Empire of Blood: How Dana White’s UFC Conquered America
January 22, 2025 at 09:06PMOn the final night of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Dana White, president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, introduced and repeatedly hyped the evening’s main speaker, Donald Trump, as “a fighter.” White, who claims a role in connecting Trump and podcaster Joe Rogan, was at Trump’s side again a few months later, at the latter’s election-night party, and featured at Trump’s pre-inauguration rally last week, where the language of recreational battle flecked White’s praise. For Rolling Stone, Jack Crosbie details the slow ascent of one of the world’s most popular sports, the brand that conquered it, and how White–recently appointed to Meta’s board of directors–gained power and influence through blood sport.
It makes sense, of course, that White and Trump would be friends. White runs the UFC the same way Trump runs America: top-down, tight control, with a warm hand toward those who are loyal and a vicious streak toward naysayers and challengers to his authority. White is notorious for torching fighters, journalists, and judges during press conferences, and the UFC’s history is full of high-profile rifts between the CEO and some of his stars.
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from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/01/22/empire-of-blood-how-dana-whites-ufc-conquered-america/
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