The insatiable Dana White

Unlocking the power of vision and determination to achieve success

Posted by: Team Tony

In this episode of the Tony Robbins Podcast, we bring you to Business Mastery – where Tony interviews the business leaders behind some of today’s fastest-growing companies. You’re going to have a front-row seat as Tony sits down with Dana White, who transformed the entire fight game when he built The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

Who is Dana White?

Dana White is the president of the UFC and a successful entrepreneur and businessman. Outspoken, charismatic and unabashedly unapologetic, it’s fair to say that there are not many leaders of major sporting organizations quite like him. Coming from humble beginnings in the Northeast, his fight to the top was an unlikely one – and nothing short of a rollercoaster ride.

Dana has learned how to be successful on a massive scale – he took the once-fledgling UFC from near bankruptcy to a globally popular enterprise, and sold it for a whopping $4 billion back in 2017. But his fight isn’t over – and as he tells Tony in this special interview, he feels he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his total impact.

An enduring vision

Dana White’s rise to success in the UFC and in life began with a vision. He says, “I knew exactly what I wanted to do from the time I was a young age.” But people thought he was crazy, that the fight game could never change. His answer? “I had a lot of ideas and I believed it could.”

At 19 years old, he was working as a bellman at a Boston hotel and was not happy in his present circumstances. He wanted to be in the fight business. By knowing exactly what he wanted and how he wanted his life to look, he effectively took control of his situation.

“Every day when I woke up,” Dana says, “I would work toward that goal.”

By having his endpoint – working in the fight business – in mind, everything he did pointed toward it. A vision is a powerful tool; by understanding what you want, you can more effectively create plans and take actions that will bring you to it.

Forging his own path

This particular Dana White interview reveals something he’s never shared before: Every day he would walk to work, listening to Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within on his Walkman to help him power up. He also listened to Personal Power, and would even buy them for people as gifts. To this day, he says, “Everything that was in there is absolutely true, makes sense and applies to everybody’s life.”

As he moved through the fight industry, he practiced Tony’s modeling technique, learning every detail of the field from Peter Welsh, a street fighting and boxing legend in Boston. “This guy was my sensei in the fight game,” Dana says, recalling the three years of education he received. “I went to him and said, I want to work with you and learn everything you know.” Dana knew that to achieve success, you must surround yourself with successful people – and that’s exactly what he did.

Becoming an unstoppable force

Success doesn’t free you from limiting beliefs. Dana learned that the more successful you become, the louder the detractors will be; it’s up to you to recognize negative thoughts that could slow you down or stop you.

For Dana, hearing the naysayers only pushed his core values closer to the front of his mind. He wanted to be in the fight business, and he made it to the fight business. From there, it was just a matter of how much success he could achieve. “Get to a point where you don’t doubt yourself,” he advises. That means trusting in your vision – from there, you can create an extraordinary life.

Dana definitely needed the draw on his inner strength in the early days: He and a childhood friend, Lorenzo Fertitta, bought the UFC and quickly lost $40 million. They considered folding, but “ultimately” decided to keep going. Because the fight game doesn’t just happen in the ring. It happens in business and in life. When life kicks you, you have to get up anyway. You can’t roll over. You have to fight – and let the fight become your fuel.

Taking risks and embracing change

Dana also talks to Tony about the serendipitous mix of events that catapulted him from the bottom, all the way to the top of the UFC – and the risky decisions he made along the way that led the UFC to its ultimate comeback. Like the decision to embrace regulation instead of run from it, to move away from Pay-Per-View to broadcast fights on free TV and, perhaps the biggest decision of all, the one that changed the face of the sport – to allow female fighters into the organization.

What changed his mind? Two words: Ronda Rousey. Dana can only describe her as having the “it” factor – a person who has such a deep belief in themselves, they manifest their own destiny. He says the same about Conor McGregor, another undeniable force in the UFC. As he explains it, “Any successful people you meet, that’s who they are and that’s what they do.” He was convinced. And when you listen to this exclusive podcast, you will be, too.

