In his time as UFC President, Dana White has transformed the landscape of combat sport, but he does not remain immune to some questionable decisions.
The Good:
- Fight Island
The early months of the coronavirus pandemic were dark times for sports fans, but it was the UFC that took a lead in broadcasting weekly events to soften the blow of quarantine.
White chose to ignore the sceptics and boldly promised to book out a quarantine zone that would allow fights to be aired every weekend.
Despite some inevitable positive tests, the periods on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi were handled with the upmost professionalism, with the use of regular tests, masks and social distancing preventing the spike of cases the events could have caused.
White gained much praise for the bold move, with the UFC taking the lead in the return to sport worldwide during the pandemic.
2. Good matchmaking
While this may seem like less of a decision and more of a mindset, it’s irrefutable that the UFC’s booking system is vastly superior to boxing’s. It allows the fights the fans want to see take place while also giving deserving challengers title shots, rather than forcing them to go through tedious negotiations.
White has championed this system, which has led to many boxing fans ultimately turning to mixed martial arts.
Whilst there have been many cases of worthy contenders not being given their justified shot at the belt, the vast majority of the time this is not the case.
A premise of sport should be that the best will take on the best, and the UFC has prided itself on achieving this goal.
3. Buying the UFC
Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s mixed martial arts were looked down upon, with future presidential candidate John McCain likening it to ‘human cockfighting’.
In spite of the negative profile the UFC had at the time, White saw potential in the sport and convinced his friends and owners of Zuffa, the Fertitta brothers to take a monumental risk and buy the promotion.
Dana not only convinced Lorenzo and Frank to buy the organisation, but to stick with it through some rocky periods, with the Fertitta’s not leaving the UFC until Zuffa was bought by WME-IMG for $4 billion no less.
Without White’s persuasiveness, it’s almost certain that the promotion would have survived, let alone thrived and transformed into the headline company in a mainstream sport.
The Bad:
- Allowing Conor McGregor to fight Floyd Mayweather
While many may argue the move to book Mayweather vs McGregor was a fantastic powerplay from White that allowed the sport of mixed martial arts to reach more eyes than it ever had before, the move actually had more negative connotations in the long term than many initially perceived.
With ‘Champ Champ’ status secured it was only right that McGregor would take on Mayweather in a fight the fans were clamouring for in August of 2017, where ‘Money’ took the win via TKO in the tenth round, with many considering the bout a huge success for McGregor, who at points looked in control of the most successful boxer of recent times.
However, it’s undeniable that the fight was a catalyst in causing a spiral of events that prevented Conor from re-entering the Octagon for over a year, with the fame going to his head and leading to occurrences such as the ‘bus’ incident.
While the incident was consequential in the booking of the highest grossing MMA fight in history between ‘The Notorious’ and Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor just has not seemed to escape controversy, and has gone from an undisputed two-weight champion, to perhaps the most polarising figure in the sport.
The fight had knock-on effects that prevented McGregor from returning to the UFC regularly, which has caused a major decline in mainstream interest in MMA since the heights of its popularity in 2016.
2. Jon Jones
There is no denying that Jon Jones has been given more chances to right his wrongs than nearly anyone before him, with repeated wrongdoings plaguing his ‘GOAT’ status that many fans tout him with.
The repeated gifting of chances to the two-time UFC light heavyweight champion has caused many to call into question the legitimacy of the UFC and Dana White himself as bookers of the sport, with the organisation not being so lenient with many other athletes that were caught in similar circumstances, but just have less status.
The first case that jumps to mind would be that of UFC 232, where the entire event was moved from Las Vegas to Inglewood on less than a week’s notice due to a drug test abnormality from Jones.
White’s choice to cause a major inconvenience for not only the fighters on the card, but the fans themselves proved his ruthless business mind can at times be damaging, and can often turn the organisation into a laughing stock that only cares about a pay day.
The authority that White exercises can sometimes feel all-powerful, and without athletic commissions exercising more power, these eventualities might continue in the sport, which could majorly stunt its growth.
3. Feuding with his own fighters
Most fans really do not value the exercise of influence of non-athletes in their chosen sport, and Dana White certainly does not hold back.
While the president’s volatile nature can be a positive, and has at times got the UFC good publicity, it has more often proven to be detrimental.
In particular, Dana’s feud with Tito Ortiz really downgraded the level of professionalism the promotion exhibited, with talk of a possible boxing match between the two being scoffed at by fans, particularly considering Ortiz is a former UFC light heavyweight champion, while White has never stepped in the ring for a professional bout in any martial art.
