Dana White facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dana White
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White in 2015
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| Born |
Dana Frederick White Jr.
July 28, 1969 Manchester, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Known for | President and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) |
| Spouse(s) |
Anne Stella
(m. 1996) |
| Children | 3 |
Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman. He is best known as the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The UFC is a huge organization for mixed martial arts (MMA) around the world. He also owns Power Slap, which is a competition where people slap each other.
Contents
Early Life and School Days
Dana White was born in Manchester, Connecticut, on July 28, 1969. His parents were June and Dana White Sr. He has Irish American heritage. Dana spent his early years living in Ware, Massachusetts.
Dana and his sister, Kelly, were mostly raised by their mother and her family. His mother was a nurse. The family moved to Las Vegas when Dana was in third grade. This was because nurses could earn more money in Las Vegas. Dana went to Bishop Gorman High School. There, he first met Lorenzo Fertitta, who would become a close friend later. Dana said he did not like school and was "kicked out of Gorman twice." Even though they lived in Nevada, the family went back to Maine in the summers. They visited Dana's grandparents in Levant, Maine, a small town near Bangor. Dana finished his last year of high school in Maine.
After graduating from Hermon High School in 1987, Dana started college two times. He went to Quincy College and then to UMass Boston. But he left during his first semester each time. During these years, he had many different jobs. He worked laying asphalt, as a bouncer at an Irish bar, and as a bellhop at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Dana started boxing when he was 17. He became friends with Peter Welch, a former Golden Gloves boxing champion. This friendship made Dana want to work in the fight business. He opened a boxing gym in Boston with Welch. Dana first wanted to become a professional boxer himself. Later, he worked as a coach for "boxercise," which is a type of exercise based on boxing.
In the early 1990s, Dana White moved back to Las Vegas. He continued running boxercise gyms there. He also started training in jiu-jitsu with John Lewis. His friends Lorenzo Fertitta and his older brother Frank Fertitta III also trained there. Dana had reconnected with the Fertitta brothers after meeting Lorenzo at a friend's wedding. They had not talked for 10 years before that. While training with Lewis, Dana met mixed martial artists Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. He then became their manager.
Career in Sports
Leading the UFC
While managing fighters like Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, Dana White met Bob Meyrowitz. Bob owned Semaphore Entertainment Group, which was the company that owned the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the time. When Dana learned that Meyrowitz wanted to sell the UFC, he called his friend Lorenzo Fertitta. Lorenzo was a successful businessman and a former commissioner for sports in Nevada. Dana asked if Lorenzo would be interested in buying the company.
In January 2001, Lorenzo and his older brother Frank bought the UFC for $2 million. It became part of their company, Zuffa. Dana White was made the president of the UFC. He also received a share of the company for helping with the deal and for his hard work.
Dana White said that when they bought the UFC, they only got the name "UFC" and an old fighting cage called an octagon. The previous owners had sold off many of the company's valuable parts to avoid going bankrupt. For example, the UFC.com website had been sold to another company. The first UFC events under Dana's leadership, UFC 30 and UFC 31, were held at the Trump Taj Mahal. This helped Dana become good friends with Donald Trump.
The UFC did not become successful right away after the Fertittas took over. By 2004, the Fertittas had put over $40 million into the company. But it was not growing much or making a profit. Dana, along with the Fertittas and TV producer Craig Piligian, came up with an idea. They created a reality TV show about MMA called The Ultimate Fighter. They hoped this show would make more people interested in the sport. The company paid for the show themselves because TV networks did not want to. The Ultimate Fighter became very popular. Especially the final fight between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin is said to have "saved the UFC."
Under Dana White's leadership, the UFC grew into a very successful business. In 2006, UFC 66, with Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, sold over 1 million pay-per-view buys. By 2008, the company was worth $1.1 billion.
In 2010, a company from the Abu Dhabi Government bought a 10% share in Zuffa. This left Dana White with a 9% share. In 2011, Dana White said that women would "never ever" fight in the UFC. But he changed his mind. In February 2013, the UFC held its first women's fight. It featured Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche. Ronda Rousey later became one of the UFC's biggest stars, along with Conor McGregor. These two fighters helped the UFC earn a lot of money. In 2015, the UFC's total earnings reached $600 million.
In July 2016, Zuffa was sold to a group of investors for over $4 billion. Dana White owned 9% of the company at that time. He continued to be the president and also got a share in the new business. In March 2019, Dana signed a new seven-year contract to stay as UFC president. This was when the UFC also made a big deal with ESPN. In April 2023, the company that owns UFC announced a deal. The professional wrestling company WWE would join with UFC to form a new public company called TKO Group Holdings. Dana White was then given the title of chief executive officer of the UFC.
