What has Dana White done for the sport?

[whougonnacall]

He ran a company for 15 years that grew more than any other sports business in that time.

Yes he didn't want WMMA or Brock ... until they proved themselves worthy of being in UFC
He told Brock to get a fight outside of UFC first ... Brock did. Then he signed Brock & they made a shitload.
He waited until RR was someone that could obviously start a division & maintain it & they made a shitload.

I think DW is a dick, but he ran the day to day for 15+ years & people who can buy & sell Lorenzo insisted he stay on when they bought UFC.

So there needs to be a reason ... otherwise he would be out, bc we all know he has enough negatives in how he acts.

To be fair the reason they kept him on might be that they dont know what they wanna do with ufc yet so kept the ship on track witha familiar face til they do

 

[MacDuffle]

You describe him as a decision maker in the company.
Whether you're right and he is/was in charge of Operations, or I'm right and he's just a representative/spokeperson/BizDev, decision maker he's definitely not.

And he's not out because he's good at what he's going - represents

if only he Did More of The Stuff

 

[FrankieNYC]

To be fair the reason they kept him on might be that they dont know what they wanna do with ufc yet so kept the ship on track witha familiar face til they do

WME has worked with him for years prior
They know what he is worth (or not)
They are actually his Hollywood agents as well
They brand shows with his name
I get people disliking DW for the various ways he acts, but he must be doing something good, but even in bad years everyone that is on his side makes insane money.

Again, he is such a dick that if he wasn't extremely valuable, he would be gone

 

[AimedWithV]

Ugh
I described him as EXACTLY what his job entails
DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS
Within that he makes a lot of decisions obviously
Of course the larger majority owners make the major decisions ... that is Business 101

Operations manager makes decisions HOW to proceed with something/someone.
This is not the person who makes decisions what to do.
Accept/reject WMMA, Accept/reject Brock - MAJOR decisions.

I'll give you example of how it could've work:
"Dana, this is Lorenzo. We will accept Brock in the UFC if he tests himself first.
- Speak with him and explain the situation, be positive and don't alienate him.
- Look through the list of organizations and advise him on a decent one, which will provide him decent income. Meet their matchmakers to make sure he gets a beatable opponent but one that lets him show his skills.
- Report us regarding the result of the fight with your review of the fight."

"Dana, this is Lorenzo. We decided to give Strikeforce WMMA division a try.
- Go through the roster and find us X women that deserve to fight in the UFC.
- Meet with Ronda Rousey and make sure she is satisfied with the contract transfer from Strikeforce to the UFC. Eliminate any discrepancies, you can use the relevant budget for that.
- Sleep with Ronda Rousey
- Work with matchmakers to distribute the first WMMA fight in the UFC in an optimal way.
- Meet the designers and superwise their work on a new WMMA championship belt.
"

etc.

 

[tenniswhiz]

Right place, right time

 

[whougonnacall]

WME has worked with him for years prior
They know what he is worth (or not)
They are actually his Hollywood agents as well
They brand shows with his name
I get people disliking DW for the various ways he acts, but he must be doing something good, but even in bad years everyone that is on his side makes insane money.

Again, he is such a dick that if he wasn't extremely valuable, he would be gone

I reject utterly the premise that someone getting fucktons of money must be earning it somehow...reality tvs sucess alone should prove that
No id say hes around as they bought the ufc as an asset and wanted him running things as normal til they decide to so something different with that asset
That said the org is making money so they may just have bought it and decided to keep it as is!
Iv always felt the ufc grew in spite of dana rather than because of him...image wise hes not helpful for expansion beyond the 18-20 something yr old male demographic

 

[FrankieNYC]

Operations manager makes decisions HOW to proceed with something/someone.
This is not the person who makes decisions what to do.
Accept/reject WMMA, Accept/reject Brock - MAJOR decisions.

