Dana White Brings MMA to the Masses

by E. Spencer Kyte
Love of Sports Correspondent

Let me start this by saying that I actually don’t much care for Dana White.

I think he’s a loudmouth who thinks far too highly of himself and takes advantage of his fighters, making money off their blood, sweat and tears while paying many of them paltry sums for their endeavors inside The Octagon.

However, as a huge MMA fan since the early, no-holds-barred days of UFC, Dana White - unlikeable as he may be - is exactly what this sport needs.

The UMass-Boston dropout who used to conduct aerobics classes at three Vegas gyms broke into MMA as a trainer for UFC Superstars Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. When word around Sin City spread that Semaphore Entertainment was looking for a buyer, White get together with Lorenzo Fertitta - a childhood friend and former head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission - and quietly started a revolution which is now being televised at a staggering rate.

From the ashes of the “dark days” of UFC, White became the face most associated with UFC, and slowly crafted his business into the multi-million dollar entity that it is today.

He’s helped bring the sport to network television with the creation and continued success of The Ultimate Fighter on SpikeTV.

He’s made UFC Press Conferences and announcements a must-see event for all MMA fans when they didn’t even register on the fight sports radar all that long ago.

Even his self-indulgent moments are good for the sport.

Like many fight fans, I got sick of hearing about the Dana White – Tito Ortiz conflict and all their carrying on, but the truth is when the president of the company and one of its biggest stars of all-time are making waves in the media, everyone is going to pay attention - and there really is no such thing as bad publicity.

But where Dana White deserves the most Extreme Love is giving the fans the best shows in the business.

This may be a hard point for some MMA maniacs to agree with, but Dana White delivers the goods with each and every UFC event, despite White’s and UFC’s inability to secure a dream fight between “The Natural” and Fedor Emilianenko.

EliteXC probably thought they struck gold in landing Kimbo Slice as the headliner for their inaugural broadcast on CBS. While he won the fight, anyone with an ounce of MMA acumen could see that Slice was far from an accomplished fighter, and would get trampled by most of the UFC heavyweights.

Instead of pursuing the Internet sensation, White struck a deal with former WWE Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar; a move many saw as publicity driven and geared to draw an audience through name recognition.

Lesnar is a former NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion and that base of knowledge, along with his incredible physical makeup, would serve him well right off the bat inside The Octagon. While his UFC debut didn’t go as planned – a submission loss to former UFC Heavyweight Champ Frank Mir – Lesnar rebounded with a dominating performance over notable veteran Heath Herring at UFC 87 in Minnesota.

Lesnar’s soon-to-be-dominance aside, instead of keeping current UFC Lightweight champ BJ Penn in place to fight #1 contender Kenny Florian, White is delivering the match that everyone – myself very much included – is dying to see: a rematch between Penn and UFC Welterweight Champion George “Rush” St. Pierre.

Despite injury setbacks and scheduling hassles, the highly anticipated Chuck Liddell – Rashard Evans fight is just around the corner.

He counter-punched Affliction’s PPV debut with a free television show on Spike featuring Anderson “The Spider” Silva, one of the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Now as Affliction sets for an October reload, White will have delivered four more impressive shows (including last weekend’s 87) in the interim.

Like I said at the outset – I think Dana White thinks a bit too much of himself. But when it comes to building and expanding the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, there isn’t another guy in the world I would rather have at the helm.