Dana White Mini-Series Part 3: The Future

(Photo by MMAjunki.com)

So, this is the last segment of our Dana White Mini-Series. We have received a lot of positive feedback and we appreciate it. This subject is so interesting and we would love to hear what you have to say about it in the comments section.

In the world of MMA many people discuss the future when it comes to fights, TV deals and PPV numbers. But what is never written about is the future of MMA focused solely on Dana White. Dana White literally holds the current state of MMA in the palm of his hand. Yes, One FC is building some promise out in Asia and we have Bellator in America but let’s be honest, the UFC dictates where MMA is going. The UFC lays the path and other promotions try their best to follow in those giant footsteps. 

Dana White, like I stated in my other two articles in this mini-series, does more for his company than most other presidents. He rarely delegates responsibilities and has a major influence on everything from sponsors and public relations, to the TUF show, fighter relations and putting together events. So, when a man has that much influence in the top promotion in the world, then he truly dictates where the whole sport of MMA is going.

Dana, does everything and does most of it very well. But what will happen when he retires? Dana is only 43 years old but his job is demanding. Now is it a scary thought for some of you to think of Dana retiring and disappearing from the UFC? It is for me. Think of everything that makes Dana unique, which is an endless list of attributes, being gone and a different set of attributes, which will be owned by the new president, taking their place. Will the new president go to the locker room after a fight and give the fighter their win bonus even though they lost? Will he be a man that can be both a loving uncle and yet intimidating enough to demand respect? Dana White is such a unique and distinct personality the odds are that no matter who replaces him they will not be someone we will want to watch on TV and hear his every word. Will he have the great rapport with the fighters and fans that Dana does? Probably not because Dana is the only president of a billion dollar company that goes out into -50°F weather outside at 2:00am to go take pictures and sign autographs for some crazy fans (yours truly was present). Even if the new president does these things will it feel natural and authentic or will it feel forced and fake to try and fill the void that Dana left behind? I am not sure and we will have to wait to find out but let’s hope that when the time comes the right suitor is chosen that can be his own man but still captivating in his own right. When it comes to a replacement Dana and the Fertittas need to try and find someone better. That should always be the goal. It might be near impossible but when the time comes they will have to put in maximum effort. They cannot hire someone that flatlines the company. In today’s financial crisis you need someone that continues growth. Now, the economy might be more stable by then but everything still applies. Dana has put himself in a situation where he is the face of the UFC. They have to decide if his replacement will be in the same role or allow the fighters to fully take that spotlight. They need to decide if the replacement will be more like Scott Coker for Strikeforce who is mainly on the sidelines or like Dana right in the heat of things.

Now, the part that Dana needs to start the second the “retirement tingle” starts to itch the back of his brain is getting his company ready for a major transition. Dana needs to plan for a few things: finances, delegation and expansion.

When it comes to finances I would say he would need to do some alterations when it comes to the fighters. First off, get rid of the ridiculous $35,000 tax they charge any company trying to sponsor their fighters. Open the doors for more companies to get involved. Dana also needs to work on getting some other blue-chip sponsors for the UFC. They have Budweiser, Edge shave gel and the latest video games and movies. But he needs to step it up before he leaves. They need to be closer to NFL status than they are currently. There is so much more I could list here (new TV show, tournaments ect.) to help bring in revenue but I won’t go there.

Delegation will be a key aspect in his departure. Dana is too involved at this point and I think as he ages and his body demands more rest and less traveling this will be a more natural transition. However, when the time comes he might even need to restructure parts of the company. Dana needs to start building towards having his job spread out into multiple other jobs. This is common when big transitions like a new employee in a major role start a job. Sometimes they restructure that open role into many other roles before hiring. This is an idea they should start throwing around now. One example is having a guy in charge of the team that does TUF or whatever TV show they have going at that time. They have something similar to that now but Dana is still very involved at this point. When he leaves he must make sure that everything is settled and all of the duties are spread out to a reasonable extent.

Expansion is something that will never truly stop. However, Dana needs to keep cracking away at this. Lorenzo Fertitta (Co-owner and CEO of Zuffa) has been put in charge of making this happen at a faster pace. But by the time Dana retires he will need to have stars in most major countries; which means Joe Silva and Sean Shelby (UFC matchmakers) needs to step it up. Now, some of you might not know this but the UFC is taking a page out of the book of Shane McMahon; the son of WWE CEO Vince McMahon. PPV buy rates started to plummet in the mid 2000’s in America for the WWE. So, Shane set out and started a global expansion plan. It worked wonders. He had wrestlers representing almost every major market in the world. It literally saved the WWE. The UFC has been trying to do the same with TUF Brazil, TUF UK vs. America and, the most recent, Australia vs.UK. They also promote Cain Velasquez as a Mexican-American fighter, Michael Bisping (the best fighter from the UK), Georges St. Pierre from Canada, the many fighters from Japan and all of the amazing talent from Brazil. They are trying very hard to push these fighters as representatives of their homelands. But it is so much harder to do that with the UFC than the WWE. The WWE is fake and they can write any story and make anyone they want champion. But the UFC has to have the ability to find the best fighters from these areas across the world and hope they succeed. Expansion needs to be bigger and more secure than it is now.

