Dana White, without a doubt, is one of the most influential men in the MMA business today, but he is way more than just important.
He is driven and strives for challenges.
Which probably makes him the perfect candidate to run the biggest MMA organization in this country, since MMA still is very new to most people here, and is still in the process of being recognized as a sport. In other words, the person in charge at the UFC must realize that they are in the process of creating a new sport in this country. Such a feat can only be accomplished by someone who is passionate and has a strong desire to succeed, like Dana White.

Q:
Do you have any plans of hosting the UFC in foreign soil this year?

Dana White:
There is an obstacle every time you get up and go to another country, obviously. But there is nothing we can't handle. We'll figure it out. We were shooting for this year (to go to Japan). I hope so, but…. I hope so.
We have a lot of countries now asking the UFC to come to their soil.
But we were trying to figure this whole thing out. Too many other countries want us to come out there, and we are still trying to get our feet on the ground here.

Q:
In terms of building a solid fan base in the American market, recently, the UFC is bringing back old names such as Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott. Is this Zuffa's strategy for promoting the UFC in this country?

Dana White:
Well, obviously, the "Ken Shamrock - Tito Ortiz" fight was a great fight to make.
Those two had history together. They don't like each other. It was a no brainier making that fight. I had never intended to bring Tank Abbott back. It was not my intention.
Tank and I -
A mutual friend had set us up for a meeting in Los Angeles, and after we did this meeting, I walked away liking Tank Abbott. Four days later, we had him sign to a deal before UFC 40.
One of the things I like about Tank is that he is a real warrior. He wants to fight.
He doesn't worry about who he is fighting, where he is fighting, and he just wants to fight.

Q:
Well, it seems like your strategy is working well in this country.

Dana White:
Yeah, we got a lot more viewers interested in the Ken Shamrock fight - it ended up being a fantastic show. And we picked the right time to introduce Tank to come back because we got all those viewers back plus some viewers who wanted to see Tank again.

Q:
So, it is fair to say that the UFC is also trying to bring back the old fans from the early days?

Dana White:
We want to bring all those fans back and introduce it to a whole new group of fans.

Q:
I am sure you know about the death of Naoto Morishita, the former president of DSE, and that you're aware of K-1 founder Master Ishii's indictment for tax evasion charges. What are your thoughts about that?

Dana White:
I can't believe that about Morishita. I am blown away……. and I am still blown away by that.

Q:
Do you think this tragedy and the trouble these main figures of MMA in Japan are in, have sent a message to fans that the MMA business can be very difficult?

Dana White:
Let me tell you something. (smile)
I tell the MMA fans straight up that the MMA business is very difficult. It's taken about 10 years off my life and I've only been involved for 4 years.
I had a full head of hair when I started in this business. (laughter)

Q:
What is the future business strategy for the UFC?

Dana White:
Basically, when we bought the UFC, we had a five-year plan.
We knew that we weren't gonna pick this company up and turn this thing around overnight. It was gonna take some time. And, you know, when I think of where we were two years ago, I am happy with where we are now. We've done a lot in two years. We are a lot further than I thought we would be in two years.
As far as where we go now, my next goal is…
See, this business was a mess when we bought it. We had to turn a lot of things around, things we needed to fix. And now, I'm focusing this next year on bringing up Pay Per View buys.
And I'm focusing also on getting a free TV deal. Being on MTV or VH-1, you know.

Q:
What about marketing plans overseas?

Dana White:
Right now, obviously, we are on Wow Wow TV over in Japan, and you know, a lot of other countries - like 37 other countries are on some type of TV deal with us.

Q:
So what you are saying is that the UFC is now in the stage to establishing an international network?

Dana White:
Yes, absolutely,

Q:
Do you already have business partners or some sort of agent or subsidiary in each country?

Dana White:
No, but in Japan, we do.
We have a partner in Japan but everywhere else, it's just us.
I' m sure you know Japan is a different market. You gotta have relationship over there.
You don't just fly over to Japan and start doing business in Japan, you know what I mean.

Q:
Is Zuffa looking to manage fighters in the future?

Dana White:
No. It's illegal. We are promoters, and promoters in the United States can't manage fighters.

Q:
We get the impression that ever since Zuffa took over the UFC, it has become more modern, I mean, organized.

Dana White:
Thank you. (laugh)
We will never be a spectacle. We are going the sport route.
We like to be an "extreme sport", like the "X-games" and all, you know.
We wanna be in there with snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding, and you know, ultimate fighting.
We are the extreme of "extreme sport".

