10 Crazy Facts About The Life Of Dana White

Dana White is certainly a controversial character. For a man that is president of a multi-billion dollar company, he certainly doesn’t care about what he says, or what other people think of him.

If anything, this draws more attention to his character, where the online media will debate about the things he has both said and done. White can certainly be a difficult man to get along with and has had multiple run-ins with both fighters and their coaches throughout his career. Most notably these disagreements have been with Gina Carano, Ben Askren, and the agent of Fedor Emelianenko, Vadim Finkelstein. All of these fighters, as well as others either were or still are unable to join the UFC due to Dana White.

In summary, there is quite a polarity between both the fans and detractors of White. Due to his unprofessionalism, some people dislike him, whereas others see this as being genuine.

Critics will point out that he underpays fighters, loves some MMA athletes and pushes them as far as they can go, whereas holds back others and does not let their career develop very fast. In addition to this, the rankings are almost meaningless and White signed a deal with Reebok which severely limits the earning potential of fighters, but makes a lot of money for the UFC.

On the other hand, White is a great showman and is the kind of figurehead that is needed in a competitive and evolving sport such as mixed martial arts. Every time White says something that is off the cuff, it generates press and interest around the UFC. White also has a very difficult job of keeping both fighters and shareholders happy, this means that he often has to perform a balancing act and cannot always please everybody.

The Top 10 Facts About Dana White

Dana White Is Rich & Not Scared to Spend Money

With an alleged net worth of $500 million, Dana White is one of the wealthiest men in the entirety of combat sports.

On December 24th 2013, Dana White decided it would be a good idea to import an entire driveway of snow to his residence in Las Vegas. 30kg of snow costs $50 plus delivery, so there is no doubt that White spent thousands of dollars on something that would be gone very fast in 60 degree heat.

More lavish spending from White occurred when he refused to remove a swimming pool from his backyard. This was even more costly for White who was happy to pay the fines of $2500 per month for over 5 years just to keep it!

White does not just spend money on himself either. He donated $1 million to the victims of the infamous Las Vegas shooting in 2017 and also gave $100k to Dustin Poirier’s charity.

He Once Owned A Boxing Apparel Company

When Dana White first moved to Las Vegas, his dream was to become a boxing promoter. In order to succeed at this, White worked at the gym of Floyd Mayweather and allegedly used to carry his bags for him.

During this period, White launched an unsuccessful boxing brand named “Bullenbeisser”, which is an extinct breed of German bulldog. At the start of Floyd Mayweather’s boxing career, he can be seen wearing Bullenbeisser trunks during one of his fights, but the brand never caught on. This is probably for the best since it’s unlikely White would have ever entered MMA if he spent all of his time on another business.

Dana White Got Expelled From High School

Much like many other entrepreneurs, Dana White was not a good student. He had a habit of annoying teachers in the school by kicking shut giant metal doors which made an extremely loud noise.

One day his shoe came off whilst he was kicking the doors and got stuck inside the school. This shoe was found by one of the nuns who worked at the school and used this as evidence to get Dana White expelled.

Even for the life of Dana White, this is one of the more bizarre and weird things that happened to him.

He Taught Celebrities Boxing

As the younger Dana White was trying to become a boxing promoter, he taught celebrities in the Las Vegas area how to box which made him good connections, as well as earning some extra money.

At one point he was flown out to live with Mark Wahlberg in Los Angeles and trained him for 3 months in order for an upcoming movie that was never made.

Dana White Got Beaten Up Badly & Almost Died

When Dana White was just 21 years old, he got jumped outside of a bar by a group of men who allegedly beat him up for almost 20 minutes. It is no surprise then, that this incident left White with life changing injuries after being punched repeatedly in the ear. This particular injury left White with permanent hearing loss and Menieres disease.

Thankfully after various unsuccessful attempts at reversing the damage, he eventually went to a hospital in Germany, the doctors were able to completely remove all symptoms and let White live a normal life.

His Daughter Got Her Ear Bitten Off By His Dog

Whilst White was at the press conference of Cormier vs Gustaffson, his wife phoned him to tell him that their dog had attacked his 9 year old daughter. The dog had attacked his daughter in order to try and get her ice cream and ended up biting off her ear.

Thanks to the medical contacts within the UFC, White was told that his daughter should visit a plastic surgeon as soon as possible, who was able to re-attach her ear with no obvious wounds and with 100% hearing ability.

When Dana White was asked about the dog in later interviews, he would not comment on what actually happened and only responded “the dog has gone”.

Dana White Is Banned From Vegas Casinos

An little known fact about Dana White is that he loves blackjack and is quite a good player. Anyone who knows a little about blackjack, will know that this is one of the few casino games where a player is able to get an edge over the house if they are playing 100% optimally, which leads to players being kicked out.

In 2012, White won $1.5 million from the Palms and was subsequently banned by the management. When the Palms was sold, Whites ban was lifted, where he won another $2 million and was banned once again.

White Was Kicked Out Of Boston By Whitey Bulger & The Irish Mafia

During his early career as a celebrity boxing coach in Las Vegas, White decided it would be a good idea to expand the business back to his native Connecticut in Boston. Unfortunately, he opened the gym on mob turf, where they would attempt to shake him down on several occasions.

White had no intention of paying the shakedown debt so immediately abandoned his business, got on a plane, and went back to Las Vegas.

Organising Hotel Fights

Perhaps the most bizarre fact about Dana White’s life is the fact that he used to organize fights between hotel staff members. Before White was involved in the boxing or MMA business, he worked at a 4 seasons hotel. Staff would often argue about tips with each other which was resolved by an extremely strange ritual organized by White.

To settle disputes, staff would be locked in a janitor’s closet together where only body blows would be allowed. It’s no surprise to see Dana White organizing fights for the UFC in modern day with a strange history like this.

Dana White Vs Tito Ortiz

On a private jet flight to Japan, Tito Ortiz got Dana White in a submission and refused to let go when he tapped. This led to White punching Ortiz in order to get out and this escalated into a full fist fight whilst in mid air on a small plane.

Eventually, the scuffle was broken up and Ortiz was made to sit on a different side of the plane. At one point, the two were allegedly close to signing a deal that would see them face off against each other in a boxing match, but this never came to fruition.