No matter what the outcome of all of this will be, it will be an interesting time. Possibly a scary time. A time of absolute uncertainty for many. But if Dana and the Fertittas handle this transition carefully it could work out just fine. But more than anything, Dana’s presence will be missed.

Let us know in the comments what you think about this subject. What do you think some of the changes will be when Dana retires?

Dana White Mini-Series Part 2: Professionalism

Dana White (Photo by Sherdog.com)

Dana White is the busiest man alive. It seems like he rarely delegates many executive responsibilities and tasks. He is incredibly hands-on and can be seen at almost every UFC affair of any kind ranging from press conferences, weigh-ins, The Ultimate Fighter TV show and every fight event no matter where on the globe these events might take place. So, when it comes to getting the job done there are few men in the world that do as much as he does for their respective companies. Dana has also done a phenomenal job building the UFC brand and his own name as well. The story has been told a thousand times before about how he took a sport that was dead, went 40 million dollars into debt and then saved it all on a last ditch effort with The Ultimate Fighter reality series. And he took himself from being a boxing aerobics instructor to the Mafioso-esque boss-man he is today. But the problem is his professionalism in the media spotlight. I think Dana has a decent grasp on certain aspects of the financial future and corporate growth but the customers pay the bills and in order for growth you need more customers.

Every major sport that is more popular than the UFC in America (football, baseball, basketball) and other sports throughout the world (soccer, hockey) has an atmosphere of professionalism that the UFC is desperately missing. Not one owner or commissioner in the NFL or MLB has ever said or done what Dana White has done in the spotlight. The closest thing I can think of is the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s antics from years past. But that is minor compared to what Dana pulls. Cuban never went against his own team on the scale Dana has against his own contracted fighters. I think we need some imitation for success here. There is a level of public professionalism that all of these organizations exude and in order to follow suit I believe Dana needs to adopt similar attributes and traits. If I were to ask Dana “Do you want to be taken more seriously as a professional sports organization?” He would most likely say “Yes!” So, why doesn’t he do what it takes and make it happen?

I would start by advising him to clean up the sport and his mouth. I have been to 2 UFC expos (Boston and Toronto) and was very disappointed with a few things. Dana and Joe Rogan swearing on the microphone on stage in front of the families with children walking around. Do they really think that is appropriate? MMA is not an adult sport anymore. Children practice it as well as all of the individual martial arts. It is time to clean up their mouths. I saw at least a dozen dads put their hands over their sons’ ears when Rogan and Dana took the mic. That is ridiculous and should never happen. Don’t you want those children to grow up and be customers?! Well, if the parents start to think that it is too inappropriate for their children then those kids will not grow up watching the UFC. Another thing at the expos that was really bad were the women walking around practically naked. My issue is for the same reasons I just listed. Adult customers = momentary gain until they age and die. Family customers = insures gain for years and years through the generations (like the NFL!). I understand that the “ring girl” has existed for many years in the boxing world and is a staple in the UFC and I have little issue with that but all the stores at the expo having girls walking around 80% naked is unneeded , a shame and unsound financially.

More on Dana’s mouth. When Dana is interviewed he swears nearly every time. Now, I am not in the upper echelon of the working business world but my father is. If he were to talk like Dana talks he would be jobless in a heartbeat. To use the f-word is just never appropriate and it is time to move on from the famous “Do you want to be a f-ing fighter?” speech from the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Yes, that was quite popular but it is time to become a legit professional company. Plus, when you are swearing like that you sound like an 18 year old kid who is drunk at a frat party and not the president of a billion dollar promotion.

One thing he has done well professionally is marketing. Dana White is an absolute genius when it comes to marketing. Having the athletes available for fans to meet at expos and press conferences is revolutionary and not found in any other sport. I am a die-hard Yankees fan. Guess how many Yankees I have met…zero. Having the fighters meet the fans on the regular is an innovative marketing strategy that is unmatched in sports today. Also, having every fighter on twitter communicating with fans or at least giving the fans a way to get to know the fighters on a deeper level was beyond smart. It is dangerous to let them have free reign but worth the risk. Fans root for athletes they find commonalities with and they get to know the fighters better through twitter.

One last thing is Dana’s attitude seems to be becoming more and more like a tyrant; a “do what I say or die!” type persona growing. When his fighters act up or do horrible PR disasters, I understand the need to crack down. But when a fighter doesn’t make the career decisions Dana wants them to make or doesn’t fight as exciting as Dana wants then he acts like a crazed dictator and reigns down the wrath of God. Also, Dana awards the sloppiest fight “Fight of the Night” bonus money every event. Sometimes it is based on how back-and-forth it was or the technical skills displayed. But mostly it’s the Matt Riddle or Leonard Garcia fests put on. It is asking fighters to risk their careers and health to garner more money for the company. It is a sport and competition. Every other sport does not influence their athletes to endanger themselves so tickets sell. That is horrible and disgusting. And when fighters put on boring fights he should not go on a twitter rant about how horrible they are because they did not make him money!

But overall I think the change Dana needs to make are simple: act professional. Learn from and mimic your peers that are more successful.  I think Dana is aware of all of these but is stubborn and likes the attention so refuses to change. But I think eventually the Fertitta brothers (who own most of the UFC) will crack down and reformat Dana’s role in the public eye. All of these changes are necessary though for long term success.


For Dana White Mini-Series Part 1 click here