Don’t Ever Doubt Dana White

2020 has been a tough year for everyone in all aspects of life, whether it’s financial hardships, mental challenges. However, there is one man who defied all the odds in this unprecedented year. In doing so, he received the most backlash from almost every media outlet out there because he decided to fight through this pandemic to keep the show going to provide opportunities for all his fighters and employees to make a living and feed their families while more than 35 million people worldwide are losing their jobs. This man is the president of the UFC, Dana White.

Anytime you’re trying to excel in life or do something to better the lives of the ones around you, you’re going to be met with negativity. That’s just the sad nature of the world that we’re living in. In this case, if there was ever a time where all parties needed to unite to fight this pandemic, the time was now.

Still, almost every established media outlet like The Guardian, The New York Times, and many more crucified Dana White because he decided to bring sports back at the beginning of the summer, labeling him as a selfish man who was just trying to bring the UFC back to fill his pockets.

The saddest aspect about this situation is that even the Mixed Martial Arts media outlets took a stand against Dana. Without the UFC hosting events, there is no news to cover, so basically, bringing sports back was also an opportunity to provide the media with frequent events to cover so that they would be able to put food on the table and keep their jobs.

Instead, they took the cynical route and stated that Dana White was jeopardizing the lives of millions around the world by bringing sports back. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and start criticizing people trying to make things happen, especially at a time when the entire world is on pause.

While everyone was against Dana’s decision to resume with the UFC’s schedule, He took it as a challenge. Not just to start back sports but to layout the blueprint of how to do it in the safest way possible at all costs.

White knew that he would either make it happen, or he would have to be forced to cut his employee’s salaries in half. Most significantly, he would’ve deprived his athletes of over 200 million dollars of payouts to the entire UFC roster, and he was not going to let that happen.

It was never about the money. In fact, Dana started his journey over thirty years ago in Boston by working with street fighting legend peter welch for more than three years without earning a single penny to learn everything about the fight game purely for the love of it.

This was the man who spent over 10 years traveling from state to state on a daily basis not just to legalize the sport, but to change the stigma of how people viewed fighters back then, showing the world that fighters are the most fascinating human beings on this earth with the most colorful personalities. Again, purely for the love of the game.

The Bostonian was keen on keeping all the UFC team paid the same salaries without having a single individual face a pay cut or a release from any position, including all athletes.
So it began. The master plan of Reviving the world back with the pulse needed in our lives in the form of sports to provide weekly shows without putting a single life at risk.

After plotting with the brightest minds in the sport, and the company’s backbone, the Executive vice president of the company & business office chief, the great Hunter Campbell, alongside Lenee Breckenridge, who is the vice president of communications in the UFC and she’s known for being a true leader and the one responsible for making things happen behind the scenes, with the creative minds of the legendary matchmakers, Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard. Surrounded by many more individuals sharing one thing in common, the mindset of perseverance, overcoming all obstacles no matter how impossible the process seems, and not just doing it, but doing it in style.

No one mentions all these pivotal moments, but again, there is no surprise when you’re living in a world that lives off negativity. The UFC thrives off negativity, thrives off doubt, which shows how powerful the mind can be when you keep your eye on the prize throughout the storm.

It wasn’t cheap, but it was definitely worth it. The UFC paid a whopping 20 million dollars in COVID expenses to ensure everyone’s safety. That resulted in a staggering rate of 0.08% of positive tests from tens of thousands of individuals tested, stood together as one to make this masterplan a reality. Again, no one talks about these things because everyone lives off negative clickbait despite all the good done by the company and its athletes.

After all the sleepless nights of trying to figure out the antidote to this chaos, the company reaps the rewards by breaking records left and right, making it one of the most successful years in the company’s history.
In just five Pay-Per-View events, The UFC made over 5.5 million buys. If there is one thing that is guaranteed in the UFC, you will always get the value of every dollar paid, receiving the best, most exciting fights every time you tune in.

Over 1500 individuals, including fighters and staff members, were flown in from over 40 countries worldwide to Yas Island in my beloved hometown, Abu Dhabi. Giving all the athletes and company staff an experience of a lifetime to fight in the safest place in the world, and I can say that without a doubt that there is absolutely no safer place in the entire world, with the UAE conducting over 10 million random COVID tests with more than 80 thousand tests being done daily.

Dana White always took pride in the fact that his relationship with his athletes is a partnership, and his partners rose to the occasion, giving us the most electrifying performances in the sport’s history as a gift to wash the worries off our minds as we’re exiting this challenging year.

The most fascinating part about all of this, little did you know, Young Dana White manifested all of this into reality, riding his mountain bike in the streets of Boston listening to Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins at the age of 19, dreaming of days like this of conquering the biggest mountains standing in his way. Symbolic, isn’t it? This is the man behind the greatest sport in the world.

We tend to embrace our legends and give them their flowers when they’re gone. Appreciate this man while he’s still here, and while you’re at it, don’t ever doubt the Don Dana White again.