Davie, later admitted, “It was designed very much as a spectacle. We did not feel it as a sport. Everyone felt that it had a lifespan of maybe about two years.”

The unfiltered brutality captured an audience but also painted a massive target on the UFC’s back. In 1996 Senator John McCain branded the UFC “human cockfighting” and led a campaign that saw the sport banned in 36 states. Cable providers, wary of the controversy, began dropping UFC pay-per-view events.

A Struggling Enterprise

By 2000, the UFC was on life support. When Dana White caught wind of its precarious position, he immediately reached out to Lorenzo Fertitta. White pitched the idea that the UFC’s brand still held power, and Lorenzo, along with his brother Frank agreed to take a gamble. Together, they formed Zuffa, LLC, and purchased the UFC for $2 million on January 14, 2001.

What Zuffa got was the battered Octagon itself, a dozen fighter contracts, and the UFC brand. Lorenzo Fertitta recalled: “My attorneys told me I was crazy because I wasn’t buying anything. I was paying $2 million, and they were saying, ‘What are you getting?’”

For Lorenzo, the answer was clear: “What you don’t understand is I’m getting the most valuable thing that I could possibly have, which is those three letters: UFC. That is what’s going to make this thing work.”

Turning the UFC Around

The UFC’s financial troubles were daunting. Lorenzo Fertitta leaned on his connections with the Nevada State Athletic Commission to secure regulatory approval in Nevada, a crucial move for legitimizing the sport.

The UFC returned to pay-per-view, but progress was a slow grind. By 2004, Zuffa had lost $34 million, and the Fertittas had invested over $40 million to keep the company afloat. 

The Game-Changer: The Ultimate Fighter
By 2005, the UFC was teetering on the edge. Mainstream attention was elusive, and finances were bleak. But the Fertitta brothers had a bold plan: a reality show. The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) would pit aspiring fighters against each other, with a six-figure UFC contract as the ultimate prize.

After facing rejection from multiple networks, the UFC went all-in, shelling out $10 million to fully fund the production. Spike TV finally took a chance, scheduling TUF right after WWE’s Monday Night Raw. 

When TUF premiered on January 17, 2005, it was an instant success. The show held onto 57% of Raw’s audience—a retention rate that doubled Spike’s usual numbers. But the real breakthrough came during the finale: Forrest Griffin versus Stephan Bonnar. Their fight pulled in 1.9 million viewers and is now considered one of the greatest fights in MMA history. 

More success followed as mainstream sponsors like Bud Light in 2008 and Harley-Davidson in 2010 gave the UFC legitimacy, while a $100 million Fox Sports deal in 2011 skyrocketed its visibility. By 2010, the UFC had gone global, hosting events in 19 countries and unifying top talent through acquisitions like PRIDE and Strikeforce. The result? A financial juggernaut, with revenues of $600 million by 2015, cementing the UFC as a global sports empire.

A Strategic Shift

In 2018, Dana White secured a landmark broadcasting agreement for the UFC with ESPN, valued at $1.5 billion over five years. 

The UFC’s partnership with ESPN marked a vital evolution for the organization. Aligning itself with premier leagues like the NFL and NBA UFC elevated its status and exposure, transforming it from a niche combat sport to mainstream entertainment.

White has to be given a lot of credit for cutting-edge marketing, fan engagement, and fighter-driven promotion. By embracing social media and digital platforms early, White ensured the UFC stayed in the spotlight, targeting younger audiences with viral content, quick updates, and striking visuals. This created a constant buzz that kept fans invested year-round.

Fighters became vital brand ambassadors. Annual media training helped them master interviews, hype their own matches, and engage directly with fans, making them extensions of the UFC’s promotional machine- it was very, very clever the way White structured it all.

And this success didn’t go unnoticed- on July 11, 2016, WME-IMG (now Endeavor) announced its acquisition of the UFC for $4.025 billion, 

As a result of the deal Endeavor emerged as the UFC’s majority owner

The Fertitta brothers stepped away from their roles in the UFC and while they initially kept a minority stake, they sold their remaining shares in 2017, reportedly earning about $2 billion each- that’;s a pretty good ROI when you consider that they bought UFC for just $2 million and then invested another $40 million into it in the early years. Hats off to them, they took a big risk and held on there, continued to invest through some very rocky years.


After the UFC’s sale to Endeavor in 2016, Dana White retained his role as President, ensuring the promotion stayed on course during its next phase of growth. Initially, White was granted equity in the new ownership structure, but Endeavor reportedly bought out his shares later and it’s estimated that White netted about $400 million in total from the deal.

TKO Group: A Historic Merger in Sports and Entertainment

On September 12, 2023, Endeavor and WWE completed a groundbreaking merger, creating TKO Group Holdings, a publicly traded sports giant valued at $21.4 billion. 

Dana White: CEO of UFC- with an annual salary of $20 million underlining how valuable he is to the franchise

Controversies and Leadership Style

While White is widely credited with turning the UFC into a global phenomenon, his tenure has also been riddled with controversies involving fighter pay, management practices, and personal conduct.

Fighter Pay and Antitrust Settlement

The UFC has faced relentless criticism over fighter compensation. Athletes reportedly earn only 16% to 19% of the organization’s revenue—starkly lower than the 47% to 50% standard in leagues like the NFL or NBA. This issue culminated in a nearly decade-long antitrust lawsuit, which accused the UFC of using restrictive contracts to suppress fighter wages.

