He broke his wedding rule once, then came the $2 million UFC deal
Loyalty to a high school friend who drove him to school put White back in touch with Lorenzo Fertitta.
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · Dana White: This Generation Thinks You Can Build A Business From Home, It's Impossible!Dana White did not go to weddings. In his twenties, when everyone he knew seemed to be getting married, the man who now runs the UFC, the fight brand, had a blanket rule against going. He lived in Boston, flights took time, and the trips took too much out of him.
He broke it once, for Adam Corrigan. Corrigan was a rich kid from high school, while White had no car. Every school day, Corrigan picked him up and drove him to class. White recalled that Corrigan “had to wake up forty-five minutes to an hour earlier, get ready, drive over, get me, and then we both had to be to school on time.” White said he could not skip the wedding after all Corrigan had done for him.
At the wedding, White ran into Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, the men who would later buy the UFC with him. White said he had not seen them in 10 years or more.
The reunion became a business beginning with a short conversation. White said Lorenzo told him he had just joined the Nevada Athletic Commission, which regulates combat sports in the state, and had heard White had a boxing gym. Lorenzo said he wanted to come in and train with him.
White told him to come by. He came in on Monday, in White’s telling, and White says he, Lorenzo, and Frank have been together ever since. Sometime thereafter, White said, they jointly purchased the UFC for $2 million. White said, “if the Lakers sold for 12 and a half billion, then the UFC is worth 50 billion.”
White does not call the sequence luck. He calls it timing. Asked whether he believes in karma, White said, “I believe in karma ’cause I’ve seen it play out good and bad.” He thrives on upheaval, and White said, “I am addicted to chaos, and if there isn’t any, I create it.”
Questions people ask
What exactly is the UFC?
The UFC stages mixed martial arts fights in a caged ring, with fighters using boxing, wrestling, and other disciplines. White and the Fertittas bought it in 2001 when it was struggling, then built it through television deals, live events, and stars like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor. It is now part of TKO Group, alongside professional wrestling.
Who are the Fertitta brothers?
Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta came from a family that owned casinos in Las Vegas. Lorenzo had served on the Nevada Athletic Commission, which regulates combat sports in the state, and both brothers had the money and business experience to back White. They owned the UFC through Zuffa until selling a majority stake in 2016 for about $4 billion.
What does the Nevada Athletic Commission do?
It licenses fighters, judges, and promoters, and approves rules and fight results. Lorenzo had just joined the commission around the time of the wedding, when White was running a boxing gym. The source does not say the commission role caused the deal.