How quickly would the UFC fall apart if Dana suddenly retired?

Goatenstein said:
He actually gets way too much of the credit for everything he is involved in. The UFC would either just get another roided loudmouth to be a spokesman or maybe they actually just behave like a professional sports organization.
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I think they will behave LESS like a pro sports organization. There is nobody in TKO who cares about sport as much as profit. I think Dana is probably among the ppl at the top of the organization who are MOST old school and want the UFC to appear like a legit sport.

I am not saying Dana wants the UFC's version of MMA to appear like a legit sport. I am saying he wants it to appear MORE like a legit sport than most of the TKO execs give a shit about. This is just comparative between him and the rest of the TKO exec team. This is not an absolute statement - it is a comparative one.

When he, and maybe a couple others, leave, the only ones left are the profit lawyers and profit accountants and they don't know what a fight is and they couldn't care less.

Yes, we can hate him. Lots of good reason to. But we would be wise to project that when he leaves, the value of a fighter, a fight, and probably a fan, all decrease, not increase. The prices probably increase. And the push to capture more of the casual market also increases.

The show will go on, but the percentage of "shit" in the "show" will only increase.

I know we hate Dana, but I can NEVER understand what give sherbros faith in the respect level of the rest of the TKO team for "the sport" of MMA. What have they done to make you think they respect MMA or fighters or fans more than Dana does??? I never understand this ridiculously naïve hope. What am I missing?
 
Seahawks Fan said:
Look, like most of you I'm not a Dana White fan. He does lie a lot and mistreats many fighters with his ruthless tactics.

But G-d damn does this man know how to run his business!

Every week it seems there's a handful of injuries that threaten to destroy a card, but here comes Dana to plug the holes and keep the ship afloat.

This man has been doing this shit for 22 years and seems like he's doing it better than ever.

Every year I hear people say "UFC dead". But nope, end of year roles around and UFC reveals that it just had a record year for profits.

You can hate Dana but you also have to admit he's a fuckin beast when it comes to running the UFC business.

I don't think people understand just how unique of a job Dana has and how hard it is to pull this off. Yeah it's a "business" and he's the CEO and president, but his employees are batshit crazy individuals who chose to get punched in the head for a living. Go manage a McDonald's for a few weeks and allow yourself to stew in the chaos, now try to imagine that instead of a 15 year old girl with pimples who pops Xanax you have to try to manage the likes of Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and every other sociopath that has ever fought under the UFC banner. That's why I doubt Hunter can truly replace Dana. Hunter went to business school which is useless in a business like this. Dana got a perfect education for this business on the streets of Boston.

Remember, none of this was ever supposed to work. When Dana and co. took over the helm in 2001 the UFC was banned in almost every state, the US gov wanted to ban it, and even PPV was considering cutting ties. Dana took an absolute shit hole situation and turned it into a multi billion dollar business, with only a high school diploma to his name. I hate the guy but I absolutely respect the fuck out of him. He was set up to fail basically from birth, but he just keeps winning and there's no sign it will end any time soon.
eddie-hearn-and-dana-white-64afdedf54918.jpg
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Didn't he just sign Bud Light as the main sponsor of UFC?
 
Team Dana just making fights for the sugar high.

Dana can roam wild -- as long as he makes numbers for the Company and their amoral Suits.
 
Seahawks Fan said:
Look, like most of you I'm not a Dana White fan. He does lie a lot and mistreats many fighters with his ruthless tactics.

But G-d damn does this man know how to run his business!

Every week it seems there's a handful of injuries that threaten to destroy a card, but here comes Dana to plug the holes and keep the ship afloat.

This man has been doing this shit for 22 years and seems like he's doing it better than ever.

Every year I hear people say "UFC dead". But nope, end of year roles around and UFC reveals that it just had a record year for profits.

You can hate Dana but you also have to admit he's a fuckin beast when it comes to running the UFC business.

