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Dana White slams 'morons' who say the UFC has peaked
When the UFC sold to WME-IMG for a whopping $4 billion price tag, it was the single biggest deal in sports history, yet somehow there are people who believe the sport of mixed martial arts has already peaked.
So far in 2016, seven championships have changed hands with only Demetrious Johnson and Joanna Jedrzejczyk left standing with more than one title defense amongst all the fighters holding belts in the UFC right now.
There's also concern about the two biggest stars in the sport with Conor McGregor coming off a loss to Nate Diaz in March while Ronda Rousey is nowhere to be found after she suffered a devastating knockout to Holly Holm last November.
Still, UFC president Dana White doesn't buy that the turnover in champions or the loss of star power from one or two fighters will ever truly sink the promotion from reaching a new plateau of popularity.
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard, ‘Oh my God, the Chuck Liddell era is over, Chuck Liddell is retiring, what’s the UFC going to do? They don’t have stars anymore,’” White told the Bangor Daily News in Maine. “Or, ‘Oh my God, the GSP [Georges St-Pierre] era is over, what are they going to do without GSP?’ Or, ‘Oh my God, the Anderson Silva era is over, what are they going to do without Anderson Silva?’
White believes the future of the UFC is very bright with the new owners in place, and he plans on being right there beside them while it happens.
White signed a five-year contract with the new UFC owners at WME-IMG to remain president while also reportedly earning a share of the profits during each year of his deal.
WME-IMG already has a big hand in the entertainment industry as one of the largest talent agencies in the world, not to mention the possibility of UFC expansion into new markets like Asia over the next few years.
White says when you look at what the UFC has already done by going from a $2 million investment to a $4 billion sale, the success story is already written.
But the book on the UFC is far from finished.
“First of all, Frank and Lorenzo and I obviously did a good job in building this sport and everything else, but at the end of the day we’re not media guys. These guys are real media guys, this is what they do. This is what they’re the best at," White said.
“Go back and look 15 years ago, when I used to say wait until you see where we take the UFC in the next 10 years. Now wait until you see where me and my new partners take the UFC in the next five years. It’s gonna blow everybody’s minds.”
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