In October 2024, the UFC agreed to a $375 million settlement,

Personal Conduct: New Year’s Eve 2022 Incident

Dana White found himself at the center of public backlash in December 2022 after a video surfaced showing him and his wife, Anne, slapping each other during a New Year’s Eve altercation. White took responsibility, stating, “There’s never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman.” One of the few times I find myself agreeing 100% with White

Despite calls for his resignation, neither the UFC nor Endeavor imposed any formal disciplinary action. The incident also delayed the launch of White’s Power Slap League, a slap-fighting competition sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Debuting in 2023, the league rightly faced scathing criticism from medical professionals who highlighted severe health risks to participants.

However, this hasn’t stopped its growth- White and the Fertitta brothers each invested just $1 million in the venture and it’s now worth $750 million- I couldn’t believe it when I read that- how something so stupid could be so valuable and popular …..well, it’s the world we live in, isn’t it where lots of people are embracing stupidity. Cards on the table, as a sports lover, Slap league is perhaps the most moronic sport ever.

Rebuilding Bridges: The Bud Light Sponsorship

In October 2023, Dana White orchestrated the UFC’s renewed partnership with Bud Light, an audacious move after the beer brand faced massive backlash over its collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The March Madness campaign had ignited conservative outrage, resulting in plummeting sales and erasing billions from Anheuser-Busch’s market value.

The new six-year, $100 million sponsorship deal with the UFC , starting in 2024, was a bold attempt to rebuild Bud Light’s reputation with its core demographic . White strongly defended the deal, emphasizing that it was all about shared values. He actually had the audacity to come out with this nugget, and I quote: “This was not about money for me.”

Come on Dana, are you not familiar with the saying “Don’t piss on my boots and tell me it’s raining?” 

Political Advocacy: Loyalty to Donald Trump

White’s close alignment with President Donald Trump has become a hallmark of his public identity. Their connection dates back to the UFC’s challenging early years when in 2001 Trump offered his Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City as a venue for UFC 30 in 2001 and publicly endorsed the sport at a time when it was fighting for survival. White has often reflected on this support, stating, “Donald Trump was the first guy to recognize the UFC’s potential and take a chance on us.”

I wasn’t aware that the connection between them went back that far- I only found out when researching this episode and while I’m not a fan of Trump, I can definitely understand White’s loyalty and support towards Trump. Trump was there for him when very few people were.

Dana White and High-Stakes Gambling

Another aspect of White’s life that I was totally unaware of is his gambling.

The Wins and Losses

In early 2024, White hit a hot streak at Caesars Palace, reportedly winning between $26 million and $27 million at baccarat. Describing his run, he recounted, “I clipped these guys for $1 million a night from, like, the first week of January all the way into March.”

But White’s losses have been equally dramatic. In one infamous night, he lost $3 million playing blackjack. 

Despite concerns—even from close associates like UFC commentator Joe Rogan—White maintains that his gambling doesn’t threaten his financial stability or family and here’s a quote from White: “I don’t gamble in a way that I would ever hurt myself or hurt my family,” 

The Promoter’s Mindset

In terms of his business style, at the heart of White’s success lies a dual identity: he’s both a promoter and a genuine fight fan. “I’m a promoter, but I’m also a fight fan. I love this shit. I love everything about it,” he’s said, This enthusiasm radiates through the organization, energizing fighters, fans, and even skeptics.

Lorenzo went on to say: “He’s proven that he has great instincts and most of the decisions he’s made have been for the best… I truly believe that Dana was put on this Earth to run the UFC,” - I believe he’s right- Dana White and the UFC were made for each other

However, all research points to him  also having an explosive temper and of bullying those who work for him

Retired UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub publicly called White a “bully” who ‘motivates by fear’ – an allegation echoed by fighters 

I’m not a fan of UFC or MMA—personally, I find it a bit barbaric. That said, I recognize there are plenty of nice, sane people who love it—it’s just not my cup of tea. Because I’m not a fan of MMA, I’ll admit I’m probably biased against Dana White as well. I’ll readily own that prejudice. So lets hear form someone who knowq him probably better than most, his mother:

“He went from being a truly nice person to being a vindictive tyrant who lacks any feelings for how he treats others.” “egotistical, self-centered, arrogant, and cruel,” June White, Dana’s mother, in an unauthorized biography (2011)

“Everyone knows that he puts Tiger Woods to shame,” June said, accusing her son of repeatedly cheating on his wife. “Plenty of the ring card girls sleep with him. He slept with his sister-in-law in my house, which made me absolutely furious.”

However, setting my bias aside, I have to respect Dana White from a purely business perspective. While his style has earned him plenty of critics, it’s also undeniably effective. Under White’s leadership, the UFC has grown from a niche sport struggling to find its footing into a multi-billion-dollar powerhouse with global reach.

He’s smart- I gotta give him kudos for that- but he’s also a bully- and I’m never going to endorse a bully, but the story of White and the UFC is a great business story- I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have, and remember if you have any comments, any corrections or any story that you’d like us to cover, email us at: info@gbspod.com

All the best folks