DanaWhite is an American businessman best known as the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a leading global mixed martial arts organization.
Additionally, he owns Power Slap, a promotion dedicated to slap fighting.
Early life and Education
Dana Frederick White Jr. was born to June and Dana White Sr. on July 28, 1969, in Manchester, Connecticut. He is of Irish descent. White spent much of his early life in Ware, Massachusetts. He and his sister, Kelly, were primarily raised by their mother and her family. Due to better nursing opportunities, White’s mother, who was a nurse, relocated the family to Las Vegas when White was in third grade. He attended Bishop Gorman High School, where he first met Lorenzo Fertitta, though they did not become close friends until later. White has mentioned his dislike for school, noting he was expelled from Bishop Gorman twice. Despite living in Nevada, the Whites spent their summers in Levant, Maine, with White’s grandparents, and he completed his senior year of high school in Maine, graduating from Hermon High School in 1987.
White briefly attended Quincy College and UMass Boston but dropped out during his first semester both times. During this period, he held various jobs, including laying asphalt, working as a bouncer at an Irish bar, and serving as a bellhop at the Boston Harbor Hotel. White started boxing at age 17 and befriended Peter Welch, a former Golden Gloves champion. This friendship sparked White’s interest in the fight business, leading him to open a boxing gym in Boston with Welch. Although he initially aspired to become a professional boxer, he abandoned this goal after witnessing the effects of neurodegeneration in other boxers. Instead, White transitioned to working as a boxercise coach.
White moved back to Las Vegas in the early 1990s after being threatened by mobster Whitey Bulger and his associate Kevin Weeks over a debt. Fearing for his safety, White quickly relocated to Las Vegas. There, he continued to run boxercise gyms and began training in jiu-jitsu under John Lewis, a UFC competitor. During this time, he reconnected with the Fertitta brothers, Lorenzo and Frank, after meeting Lorenzo at a mutual friend’s wedding. This reconnection came after a decade of not being in contact. While training with Lewis, White met mixed martial artists Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, eventually becoming their manager.
Career
While managing fighters Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, Dana White met Bob Meyrowitz, the owner of Semaphore Entertainment Group, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the time. Learning that Meyrowitz was looking to sell the UFC, White reached out to his childhood friend Lorenzo Fertitta, an executive and co-founder of Station Casinos and a former commissioner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, to gauge his interest in purchasing the company. In January 2001, Lorenzo and his brother Frank acquired the UFC for $2 million, making it a subsidiary of Zuffa. White was appointed as the president of the company.
White revealed that the acquisition only included the UFC brand name and an old octagon, as the previous owners had stripped the company’s assets to avoid bankruptcy, even selling the UFC.com domain to “User Friendly Computers.” Under White’s leadership, the UFC grew into a highly successful business, generating $600 million in revenue by 2015. In July 2016, Zuffa was sold to a group of investors led by WME-IMG for $4.025 billion. At the time of the sale, White owned 9% of the company and continued as president, also receiving a stake in the new business.
In a notable 2011 interview with TMZ Sports, White stated that women would “never ever” compete in the UFC. However, he reversed this decision in February 2013 when Ronda Rousey faced Liz Carmouche in the first women’s UFC bout.
In May 2017, the UFC announced that White would host “Dana White’s Contender Series,” a show available exclusively through UFC Fight Pass, the promotion’s digital streaming service. The series gives up-and-coming fighters the opportunity to showcase their talents with the hope of earning a spot in the UFC.
On March 18, 2019, White signed a new seven-year contract to remain as UFC president, coinciding with the UFC’s deal with ESPN.
On April 3, 2023, Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG) announced a merger between the professional wrestling company WWE and the UFC, creating a new public company. White was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the UFC.
In the boxing arena, White co-promoted the high-profile bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor, due to McGregor’s UFC contract. In October 2017, White announced his intention to fully enter the boxing industry, but by 2022, he had retreated from these plans, describing boxing promotion as a “broken business” and a “nightmare” to fix.
White also owns Power Slap, a slap fighting competition that premiered in January 2023 and was previously aired on TBS. Additionally, in 2022, he became a co-owner of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment, which owns Nitro Circus, Nitrocross, and Street League Skateboarding.
Personal life
Dana White is married to Anne Stella, whom he met in the eighth grade. They were married in 1996. Together, they have three children: two sons, Dana III and Aidan, and a daughter, Savannah.
Net Worth
Estimated to be over 550 million dollars