The UFC, under the leadership of Dana White, has become one of the biggest fight promotions in the world. It started from getting banned in several US states to becoming a global phenomenon. Meanwhile, Dana White recently revealed how the Fertitta brothers came about to buy the UFC.

The UFC is now the world’s biggest MMA promotion. It recently merged with professional wrestling giants WWE under TKO Group Holdings. However, it was previously owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. Dana White narrated the story about how they came about to buy the promotion in a recent interview. Let us take a look at what he had to say.

The moment when Dana White got to know that the UFC had no money

Before Dana White was the president and now the CEO of the UFC, he was a manager for Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. During that time, he was once having a conversation with former owner Bob Meyrowitz on the phone. White was trying to negotiate on behalf of Ortiz, who was owed some money. Moreover, he was also trying to get the UFC to sign Chuck Liddell. He said, “I am on a call with Bob Meyrowitz, who’s the owner of the UFC, and I am trying to negotiate Tito’s contract and I’m trying to get Chuck into the UFC.”

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It was during that moment when Meyrowitz finally reached his breaking point and sounded off on Dana White. While mentioning that the promotion had no money to pay Tito Ortiz, they also mentioned that there was no money to set up the next event.

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“Finally, Bob Meyrowitz snaps and he says, ‘You know what? There is no more f***ing money. I don’t even know if I have enough money to put on the next event’. That and then he freaks out on me,” said White. This was the moment when the 56-year-old realized that the promotion could be bought.

UFC CEO rang up the Fertitta brothers to persuade them to buy the UFC

The conversation Dana White had with Bob Meyrowitz prompted him to ring up Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. Moreover, the brothers were staying in Miami at the time and he narrated what happened during the conversation he had with Meyrowitz. He then suggested that they should buy the promotion. White said, “I called Lorenzo and Frank. They’re in Miami and I said, ‘I just got off the phone with Bob Meyrowitz. He just f***ing freaked out on me. He basically said, ‘there’s no more money with the UFC… I think we can buy the UFC. I think we should do it.'”

The Fertitta brothers got in touch with Meyrowitz and they started their negotiations. It took a while, but a couple of months later, they bought the promotion and proposed that Dana White take up a pivotal role in the UFC. “Two months later, three months later whatever the time [it was], Lorenzo ends up buying the UFC, him and Frank call me over and they’re like, ‘We want you to be the president of the company. We want you to run it.’ Just like that,” added Dana White.

The Fertitta brothers sold the UFC in 2016. But they were also two of the few people who played an instrumental role in making the sport of MMA a globally recognized and loved sport. There are more athletes gunning to become UFC fighters than ever before. Moreover, it continues to grow as a mainstream sport.

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