Dana White has been involved in many of the broadcasting deals that have brought UFC to where it is today, from the rise of Spike TV to the flirtation with FOX to modern-day ESPN.
Those deals have helped mold UFC into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut that's poised to cash in when its current deal with ESPN expires in 2025. But look in the graveyard of any big company and you'll find a ton of failed deals that, for one reason or another, never came to fruition. The MMA leader is no different. In a recent interview with FOX News, UFC CEO White spoke about two mega-deals in particular that fell apart at the last minute because White was unwilling to compromise his goals.
“I don't know if you know this, but we've signed a deal with HBO,” White said. One Nation“We were trying to do a game broadcast on HBO, and they came in and started saying, 'Yeah, we've got to turn this music down,' and I said, 'No, no, you're not going to control our production and tell us what to do.'”
“We already had a contract. So I literally called [former UFC CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta] And I said, “Yeah, we can't make this deal,” and he said, “What do you mean we can't make this deal? The deal is done. The contract is done.” [I said,] “I need to get out of this deal.” And Ali [Emanuel] I was able to get out of my contract with HBO.”
“I think if we had let HBO have their way, it would have hurt us and our brand,” White added. “Yeah, it would have been stale and outdated, like boxing.”
White also said some of his troubles with HBO stemmed from his distaste for the network's high-profile production of boxing broadcasts. At one time, HBO Boxing was considered the premier platform for boxing science, but White's frustrations extended to some of the commentators and analysts who had been with the broadcasts for years.
“All those guys were awful. They were terrible. HBO Boxing was the pinnacle of the sport at the time,” White said, “but nothing really changed.” [high-definition broadcasting]You know what I mean? They put on a good event, they put money into it, but they had to keep the commentators on mute the whole time.
“I didn't buy this event to listen to you idiots. Who thinks they know this about boxing? Larry Merchant standing up and saying that if Floyd Mayweather was 30 years younger, he could beat him. No, he couldn't. It's disrespectful to even think you could, it's disrespectful to even say that. [Jim] Lampley and the others were clowns to me. [an example of] What we shouldn't do [stage our events]”…They're buying this fight for the athletes. They're buying the fight for Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and the other greats, not for the commentators. We don't want to hear from them.”
White then described how a potential deal with CBS, which he described as “probably a billion-dollar offer to buy the company,” fell apart over similar frustrations.UFC was eventually sold to talent agency Endeavor in 2016 for more than $4 billion, a record amount at the time as the priciest deal for an organization in sports history. But White said history might have played out differently had it not been for the chaotic conference call.
“You know, when CBS made the acquisition offer, I was in Hawaii on vacation,” White said. “The irony is, I'm always late to everything. I answered the phone early, and the people at Showtime answered the phone early because we didn't know they were going to answer. We thought we were talking to CBS. [former chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation] Les Moonves.
“So by the time Les Moonves and Lorenzo got on the phone, me and Showtime were literally saying, 'Fuck you, fuck you.' And then those guys got on the phone and heard us saying it, and that was it, literally.
“So Lorenzo called me right away and said, 'Looks like we're not signing with CBS.' And I said, 'Yeah, sorry.' We got into a little argument. I hated the Showtime guys. Some of them worked for UFC when we first started. I thought their production was awful and their work was awful, so I was very vocal about it. And then right then we got word that CBS was offering us a billion dollars to buy the company. And by the time Lorenzo and Les Moonves got on the phone, the phones were in full-blown war mode.”