I'll give you example of how it could've work:
"Dana, this is Lorenzo. We will accept Brock in the UFC if he tests himself first.
- Speak with him and explain the situation, be positive and don't alienate him.
- Look through the list of organizations and advise him on a decent one, which will provide him decent income. Meet their matchmakers to make sure he gets a beatable opponent but one that lets him show his skills.
- Report us regarding the result of the fight with your review of the fight."

"Dana, this is Lorenzo. We decided to give Strikeforce WMMA division a try.
- Go through the roster and find us X women that deserve to fight in the UFC.
- Meet with Ronda Rousey and make sure she is satisfied with the contract transfer from Strikeforce to the UFC. Eliminate any discrepancies, you can use the relevant budget for that.
- Sleep with Ronda Rousey
- Work with matchmakers to distribute the first WMMA fight in the UFC in an optimal way.
- Meet the designers and superwise their work on a new WMMA championship belt.
"

etc.

lol goodnight

 

[AimedWithV]

lol goodnight

Dude, whether you like it or not, this is how it usually looks.
OPs manager has a lot of freedom, a lot of budget, a lot of understanding and he manages a shitload of factors with giving bunches of orders.
But after all, he's an officer, not a general.

 

[quantiqus]

I agree with everything you just said.

i know this may sound a little in a hurry, but would you....ummm... do you wanna go sometimes at some place nice, with candles, and then, if things go well, maybe a long walk on the beach?


NO HOMO!

 

[mmahorse]

he basically conned the fertitta brothers who were millionaires to buy a lemon.
then the feritta brothers made Dana White their puppet while they pulled all the strings.
it worked out and they made him a millionaire while they made themselves billionaires.
no they are out and the UFC has gone to sh1t.

 

[HHJ]

He ran the day to day operations for an MMA company & raised its stock to over $5b from a few million.

As big as a dick as he is, that is pretty insane to do in 15-16 years

Its a hard job. I would have had a fuckin heart attack a long time ago having to run around as much as he does and deal with fighters getting injured and missing weight and usada'ing themselves.

 

[Ufc1son]

Dana is the dickhead of the MMA world.

 

[kflo]

people seem to think everything bad was dana and everything good was the fertittas.

 

[kflo]

But what did he actually do?

Didnt want women's mma (only thing I agreed on tbh)
Didn't want tuf
Didn't want brock

you're saying he didn't want to ronda or the 135 division when they added it in 2012?

and when did he say he didn't want brock and was overruled by the fertittas?

 

[Goon Dog]

His biggest contribution was driving the move from human cockfighting to sport and the importance of this cannot be overstated. Getting acceptance with the athletic commissions was huge and Dana largely drove that.

 

[20falarVerdades]

Dana has surpassed Elon Musk and Warren Buffet as the #1 p4p businessman in the US

 

[yougotabeeonyourhat]

Dana was full throated in his opposition to TUF and had to be dragged into it by the Fertittas...so he doesn't even deserve credit for the biggest factor in The UFCs meteoric rise in popularity.

I said it before and I'll say it again, The UFC is successful in spite of Dana White, not because of him.

 

[Erratic]

I think it is fair to give Dana white recognition for playing his part in building the UFC brand that you see to this day. Sure he did not do it all on his own, not at all.. but I feel like Dana is a very hands on and has made alot of different moves that were beneficial for the UFC. He was alot of the 'appearance' of the UFC, that is a key factor in a brands success, and when you see a sport blow up like it did, it is hard not to give him some credit.. it is not like hes just some regular business smuck that landed on a business loan and got lucky.. smart, intelligent and successful guys like the Fertittas don't simply give big money away for nothing, they saw what they saw in Dana and it was a good move..

 

[Myrddin Wild]

You're falsely assuming that anyone else could make the UFC what it has become today.

Obviously it wasn't as easy as you're making it out to be since the original owner couldn't do it.... & so many other small organizations couldn't do it.

Dana & the Fertitas were a team... they all get equal credit for making it happen imo.