Q:
Are you currently talking with these "extreme sports" people?

Dana White:
No, what we are doing is that we are just establishing ourselves with that age group, with THAT market, and as a sport in THAT market.

Q:
So you definitely think extreme sports have same market as the UFC.

Dana White:
Absolutely. Same genre, same market, same everything.
It's the age group from 16 to 35. They listen to the same music, they are into the same looks. Our fighters dress in the same way, it's the same kind of clothing.

Q:
A bit different from pro-wrestling?

Dana White:
Here we found out that our market is more the boxing market, our fans don't like story lines and all that kind of stuff. They like real fighting.

Q:
But I still get this feeling that maybe boxing people are still trying to squeeze MMA out of the market. Is this true?

Dana White:
This is true. You know, old owners used to say that they got squashed by boxing promoters.
But the thing is, when we came in and bought this company, myself and Lorenzo Ferrtita are very powerful in the boxing world, so that's where we came from.
So these people that would've pushed out other owners were friends with us, and I have to admit it has hurt some friendships but boxing can't bully us around. We've been involved in boxing our whole lives.

Q:
You think your life style has changed since you got involved in the MMA business?

Dana White:
Oh, my life style has changed dramatically.
I have no free time anymore. All I do is work 24 hours 7 days a week.
It's exciting though. We love the fact that we are building a new sport.
I mean, how many times in last hundred years have you seen a new sport being born? You know what I mean.

Q:
It must be thrilling to be in this business. The sense of achievement you get must be great.

Dana White:
That's one thing -
My whole life, I've been driven. Once I say, alright I'm gonna do this, I do it.
That's how I feel about the sport.
Not only myself but I also have great staff too. My whole staff, we put 1000 % into this thing.
It's not a nine to five job. It's 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Q:
I understand you used to be in the boxing business. What exactly did you do in boxing?

Dana White:
I used to box.
I was an amateur boxer. Then when I got out of that, I started training fighters, managing fighters. I manage fighters out of Management Company, and then I owned three gyms in Las Vegas, which I still do now.
Then how I got into this thing was I started managing Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.
That's how I got involved.

Q:
Why and how was Zuffa established?

Dana White:
Zuffa was created to buy the UFC -
It's the parent company of the UFC.

Q:
You and Mr. Fertitta were looking into MMA from the beginning?

Dana White:
No. Lorenzo and I were gonna start a company, a boxing company.
We were gonna start promoting boxing fights, and we got into MMA.
Then I heard Semaphore (Semaphore Entertainment Group) was selling the company, so I called them.
I called them and two months later we owned them.

Q:
What was your record as a boxer?

Dana White:
My record was like 13 - 4.

Q:
What is your definition of success as a leader of Zuffa?

Dana White:
When we did our first show at Trump Taj Mahal (in Atlantic City), we had 4,500 people. Two years later, at UFC 40, we sold out 14,000. Then UFC 41 at Atlantic City sold out faster than "Tito - Ken" did. It was 12,000 people. If we had more seats, it could even be bigger!
So as far our live gates go, we are very successful.
What we need to do now is build the Pay Per Views. At UFC 40, we had 150,000. Now, we are trying to build on that. To get it up to 250 or 350,000.
So my plan is to keep growing the live gate, to do bigger and bigger venues, increasing the Pay Per View, and getting a free TV show.
We've also started a company now called Zuffa Music Group where we…
All the music we hear in the UFC, are our bands.
 
Q:
So UFC now uses original music owned by Zuffa?

Dana White:
Right. Exactly.
We have a soundtrack coming out this summer. The UFC soundtrack.
It is only gonna be in the U.S. but we are now working on international distribution.

Q:
Are you looking to achieve the same level of success as boxing?

Dana White:
Absolutely.
I wanna pass boxing. And the WWE. (laugh)

Q:
Eventually making company stock available to the public?

Dana White:
No, no. I will never do that.

Q:
Why not?

Dana White:
My reason for that is -
The Fertitta brothers, the principle owners of the UFC, who also own Station Casino. They are a public company and if you ask them, they would never go public again. Vince McMahon (of WWE), if you asked him, he probably would never go public again.
I mean, the reason people go public is to raise capital to expand your business but there is no way. We have no need to. You can't control where your stock price is, economy can be bad, you know, there are so many factors, which can crush you. So never.

Q:
What do the Fertitta brothers think of the UFC at this point?

Dana White:
They love it.
We are happy with everything, where it's going.