Dana White has absolutely ruined the UFC in the last few years, especially this year

[NoStoneUnturned]

I do think we have finally arrived at a place within the sport where we could see Dana White retire. He owns a small percentage and doesn't have autonomy like he did years and years ago, which in turn has caused him to be visibly less enthused about the MMA world. Supposedly that is when Rogan exits as well (according to Joe himself). Obviously I'm guessing, but I think 2025 is their last full calendar year in the sport. Whether Dana's exit is good or bad for the UFC, we will see. I think Dana, at one point, did more good than bad. Now? I'm not so sure.

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

i kind of gave up when i planned a vegas trip well in advance for a specific UFC event - not only did the main event got scrapped, i got the privilege to watch lesser talents at a price point that was ridiculous. Now i am very specific about fights i want to watch, which is becoming lesser and lesser important. Rematches are also not my thing.

UFC pumping out nameless events with no promotion, effort or intent on drawing ratings - just a "contractual" obligation hoping people tune in because they have nothing better to do on a saturday night.

 

[CC27]

funny part is people thinking anything would change if Dana left like the company isnt owned by a corporation and is a well oiled machine.

But keep on believing what you think.

 

[Davey Grant]

Wait until Dana's gone and some woke disney exec takes over, you'll be wishing for Dana, telling everyone about the good ole days

 

[Jonjonesgonemad]

When I'm gone
When I'm gone
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
You're gonna miss me by my hair..

hmh

Spoiler

[View attachment 1107257/SPOILER]

Biggest lie in human history

 

[sonhow]

Biggest lie in human history

Probably the white house stuff that surprise surprise only few select are that excited about.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Dana "refuses to make super fights, Jon vs Tom"

TS you do know Dana cannot "make" anyone fight.

I think the world knows why Jones didn't fight Tom and it wasn't because Dana refused to make the fight.

He also can't just "sign Francis back" since there's this thing called a contract with PFL in the way.

Fucks sake at least assign your selective outrage correctly.

 

[Clark Rogers]

I think every current UFC executive needs to be fired and cast into the sea

More serious response: Dana is definitely part of the problem, but the bigger issue is WME’s and now TKO’s corporate culture. That’s why I suggested cleaning house because that comes from the top and any replacements could fall into the same behaviors.

You got to be careful there though because the next in line may not be great.

Other half of TKO is about to find that out when The Rock power plays his way into HHH's spot and fucks up the E. Don't think they wouldn't put someone like Rock over MMA, too.. esp now that he's done that fucking movie. In his mind that makes him an expert.

 

[egk]

I agree the UFC has made itself look more like boxing now with extremely top-heavy cards. I've been watching since the 90s and i'm getting bored.

This ESPN 72 card, i honestly don't even know if i"ll watch it. The fights may be good but I barely know any of the fighters on the card so don't really care who wins. When you have no rooting interest it takes a lot from the events. They're catering more to gamblers nowadays than fans of the fighters. Even the big cards are so top heavy now the main events are often the only ones people pay attention to.

 

[Jonjonesgonemad]

Probably the white house stuff that surprise surprise only few select are that excited about.

Also, this lie too:

 

[marvinparsons]

The only thing I like about Dana is that he lets fighters say crazy shit without repercussions and isn't afraid to call people out when they put on lousy performances (refs and judges too).

Other than that I can't see how he is moving the sport forward, but he also doesn't call the shots either.

There is a version of the UFC that I think could be much bigger than it is currently and the UFC would still make a lot of money.

 

[marvinparsons]

So you say..
Affliction
Strikeforce
EliteXC
Dream

PFL and One are hemorrhaging money

KSW is about the only promotion that seems to have a measure of success.

All I am saying is be careful what you wish for.. I bet Scott Coker could ruin the UFC in 2 years of taking over.

Also people shit on Dana because he is the front man.. The UFC is not Dana anymore. Hunter Campbel and Sean Shelby likely have as much power as Dana at this point.

You can't compare any of those B leagues to the UFC. In every sport it is damned near impossible to start a rival league and they almost always fail (WHL, XFL etc) and running a sports league is so hard that many anti trust laws don't even apply.

The UFC is the only real name brand in MMA. Everything else will always be seen as an inferior knock off no matter how well run they are and will be almost impossible to make money from.

I don't doubt Scott Coker or many other people could run the UFC. It practically runs itself and has built in revenue streams/fans/known fighter/brand recognition.

Even getting something like Strikeforce to have a modicum of success was way harder than operating the UFC from like 2006-2025.

