Over its 32 years of existence, the UFC has grown exponentially into one of the largest sports promotions in the world, and much of that is due to the work of its current CEO, Dana White.
When the UFC was founded in 1993, there was a lot of criticism of the sport of MMA and the prejudice that this sport would be barbaric led to many problems.
32 years later, it has become one of the most popular sports, with the UFC growing in popularity every year.
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Joe Rogan and Mark Zuckerberg praise Dana White for growing the UFC
UFC boss Dana White is largely credited for his role in expanding the company, but it's fair to say that much of the UFC's success has been down to luck, especially in the early days.
In 2005, the “most important fight in UFC history” took place on The Ultimate Fighter, when Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar had one of the greatest martial arts fights of all time.
Before this Hall of Fame fight, White along with owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta fought to keep the UFC alive after the Fertitta brothers purchased the company for $2 million in 2001.
After fighting tirelessly to get the sport sanctioned in many states, they saw The Ultimate Fighter Finale as the last roll of the dice, and it thankfully paid off as it put the sport and the UFC on the map and landed a TV deal.
American businessman Mark Zuckerberg has praised White for his role in the growth of the UFC after announcing earlier this week that he would appoint White to Meta's board of directors.
“Running this company is not for the faint of heart. There's definitely a lot of pressure from all these different governments,” Zuckerberg began explaining about the Joe Rogan Experience.
“Without him, none of the UFC would have ever happened like it did. I mean, you needed the Fertitta brothers, they had to come in with all the money and the vision,” Joe Rogan agreed.
“It's really funny, Eddie Bravo and I went to a live show in the '90s, I worked for the UFC as a backstage interviewer… We talked about it in the '90s like, 'You know what this sport needs? This sport needs billionaires throwing a ton of money at it,” and then along comes the Fertitta brothers.
“Then they buy the UFC for $2 million, which is probably the biggest purchase ever, except they were over $40 million in the hole when they financed The Ultimate Fighter… And then this one fight happens with Stephan Bonner and Forrest Griffin… The sport was born.
“Without Dana, this would never have happened. He is tireless,” Rogan continued.
Could we see Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk in 2025?
Zuckerberg has been teasing a possible MMA fight against fellow businessman Elon Musk for several years, and White even revealed that he was in “legitimate negotiations” with the Coliseum to host the fight.
The Meta owner has been training MMA consistently for a while now and even won a jiu-jitsu match in 2023. As the 40-year-old's love for MMA continues to grow, he told Rogan that he will likely fight in 2025, but it probably won't be against Musk.
With Zuckerberg's relationship with White expanding to the next level, we could see the business mogul step inside the UFC Octagon in a historic appearance.
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