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Time
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TIME
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TIME
News
How
Dana White Took the UFC From the Fringes to the White
House
May
27, 2026
TIME
Dana
White marches in lockstep with President Donald Trump
into a downtown Miami arena as the Kid Rock song “American
Bad Ass” blares over the loudspeakers.
The
longtime boss of the Ultimate Fighting Championship
(UFC), dressed in his signature all-black attire,
maintains a steely glare as Trump waves, shakes hands,
and raises a fist, soaking in the adulation. Two American
featherweights, Cub Swanson and Nate Landwehr, are
kicking off the UFC 327 main card at the Kaseya Center
on this mid-April Saturday night, and Trump snaps
a photo with Swanson’s wife Kenda and their three
children—an 8-year-old daughter, Royal, and 7-year-old
twin sons, King and Saint—by the Octagon.
Within
minutes, Trump’s Vice President, JD Vance, will
tell the world that after 21 hours of talks in Islamabad,
officials had failed to reach a deal to end the war
with Iran. But this will not alter Trump’s plans
for the evening. A bona fide UFC buff, Trump settles
into his cage-side seat next to White to view the
fight on the bloodstained mat in front of them. Surrounded
by, among others, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and
several family members, Trump stares bluntly as Swanson
and Landwehr go at it. Swanson’s children, to
the President’s immediate left, do not. Royal
buries her head in Kenda’s armpit. Saint, on
the verge of tears, covers his mouth with his hands.
King clasps his head, ready to shield his eyes if
need be. “I mean, look at this sh-t,” White
says to me. “Imagine being these little kids
and seeing your dad do this.”
In
these moments, the brutal nature of mixed martial
arts (MMA)—a sport involving a ruthless combination
of punching, kicking, and grappling—isn’t
lost on White. He says one of his proudest achievements
is that no one has died during a UFC competition.
MMA was once considered so savage that at the turn
of the century, unlike pornography and other controversial
fare, it wasn’t even carried on pay-per-view
in many places. Now, the UFC is so mainstream that
CBS, a network that on Saturday nights once aired
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, is showing Swanson club
Landwehr’s cranium with his right hand, knocking
him out in the first round.
The
crowd erupts. The kids are all smiles. Trump congratulates
the Swanson family. And the surreal nature of what
White has built sets in. The UFC packs arenas around
the world, and the most powerful person on the planet,
right beside White, is its promoter in chief. “What
a scene,” says White, 56. “There are some
nights, I’ll get up at the end and go, ‘What
the f-ck do I do for a living?’”
He’s
about to experience another such evening. On June
14, Flag Day and Trump’s 80th birthday, the UFC
is staging an event on the South Lawn of the White
House, a spectacle that will also serve as the unofficial
opening of a summerlong celebration of America’s
250th anniversary. Dubbed UFC Freedom 250, the card
features American Justin Gaethje taking on the UFC’s
second-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, Ilia Topuria
of Georgia, in the main event. It also serves as a
career capstone for White, whose clout is only growing
both inside and outside the Octagon. White not only
leads a $1.5 billion operation, he also played a key
role in Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, introducing
him at the 2024 Republican National Convention and
helping him reach young male voters. Whether or not
you admire White’s unfiltered, profane leadership
style, or his unapologetic embrace of the masculinity
now synonymous with Trump’s brand, you can’t
deny he’s at the peak of his powers.
UFC
Freedom 250 could very well bring more fans into his
tent, even as critics question whether this is the
moment for it. “Thank god they are focused on
the priorities of all Americans,” wrote California
Governor Gavin Newsom on X after the White House touted
the fight last September. Dissenters will shout louder
as fight night inches closer, especially if the Iran
war drags on and gas prices stay high. Plus, there
are the optics: brawling at the home of the President
risks coming across less as a tribute to America’s
fighting spirit than as a harkening back to the Roman
gladiators’ fighting to the death to entertain
the emperor. A celebration of sanctioned violence
in this milestone moment could, to some, symbolize
American crass, not class.
Full
article via TIME. Click here
Media
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TIME:
The Promoter: Dana White (UFC)
TIME
right on the money. We've eased off LinkedIn posts,
but for TIME, Mr White and TKO we're making an exception.
White is the exception, the unicorn, the man who proved
nay-sayers wrong time and time again. The UFC's Dana
White is somewhat of a unique individual. The MMA
organization for White of which he is a super promoter/figure-head
of what is now one of the most successful brands and
entities in the world - UFC. 3 letters, but White
and the Station Casino 'F Brothers' (affectionate
term) shared a passion and a vision for what mixed
martial arts - The Fight Game, could become about
3 decades ago. The 3 letters: UFC, then purchased
in the region of 1 to 2 million are now worth how
many billion?! The attributes of passion, love, work
ethic, expertise and never giving up are keys to success.
Networked with great people, crafting a successful
business model/formula. The globe understands what
a fight (and match) is. "One day someone picked
up a rock" .. "One day someone threw a punch.
A crowd gathered" (Dana White at press conferences).
PPV, of which I used to work for in Australia, opened
up the floodgates once Team White got approval from
a number of key city athletic commission types in
the U.S. Niche to mainstream!.Now streaming!+!
Time
100 (often stylized as TIME 100) is an annual listicle
of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled
by the American news magazine Time. First published
in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics,
politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly
publicized annual event. Appearing on the list is
often seen as an honor, and Time makes it clear that
entrants are recognized for changing the world, regardless
of the consequences of their actions. The final list
of influential individuals is exclusively chosen by
Time editors, with nominations coming from the Time
100 alumni and the magazine's international writing
staff.] Only the winner of the Reader's Poll, conducted
days before the official list is revealed, is chosen
by the general public. The corresponding commemorative
gala is held annually in Manhattan, New York.
(Wikipedia)
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