I don't think people understand just how unique of a job Dana has and how hard it is to pull this off. Yeah it's a "business" and he's the CEO and president, but his employees are batshit crazy individuals who chose to get punched in the head for a living. Go manage a McDonald's for a few weeks and allow yourself to stew in the chaos, now try to imagine that instead of a 15 year old girl with pimples who pops Xanax you have to try to manage the likes of Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and every other sociopath that has ever fought under the UFC banner. That's why I doubt Hunter can truly replace Dana. Hunter went to business school which is useless in a business like this. Dana got a perfect education for this business on the streets of Boston.

Remember, none of this was ever supposed to work. When Dana and co. took over the helm in 2001 the UFC was banned in almost every state, the US gov wanted to ban it, and even PPV was considering cutting ties. Dana took an absolute shit hole situation and turned it into a multi billion dollar business, with only a high school diploma to his name. I hate the guy but I absolutely respect the fuck out of him. He was set up to fail basically from birth, but he just keeps winning and there's no sign it will end any time soon.
eddie-hearn-and-dana-white-64afdedf54918.jpg
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I don't doubt that Dana's "involved" in a lot of decision-making, but he's not doing it all himself. A lot of things are probably not even brought to him, others he probably just rubber stamps. [The foregoing is my opinion based on commonsense.]

Dana's biggest role is as the face and mouth of the UFC. Whoever replaces him will probably have a much different personality, so it depends on how the public takes to them. But even if the UFC has to try out a couple of different people to replace Dana, they'll hit on a suitable person eventually.

I mean obviously the UFC will go on without Dana. He's not immortal or ageless in spite of his impressive abs for his age.
 
Dana White is a very controversial divisive person. But he has more charisma on his pinky than most of the people in the world. He's definitely very unique individual.

He won't be easily replaced.
 
It would likely become more successful than ever with someone in charge who actually was to run a sport instead of chasing dollars. But considering they've been bought out by a giant company the likely hood of another Dana white type is pretty good.
 
mudrubble said:
I think they will behave LESS like a pro sports organization. There is nobody in TKO who cares about sport as much as profit. I think Dana is probably among the ppl at the top of the organization who are MOST old school and want the UFC to appear like a legit sport.

I am not saying Dana wants the UFC's version of MMA to appear like a legit sport. I am saying he wants it to appear MORE like a legit sport than most of the TKO execs give a shit about. This is just comparative between him and the rest of the TKO exec team. This is not an absolute statement - it is a comparative one.

When he, and maybe a couple others, leave, the only ones left are the profit lawyers and profit accountants and they don't know what a fight is and they couldn't care less.

Yes, we can hate him. Lots of good reason to. But we would be wise to project that when he leaves, the value of a fighter, a fight, and probably a fan, all decrease, not increase. The prices probably increase. And the push to capture more of the casual market also increases.

The show will go on, but the percentage of "shit" in the "show" will only increase.

I know we hate Dana, but I can NEVER understand what give sherbros faith in the respect level of the rest of the TKO team for "the sport" of MMA. What have they done to make you think they respect MMA or fighters or fans more than Dana does??? I never understand this ridiculously naïve hope. What am I missing?
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Dana white chose fake wrestler Brock lesnar - this alone makes everything you just said false. Dana white cares absolutely nothing about this being a sport.
 
It'll be fine for 2 reasons.
  • There's a clear line of succession. It's been laid out that Hunter takes over and he's largely been doing the job for ages.
  • The business isn't running on a whim, or someone's creative vision. It's a business model at this point. If he bows out, they just continue to execute the model.
I do think they may need someone to take over as the mouthpiece for the organization because while Hunter is a capable executive, he's not exactly Mr. Personality. I think it might be a good idea to have a DC or Chael take over the pressers and host the reality shows and that public faceing stuff that Dana does.

My one fear would be that Dana retires and Vince tries to install one of his guys instead of Hunter.
 
