Dana White gets all jiggy with it on NBCSports spouting his usual bravado. We here at Komikazee add our two cents to the interview where Dana only drops 1 or 2 eff-bombs.
He hit on a number of topics. Dana mentions that he doesn’t think that the UFC is mainstream. He wants to be able to go out on the street in Las Vegas and have their stars names be as recognizable as Shaquille O’Neal. No matter what Dana says, The UFC is well on the way with Liddell on the cover of SI and Randy Couture getting the cover of ESPN the Magazine, plus all the ESPN coverage that happens before an event. Dana’s comments are just the mark of a good businessman not to be satisfied where you company is today and always wanting more.
Dana also talked about corporate sponsorship. He poo-pooed the idea of needing corporate sponsors like Coke, etc and stated he was happy with sponsors such as Mickey’s and Toyo. One of the qualities that I like about Dana is that he is definitely loyal to paying customers. If you were around in the beginning, he will ride your bandwagon until the wheels fall off and there ARE sponsors where the wheels are falling off, I.E. Amp’d Mobile and Xyience . Now realistically, if a corporate sponsor like Coke came with a nice contract for Zuffa then Dana isn’t an idiot. He would take it in a heartbeat. Most of what Dana spouts is rhetoric and changes at will as the winds of business blows a different direction.
I also think that Dana undersold both the Fertitta’s and himself by stating that they weren’t business geniuses. To take an organization that was as buried as the UFC was when they acquired it to the heights that it is now takes tireless work, happy thoughts, and plenty of pixie dust. The Fertitta’s pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and now have a quarter of a billion dollar entity under their pervue. You don’t stumble into that kind of prosperity. You have to work at it and be good at what you do.
Look at the highly successful off-strip Station Casino’s franchise, which the Fertitta’s own, and you can see a pattern where these business men have taken something that nobody has done before and made it not only work but profitable as well.