One of the largest titles in all of human sports history is the title of the largest mixed martial arts fighting championship, UFC. Most of us can already hear Bruce Buffer shouting his iconic “It’s Time!”, as the crowd roars to welcome some of the greatest fighters and martial artists the world has ever seen.
About a decade or two ago, however, the UFC was nothing like it is now. It was actually quite near going bankrupt, and the status of MMA was that of a disgusting bloodsport. However, after the Fertitta brothers and Dana White purchased the UFC for 2 million dollars in 2001, they turned it into arguably the largest and most prestigious MMA competition the world has ever seen, and even sold the company for an astounding 4 billion dollars in 2016. This massive return is largely thanks to Dana White himself. So, how did he buy the UFC, and what happened?
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Why Did the UFC Almost Go Bankrupt?
In 2001, Dana White, with the help of Lorenzo and his brother, Frank Fertitta, bought UFC for 2 million dollars. If somebody were to say that today’s UFC was only worth that much, most people wouldn’t believe it, seeing as the company was recently sold for 4 billion. However, the business actually was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Some reports suggest that Lorenzo Fertitta was on different sports boards and councils in Las Vegas for quite some time before the first fall of the UFC and that he was also partly responsible for it, seeing as he voted for the restricting of these types of sports in the region. Some believe this was a plan to decrease the value of the UFC so they could buy it for relatively cheap, and then turn it into the mega business they have turned it into.
Whether this was their actual plan or not, we might never know, but what we know is that when the Fertitta brothers purchased the company and put Dana White, their high-school friend, as the face of it, it became one of the largest success stories in the sporting world. White actually got the Fertitta brothers to purchase the company, since he didn’t have enough money to do so, and because he saw the massive business opportunity that awaited them. Even before the UFC started gaining popularity, he believed that the UFC would one day be one of the greatest sporting events in the country or even in the world, which is a prophecy that probably drove them to where they are now.
Dana White as the Face of the UFC
The Fertitta brothers were always the behind-the-scenes, conference room owners of the UFC, whereas Dana White was more like the showman, the salesman who managed to reel people in much more than any of the brothers could have. According to them, Lorenzo and Dana work in perfect harmony, since Dana cannot stand conferences, whereas Lorenzo can spend an endless amount of time in meetings. Lorenzo is also not a salesman type, so Dana fills this position perfectly.
What Dana gave to the UFC is its face. He was the president, while Lorenzo was the CEO. Dana White is the face of the UFC, the person who gave it its character and also much of its value. He could and still can connect with the fans of the sport in a way nobody else can, which is why he deserves much of the credit for the insane price they sold the company for. The Ultimate Fighting Championship became the golden standard around the world, and Bruce Buffer and Dana White became household names.
Cashing In
Generally, when somebody buys a company, a stock share, or any asset, their goal with it is to flip it. That is, to sell it for more than they got it. This is the basic concept of business and sales. If you walk up to any businessman and tell them you can take 2 million dollars and turn it into 4 billion, either they won’t believe you, or they will be willing to give everything they have just to learn from you.
And this is exactly what Dana and the Fertitta brothers did. 2 million dollars seem like an enormous amount of money, but compare it to 4 billion, and you see that from the amount of money made, they could buy the original, nearly bankrupt company 2000 times. How’s that for a good payday?
Since most of the 2 million dollars going into the purchasing of the original company was given by the Fertitta brothers and not Dana White, Dana only received a 9% share of the company. That might not seem like too much, but if you take out your calculator and check how much Dana earned when they sold the company, you might fall off of your chair. Dana White made an astounding 360 million dollars the day they sold the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
This is not to say he doesn’t deserve it. Dana White worked an insane number of hours ever since he became the face of the UFC. He is inseparable from the UFC, so much so actually, that even though the company was sold years ago, he still remained the face of the UFC, since probably everyone knows that there is a chance that the company would go downhill if they got another person to try to do what he does.
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