JustforBROCK said:
Dana white chose fake wrestler Brock lesnar - this alone makes everything you just said false. Dana white cares absolutely nothing about this being a sport.
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I feel like you either didn't read or comprehend what I wrote. Or else you are simply ignoring my point. I never said Dana cared about UFC operating like a sport. I said his not caring is still MORE caring than the rest of the TKO team. In case you have a hard time putting that concept together - these were the seminal parts:

I am NOT saying Dana wants the UFC's version of MMA to appear like a legit sport. I am saying he wants it to appear MORE like a legit sport than most of the TKO execs give a shit about. This is just comparative between him and the rest of the TKO exec team. This is not an absolute statement - it is a comparative one.

I know we hate Dana, but I can NEVER understand what give sherbros faith in the respect level of the rest of the TKO team for "the sport" of MMA. What have they done to make you think they respect MMA or fighters or fans more than Dana does??? I never understand this ridiculously naïve hope. What am I missing?

So I ask again - what am I missing? Why do fans think that when Dana leaves the TKO execs are going to bring in some kind of renaissance of respect for the sport? On exactly what are they basing this faith in the TKO execs?

What am I missing??
 
Honestly think someone like Coker would take over and be forgettable. Hate him or like him, but Dana being involved brings more people in and makes it a spectacle. I think some may like it, but ultimately will lose name value like when Joe Rogan doesn't do commentary even though the replacement may even do a better job.
 
jx820 said:
It'll be fine for 2 reasons.
  • There's a clear line of succession. It's been laid out that Hunter takes over and he's largely been doing the job for ages.
  • The business isn't running on a whim, or someone's creative vision. It's a business model at this point. If he bows out, they just continue to execute the model.
I do think they may need someone to take over as the mouthpiece for the organization because while Hunter is a capable executive, he's not exactly Mr. Personality. I think it might be a good idea to have a DC or Chael take over the pressers and host the reality shows and that public faceing stuff that Dana does.

My one fear would be that Dana retires and Vince tries to install one of his guys instead of Hunter.
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Also, allegedly, Ari has way more influence on Hunter than he does on Dana. There is rumoured to be a power struggle between Ari and Dana on how to run the UFC and, allegedly, Ari's positions are championed by Hunter and resisted by Dana.

Why do fans feel that when Dana leaves and Ari's influence can roll out with less resistance, that the sport will improve? Is Ari rumoured to have some kind of deep respect for MMA or UFC? I don't get it.

I'm not saying you said that of course. But fans seem to think that when Dana leaves, the "sport" will improve under Ari and his lawyer mouthpiece, Hunter.

Good fkn luck!
 
I don't think the UFC would suffer at all. It would probably benefit from the chance to run like a real business that isn't at the whim of a giant baby.
 
It wouldn't skip a beat, heck if they made the right hire they might even get bigger.
 
you could train a chimpanzee of average intelligence to do Dana’s entire job in like 3 days. less with a very smart chimp. saying “thanks for coming out, (insert city name here), we’re gonna move this stuff out of here and face these guys off” is like 60% of his entire duties. the man is useless
 
mudrubble said:
Also, allegedly, Ari has way more influence on Hunter than he does on Dana. There is rumoured to be a power struggle between Ari and Dana on how to run the UFC and, allegedly, Ari's positions are championed by Hunter and resisted by Dana.

Why do fans feel that when Dana leaves and Ari's influence can roll out with less resistance, that the sport will improve? Is Ari rumoured to have some kind of deep respect for MMA or UFC? I don't get it.

I'm not saying you said that of course. But fans seem to think that when Dana leaves, the "sport" will improve under Ari and his lawyer mouthpiece, Hunter.

Good fkn luck!
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I can see a post Dana era being more of an entertainment product. I do think the impulse to steer into star power is bigger with Ari and Vince, but it's not like Dana wasn't aleady of that mindset himself going back to the Zuffa era. The whole sale was built off the back of star driven PPVs.

So I guess I'd have to know exactly what change(s) you think Hunter would make on Ari's behalf in order to weigh in.
 
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