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

Growing Pains: True Title Challengers

Dana White crowning Junior dos Santos Heavyweight Champ (Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE, US PRESSWIRE)

This is a new segment we are starting here at CR called Growing Pains. Our beloved sport is relatively new and is still growing and forming into a solid structure that can and will last for the long term. The sport inside the cage has developed extremely quickly but it is all of the issues surrounding the sport and outside the cage that still need to develop the most. In this segment we will be writing about those issues and would love your (our devoted readers) feedback in return.

This time around we are discussing Title Challengers. After the FOX 4 Shogun Rua vs. Brandon Vera main event was announced people were a tad confused because Shogun is much higher in the ratings. But when Dana White said that the winner receives a title shot there was a lot of confusion and mixed emotions. I think that down the line this issue will be much more important than we now see it.

I recently watched a replay of a FOX Business episode that had Bjorn Rebney on. Rebney is the CEO of Bellator and he truly believes in the tournament format to determine true title challengers. I tend to agree with him that it is the best way. I think almost everyone does. In every other sport, even college football now, has the tournament format and everyone is satisfied in the end that the true champion was crowned (except if it’s not your team and then you blame the refs…I do it too). I am a Yankees fan. I am from New York and have loved them my whole life. If you aren’t a Yankees fan then you hate them but even in the end after the Yankees win the World Series most people accept it. They give the “they have too much money” excuse but they recognize they are the best team.

Dana White is a man that runs on emotions. He makes decisions based on how he feels and his emotions sometimes trump thought-out and well planned decisions. Do we want a sport where the most significant championship fights are determined by who the boss likes most? Do we want a popularity contest? I hope not! Now, many believe that tournaments shorten fighters’ careers which I believe does hold some validity but if done correctly then I think we can keep the athletes safe. Look at how the flyweight tournament went down. Every fight was spaced out far enough and no one fought twice in one night.

Now I am not saying the UFC needs to constantly have tournaments but I think this week’s title contender match proves the UFC needs some improvements. Maybe even an official rankings system could work. They show rankings on UFC Tonight but if they detailed how they came to those results and then decided to promote those more it will have people believing in them.

I think the best solution is to formally announce the top four fighters in each weight class and then have them fight each other in a mini-tournament, just like the flyweight tournament, to get a true title contender. Maybe mix in those rankings I mentioned previously to give more credibility in ranking the top four in each weight class. Another positive is each one of those fights could be an important main event on cards. Giving more credibility and importance on a regular basis; in other words every main event would have title implications.

But in the end what matters most is that the customers, the fans, are satisfied and that our sport does what is best for its own longevity. The UFC needs to start thinking long-term about this matter. How many more Shogun-Vera situations will it take before people stop caring about UFC title fights? I hope we don’t find out.