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Is Dana White the Most Influential Businessman in the World of Combat Sport?

Published 06/04/2021, 3:42 AM EDT

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Dana White became the Ultimate Fighting Championship President back in 2001. Lorenzo Fertitta, along with his brother Frank Fertitta, bought the UFC from its parent company Semaphore Entertainment Group. This deal materialized because White forced his childhood friend Lorenzo to purchase the company. After working as a manager for Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, White was made the President of the company in exchange for the deal.

Since then, Dana White has worked hard to lift the company from a two million dollar to a multi-billion dollar empire. The UFC President took over a failed product and turned it into the biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion. The UFC was at one point a subsidiary of holding firm Zuffa, but in 2016, it was sold to talent agency WME-IMG for $4 billion. The agency is now called Endeavor and its stakeholder include Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, MSD Capital, and Dana White.

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White reportedly earns 20 million dollars plus 9% of the promotion’s profit. This shows how crucial White’s role is in the company. This is one reason why Dana White is the most influential businessman in the world of combat sports.

Watch this story: Five Unknown Facts About The UFC President Dana White

UFC President Dana White is a household name

The UFC president has more than six million Instagram followers. Almost every fight promo features Dana making casual combat fans aware of the UFC President. Anybody watching  the UFC surely knows who Dana White is even if they might not be aware of the names of the actual performers in combat sport promotions.

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Dana White has become a household name by actively participating in almost every press conference and weigh-in show. He loves combat sports and is an ardent fan of both boxing and MMA. Many other combat organizations have failed to get an influencer like the UFC President.

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People compare his greatness to the business icon Vince McMahon. McMahon is the chief executive officer of the WWE and has a net worth of over 2 billion dollars.

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McMahon’s story resembles the UFC President’s as he built the WWE by purchasing small wrestling organizations. But the World Wrestling Entertainment is an entertainment company which makes the UFC the king of combat sports. Therefore, this makes Dana White the undisputed king of business influencers in the world of combat sports.

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Written by:

Saurabh Singh

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Saurabh Singh Laledia is an MMA enthusiast who works as a UFC writer for EssentiallySports. His passion for the UFC infused with his knowledge of various fight styles such as Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu motivated him to pursue a career in combat sports journalism, as it would be where he could exhibit his expert views and unbiased opinions whilst keeping the fan’s perspective alive. He started watching the sport at UFC 53 in 2005 when ‘The Ace’ Rich Franklin beat Evan Turner to claim the belt and has traced the journey of the middleweight title right from 'The Spider' to 'The Last Stylebender'.
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