Ventures in Boxing
Dana White got involved in boxing by helping to promote the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. This was because McGregor was a UFC fighter. In 2017, White said he was "100 percent" getting into boxing. In 2019, he wanted to add boxing to the UFC's business. But he later changed his mind, saying in 2022 that promoting boxing was "a broken business." In 2024, White promoted a boxing event with Irish boxer Callum Walsh. This event was shown on UFC Fight Pass. He then said again that he plans to enter boxing promotion in 2025.
Other Projects
In 2017, Dana White started hosting Dana White's Contender Series. This show lets new fighters compete for a contract to join the UFC. It was first available on UFC Fight Pass, the UFC's online streaming service.
White was also a producer for The Ultimate Surfer. This was a surfing competition TV show, similar to The Ultimate Fighter. It was created by Kelly Slater, a famous surfer and a long-time friend of White. The show started on ABC in August 2021. It was canceled after one season because not enough people watched it.
In 2022, Dana White became a co-owner of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment. This company owns popular sports properties like Nitro Circus, Nitrocross, and Street League Skateboarding.
Dana White, along with the Fertittas, also started Power Slap. This is a slap fighting competition that began in January 2023. It was first shown on TBS. After TBS stopped showing it, the competition moved to the online streaming platform Rumble.
In January 2025, Meta Platforms announced that Dana White had been chosen to join its board of directors.
Personal Life
Dana White met his wife, Anne Stella, when they were in eighth grade. They got married in 1996. They have two sons and one daughter. In 2006, Dana bought a large house in Las Vegas from Frank Fertitta III. He bought three more houses in the same area between 2016 and 2017. These houses were likely bought to create a very large home for his family.
Dana White was raised as a Catholic and was an altar boy when he was a child. However, he now considers himself an atheist and does not believe in an afterlife.
Health and Well-being
In May 2012, Dana White shared that he had been diagnosed with Ménière's disease. This is a problem with the inner ear. He described it as "like vertigo but on steroids." White believes the disease started because of a big fight he was in when he was young.
Because of his health, White missed a UFC event in 2012. It was the first event he had missed in 11 years. He stayed home following his doctor's advice. White is getting a special treatment for Ménière's disease. He says it has greatly reduced his symptoms.
In 2022, White said he had medical tests. They showed he had very high levels of triglycerides and other issues. He was told he might only have 10.4 years left to live if he did not fix these problems. White said that since then, he has followed a special diet called a ketogenic diet. He says this diet has helped with his sleep apnea and leg pain.
Politics and Public Views
Dana White spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. There, he supported Republican candidate Donald Trump. White said that Trump helped the UFC when it was just starting. Trump allowed the UFC to hold its first event under Zuffa ownership (UFC 30) at the Trump Taj Mahal. This was at a time when other places refused to host the UFC. White said, "No arenas wanted us. This guy reached out, and he's always been a friend to me."
White continued to support Trump for the 2020 election. He spoke at a Trump rally in Colorado. In February 2020, White gave $1 million to a group that supported Trump's re-election. In April 2020, White joined a group of business leaders. They worked to help the United States economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. White again supported Trump in 2024 and introduced him at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hobbies and Interests
Dana White is a big fan of the music groups Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. He has a guitar signed by all three members of the Beastie Boys in his office.
White has been a fan of the New England Patriots football team since he was a child. He admires the former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. White said in a 2022 interview that he tried to arrange a deal. This deal would have brought Brady and another player, Rob Gronkowski, to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020. But the deal did not happen, and they signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers instead.
White started taking Brazilian Jiu-jitsu classes in 1998. He found it very helpful and realized how important ground fighting skills are.
In an episode of the TV show Pawn Stars in 2018, Dana White bought about $60,000 worth of Katana swords. This included a 17th-century Japanese Katana from Rick Harrison.
White enjoys gambling for fun. He plays high-stakes blackjack. He has been limited from playing at some casinos in Las Vegas because of his big bets. He says he plays $75,000 a hand. If he wins the first couple of hands, he takes his profit and leaves. White also bets on sports. In 2021, he said his biggest sports bet was in 2007. He bet $1 million on a boxer named Jermain Taylor. Taylor lost the fight, and White said it "ruined my whole trip."
Charity Work
In 2010, Dana White donated $50,000 for a liver transplant. This was for Tuptim Jadnooleum, the daughter of a Muay Thai instructor in Thailand. In 2011, White gave $100,000 to his old high school. This money was used to improve their sports facilities. In 2017, White donated $1 million to help the victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
In 2019, after UFC 242, fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov raised $100,000 for Dustin Poirier's charity, The Good Fight Foundation. White then also donated $100,000 to Poirier's charity. In 2024, White donated $50,000 to support victims affected by an event during a rally for former president Donald J. Trump in Pennsylvania.
Awards and Recognition
- Armed Forces Foundation
- Patriot Award (2009)
- World MMA Awards
- Leading Man of the Year (2008–24)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Promoter of the Year (2005–13; 2015–16)
- Other accomplishments
- Nevada Sportsman of the Year (2009)
See also
In Spanish: Dana White para niños