As Dana says, “At the end of the day it’s really about that you love what you’re doing and it’s about the journey.” When you can break out of the scarcity mindset and find what you truly love to do, it’s not work – it’s fun. His advice? Get yourself in the game and be ready, and when your moment comes, seize it.

Dana White Interview Show Notes

[02:55] Episode introduction
[03:10] Dana growing up
[03:51] Always knew he wanted to be in fight business
[04:20] Believed he could change the fight business
[04:35] Dana’s job as a bellman at a hotel
[04:59] Dana quits his job to be in fight business
[05:30] Awaken the Giant Within and Personal Power
[06:15] Dana seeks out Peter Welch
[06:45] Learning the business from the ground up
[07:17] What Dana learned from Peter Welch
[07:43] Mob tries to extract money from Dana
[08:31] Dana didn’t have the money
[09:10] Dana buys a one-way ticket to Las Vegas
[09:57] Dana reconnects with Lorenzo Fertitta
[10:30] Dana and Lorenzo become partners
[11:00] Dana learns the UFC was in trouble
[11:27] The battle over Tito Ortiz’s contract
[11:58] Dana, Frank and Lorenzo buy the UFC
[12:25] Burns through $40 million
[12:50] Dana tries to sell the UFC
[13:45] The decision to keep going
[14:25] Why timing is everything in life
[15:00] The decision to broadcast fights on free TV
[15:28] Dana’s philosophy on the UFC
[16:20] Why people everywhere like fighting
[16:50] Our fascination with tough guys
[17:35] Why we’re attracted to fighting
[17:59] Bringing superstars and women into the sport
[18:36] The difference between boxing and UFC
[19:06] The misperception of UFC fighters
[19:33] Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture
[19:50] Dana decides to embrace regulation
[20:11] Structural changes that changed the game
[20:46] The run towards regulation
[21:10] Government looks at UFC as a monolopy
[21:50] Meeting with CA, NV, NY and NJ
[22:22] Dana meets with sports reporters
[22:56] The two things Dana always knew
[23:20] Rule changes in the UFC
[23:50] Comparison to Olympic sports
[24:17] Decision to bring women into the sport
[24:45] Dana meets Ronda Rousey
[25:26] The one thing Dana never saw coming
[25:50] Women can do anything – including fight
[26:10] Dana moves forward with Ronda Rousey
[26:28] Why women’s fights out-rate men’s fights
[27:00] What was different about Ronda Rousey
[27:42] How Dana thinks about sports marketing
[28:20] What makes fighting so popular
[29:00] How Dana sells out fights
[29:30] The Holly Holm / Ronda Rousey fight
[30:14] Dana White’s bulletproof mindset
[30:38] Negativity never goes away
[31:11] How Dana separates himself from negativity
[32:08] Dealing with negativity
[32:38] Why Dana stayed in the UFC
[33:10] Why Dana hates 3-day weekends
[33:40] The $1.5 billion deal with ESPN
[34:30] Why Dana didn’t want to sell the UFC
[35:04] Growing up broke and getting rich
[35:25] Why it’s all about the journey
[36:06] Why Dana liked having insomnia
[36:43] Dana’s core strategy in business
[37:05] Life is ready to get you
[37:36] Fighting through what life throws at you
[38:20] Why Dana loves competition and adversity
[38:44] Dana’s two biggest victories with the UFC
[39:06] Dana’s two biggest challenges with the UFC
[39:26] Converting ESPN’s culture
[39:52] The power shift to younger generations
[40:20] Getting the UFC on Spike TV
[40:50] UFC culture today
[41:35] The growth of the UFC today
[41:57] UFC in Russia and Korea
[42:15] Dana’s experience with Conor McGregor
[42:53] Dana meets Conor McGregor in Las Vegas
[43:22] Conor McGregor’s “it factor”
[43:50] Conor McGregor’s mishap in NY
[44:17] When egos and money get involved
[44:45] The mistake of thinking you’re set financially
[45:23] How Dana deals with large personalities
[46:04] The importance of leadership
[46:30] The qualities of a great leader
[47:03] Why you need a mix of personalities in business
[47:40] Other effective qualities of leadership
[48:05] What Dana admires about the Fertitta brothers