 

[leto1776]

Dana doesnt control anything. Dana answers to TKO, who answers to WME, who answers to private equity firm Silver Lake. If you know anything about private equity firms, then you'll understand why the UFC is run this way now. UFC is used to pay back loans for other ventures. As long as UFC is making money (and that's for the next 7 years at least), they're not going to change anything. Oncce it starts losing money, They'll just dump it.

 

[Local Plata]

He spent over a decade shitting on the boxing model, clowning it rightfully for being a farce of a sport and how the best never fight each other and its all about protecting stars with cherry picked matchups ... then as soon as he could pull it off, did it himself.

 

[Lycandroid]

Also, this lie too:

Where is the lie ?

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Dana should have been forced out years ago, he's well past his prime. But the ufc just made 8 billions so he'll be attributed to the success and will only leave in a box.

 

[Usssssyyyy]

I think every current UFC executive needs to be fired and cast into the sea

More serious response: Dana is definitely part of the problem, but the bigger issue is WME’s and now TKO’s corporate culture. That’s why I suggested cleaning house because that comes from the top and any replacements could fall into the same behaviors.

Corporate culture ALWYAS ruins everything

 

[DrTrouble]

TKO stock up over 50% over the last 12 months and up over 28% YTD.

UFC just signed a $7.5 billion deal with Paramount.

 

[Doughie99]

The UFC is becoming what Dana White always hated about Boxing, the only fights that were good was Alex vs Ankalaev 1, Merab vs Umar, other than that, 2025 has shown nothing good:

-Barely stripped Jon of the title after fans begged him to do it for many months or even 2 years since Aspinall became interim champion.
-Attempts to promote Boxing, which rivals the UFC.
-Refused to book Volk and Movsar despite both fighters appealing for the fight.
-Has put together increasingly scrappier and more mediocre fight cards as time goes on.
-Refuses to make Super fights, no Valentina vs Zhang, no Tom vs Jon, ilia vs Islam...and the list goes on.
-Barely promotes fights (no face to face interviews, mediocre fight posters, lazily announcing fights on Instagram live whilst trying desperately to sounds remotely passionate about the sport)
-Other than him releasing Mokaev and refusing to sign Francis back but Francis doesn't want it either way to save the HW division, also he has been releasing fighters who are winning at HW, like Martin Buday, Alexander Romanov, Rozenstruik whom lost to top HW Pavlovich...and some of these talented HW's, and many unfair releases of fighters.
-Barely books title fights which adds more excitement to the UFC, he keeps one shotting the fans, hypes the fans first and then ONE SHOT, he lied to fans about he will make a fight that will drive people crazy, like saying he will make Tom vs Jon but didn't.
-Overpricing everything and underpaying the fighters, gives wrong bonuses to fighters, like Dustin vs Max 3 didn't win FOTN or Holland vs D-Rod but Vettori vs Hernandez which wasn't that "WOW" or didn't give Reyes any POTN despite coming back to W column, or no POTN in the last event of Taira.
-He still doesn't want to give Russian fighters title shots even if they solidified their position for title fights, or denying No. 1 contenders title shots like Virna Jandiroba.
-Like, at least book more fights for WMMA, the Women champions are inactive af, Zhang Weili hasn't fought for 6 months but DDP who fought with her on same card is gonna make his next title defense in a few days.
-Some MMA Legends like: Frank Shamrock, Tim Sylvia, Dan Henderson, Mirko Cro Cop...and among others are still not in the UFC but rather inducts guys who win TUF and few title fights to the UFC HOF.

Do you believe Dana White should retire?

Too Read Didn't Long.

Like it or not....Dana is an integral part of the UFC and part of it's appeal to many people.

I don't like everything he does but he undeniably makes the whole UFC thing more exciting in certain ways.

 

[don't ask]

I do think we have finally arrived at a place within the sport where we could see Dana White retire. He owns a small percentage and doesn't have autonomy like he did years and years ago, which in turn has caused him to be visibly less enthused about the MMA world. Supposedly that is when Rogan exits as well (according to Joe himself). Obviously I'm guessing, but I think 2025 is their last full calendar year in the sport. Whether Dana's exit is good or bad for the UFC, we will see. I think Dana, at one point, did more good than bad. Now? I'm not so sure.

What do you think of when you say he did more good than bad? When I think of Dana's actions, I think about all the different ways they exploit the fighters financially, exert control over the fighters and pressure the fighters to do things to harm their own career.