Dana White recently got nostalgic about the initial days of the UFC and TUF. He claimed that the media did not give much attention to the UFC and its reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter, during the early days of the promotion. He has often discussed the challenges the UFC faced in gaining recognition and media coverage. During the early 2000s, the UFC was still considered a violent sport and faced significant hurdles in terms of public acceptance. Traditional media outlets were often hesitant to cover MMA due to its violent nature. However, this didn’t stop the UFC and TUF from becoming huge successes.

The Ultimate Fighter reality series was launched in 2005. It became a huge success and largely contributed to the growth of the UFC. Back then, White had to face the media’s ignoring the reality series. The show provided a platform for upcoming fighters to showcase their skills. As the popularity of the TUF increased, UFC also started to grab the attention of the crowd. However, White never forgets the struggles he had to face because of a lack of media coverage even after 18 years after the huge success.

Dana White gets nostalgic about the initial days of the UFC

The UFC president was talking in the post-fight press conference of Power Slap 2. During the conference, One of the reporters asked about White’s take on the Power Slap League not getting enough attention from the media. As a reply to the question, White answered that it is not the first time he has gone through something like this. He said, “I’m more into social media than media, so it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to but this is nothing. It isn’t like this didn’t happen with the UFC. I was just saying there’s three times the media here tonight for this, for our second event, than there was the first five years of the UFC.” 

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He added, “I mean, I even remember going into The Ultimate Fighter and you know there were actually MMA magazines at that time that didn’t cover The Ultimate Fighter which ended up being the biggest thing. Literally the launching pad for the UFC and pulled massive numbers at that time and the MMA media didn’t even cover that back in the day. So this is not anything that I’m not used to.” White made it clear that he is not disheartened with the treatment the Power Slap League is getting from the media.

The growth of UFC over the years

Today, the UFC has become a global phenomenon and a mainstream sport. The promotion is worth $10 billion now. It is receiving significant media coverage from a wide range of outlets. Dana White’s comments about the initial lack of attention from the media serve as a reminder of the challenges the UFC faced in its early years.

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The UFC has now achieved huge progress and growth. Here, White wanted to emphasize that he was seeing a similarly bright future for Slap Fight as well. He feels that gradually the Power Slap League will reach huge heights and become a multi-billion dollar empire, just like the UFC and TUF.

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