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The UFC and Dana White are officially embarking on a new era. Following a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount, The Company isn’t just more popular than ever. Its NFL-esque broadcast deal removes them from their previous Pay-Per-View model and ensures the product is more accessible, more mainstream, than ever.
Journeying into this new frontier begins with UFC 324 and UFC 325. But it also happens to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the sale of The Company to Endeavor.
By any financial and interest measure, that transaction has been a rousing success. UFC enjoys a scarcity of product rivaled only by the NFL, thanks to the frequency with which its numbered events take place. The wait between marque fight cards drives interest and eyeballs. And by extension, it also inflates revenue, particularly on the sports betting side. The phrase “where to bet on UFC” is among the most searched terms in the sports lexicon.
All of this in mind, UFC president and CEO Dana White has to be pretty thrilled with how things are turning out. And rest assured, he is ecstatic about The Company’s pull among a broad fanbase. But in a recent interview with Case Keefer of Las Vegas Weekly, he revealed that he wasn’t happy when UFC sold for $4 billion a decade ago.
Dana White Explains Why He Was Unhappy With UFC Sale
This notion seems ridiculous on its face. Never mind where UFC stands now on the pro-sports popularity ladder. White himself received $360 million as part of the multi-billion-dollar deal.
And yet, as he tells Keefer, he despised the idea of relinquishing control. From the wide-ranging interview:
“It’s another moment commonly cited as a major success story for White, considering he received a $360 million payout as part of the deal in addition to a new contract to keep his job, but there’s a more complicated truth. ‘I wasn’t very happy when we sold,’ White says. ‘Everyone’s like, ‘What about the money?’ I had money. It didn’t change my life that much. I had everything I ever f**king wanted but all I wanted was to be in business with the Fertittas. They’re the greatest to this day, and the best people to be business partners with, to be friends with.”
“White was despondent when Lorenzo Fertitta, who ran the day-to-day operations of the UFC hand-in-hand with him while Frank Fertitta III was consulted on major decisions, first mentioned selling. It took a series of hard conversations for White to accept that not only Lorenzo Fertitta wanted out, but that White would need to remain with the company. White did get one concession as part of the talks—a say on the buyer. Despite talking to at least three other suitors and drawing at least one larger offer, White told the Fertittas that Endeavor head Ari Emanuel was the clear choice.”
The revelations do not stop here. White goes on to tell Keefer that he “wasn’t too f**king happy about staying at the time.”
UFC’s Trajectory Has Put Its CEO At Ease
For anyone wondering whether this is all a preamble to White announcing his departure from The Company, you can rest assured it does not. He gushes about the future of UFC following the Paramount deal while speaking with Keefer. At no point does he sound like someone preparing to leave.
Of course, if this isn’t enough proof for you, there is more definitive proof. White has confirmed that he signed a contract extension to remain with the company for at least the next five years.
By that point, mind you, UFC could be in the midst of renegotiating its contract with Paramount. Or it might be waiting for the opportunity to shop its rights on the market again.
And if this exit from the Pay-Per-View model goes as White plans, there’s a chance that, five to seven years from now, UFC broadcast rights will be worth a heck of a lot more than the roughly $1 billion per year they’re costing Paramount now.
