Dana White won’t be accepting job applications for his role at the UFC any time soon.
The current CEO and president of the mixed martial arts juggernaut has no plans to walk away from his position despite constant rumors and speculation that he might leave the UFC or that the promotion is potentially grooming a successor. If White wanted to leave the UFC, he had the perfect opportunity after getting a huge windfall of cash following the sale of the organization to Endeavor back in 2016 for just over $4 billion.
If that didn’t make him jump ship, White doesn’t see why he would ever leave now.
“Everybody changes when you make a lot of money,” White told Tucker Carlson on his podcast. “No matter what walk of life you’re in, once you get to a certain level of success, you have to be a certain type of person to stay hungry and get out and fight every day. When we sold in 2016, 99 percent of the people said that I was going to retire and walk away. I’m not wired like that.
“I’m still out building new brands and doing shit that I don’t need to be doing. But I do it because I love it. You know how many people in a sale like mine in 2016, you never see that guy again? They’re done.”
White promises that wasn’t him when the UFC sold in 2016 and there’s basically no chance he changes his mind in the future.
That might work for some executives but White loves his job and he wants to continue doing it until the wheels fall off.
“I will never retire. Ever,” White said. “I will keep dogging this out until the day I drop dead. I love it, 100 percent. Hopefully [I’ll be 80 years old ringside].”
As proof that it can be done, White actually referenced one of his biggest professional rivals as an example of a combat sports executive who can burn the candle at both ends and still keep going.
“I hate him, he’s an asshole, but Bob Arum, the boxing promoter, he’s 94 years old,” White said referencing the head of Top Rank Boxing. “I hate him. This guy’s the biggest douchebag of all time but I’m at the [Las Vegas] Aces WNBA game — Bob Arum is 94 years old, it’s 9 o’clock at night and he’s sitting over there courtside. I’m like holy shit Bob Arum is here, this is crazy, this guy’s 94 years old.
“He’s sitting over there, it’s 8:30, I shit you not, two days later I’m watching a fight, Bob Arum is in Saudi Arabia ringside at a boxing event. Two days later, he’s in London at a press conference. He’s 94 years old.”
White may not have much positive to say about Arum as a promoter or as a person but even he has to pay homage to that kind of work ethic.
It’s the same model White hopes to follow for his own career running the UFC.
“I hate him but you got to respect it right?” White said. “How can you not respect that?”
