Dana White: This Generation Thinks You Can Build A Business From Home, It's Impossible!

Dana White (0:00)

I've already built the biggest fight brand to ever exist. The UFC was purchased for $2 million, and if the Lakers sold for $12.5 billion, then the UFC is worth $50 billion. And every day that I show up here, I'm here to win. When I'm dead, it's going to be impossible to beat what I've built, and I am addicted to chaos, and if there isn't any, I create it.

Steven Bartlett (0:19)

From UFC fighters to CEOs of multi-gazillion power companies to world leaders, I see in you a man that is truly obsessed.

Dana White (0:25)

Early on, I knew exactly who I was, and I knew that I wanted to be involved in fighting. That's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Steven Bartlett (0:36)

Was there any athlete that you sort of put in a class of their own?

Dana White (0:39)

Conor McGregor, Habib Numerga Medoff, and Ronda Rousey, but I didn't want women in the UFC, but Ronda Rousey grabbed me and said, can I get 15 minutes with you? And she came in with the whole fucking bravado, and I'm like, holy shit, I think I'm going to do this and she's the one to do it with.

Steven Bartlett (0:53)

If there were principles that you would most attribute to the success of the UFC, what would it be?

Dana White (0:58)

When you decide who you are, what you want to do, what you're going to accomplish, and you work toward it, it is impossible for you to fail. Do not be afraid to take the risk. But some of these kids that think they want to be entrepreneurs, they don't know what it really takes. And there is a formula, and guess who has it? And we can talk about this.

Steven Bartlett (1:14)

And then this is a book your mother published about you unauthorized as a biography. She's critical of you at certain points.

Dana White (1:20)

I don't go on shows to speak negatively about my mother, but I mean, that's one of the grossest, most disgusting things. You couldn't even imagine possible until it happens to you.

And sometimes family is the worst. And that was the beginning of the end with me and her.

Steven Bartlett (1:36)

Have you forgiven her?

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Dana, you know more than anybody that to become a great fighter, oftentimes you have an anomalous upbringing. I have some of these fighters in front of me, like Khabib and Islam and Mike Tyson. And when you look at their backgrounds and where they came from, they have atypical origins. And when I look at you, I consider you to be a great fighter in your own regard. So that's my question is, what is that early context that's made you the fighter that you are?

Dana White (2:42)

I don't know. You know, I always have trouble when we start talking about me and my upbringing and psychoanalyzing me. I don't know how to really answer those questions.

I don't know. It's not like I grew up like these guys grew up. But early on, I knew exactly who I was and I knew that I wanted to be involved in fighting. That's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Steven Bartlett (3:08)

In terms of your mom and dad, I listened to you talk about your dad and his absence and his difficulty with alcohol, divorced eight years old, left with your mother. That was also a turbulent relationship as you grew up. Is there anything from that early context that you look back on? I know you don't like being psychoanalyzed.

I've heard you respond to like Piers Morgan and others who have talked about your childhood before. But is there anything from that early context that you think did shape you into this relentless?

Dana White (3:37)

I always say that you see these people that play the victim mentality. It's like, I didn't have any role models when I was growing up. The way you did, you just didn't look at it the right way. When you grow up, everybody who's involved in your life, they're all role models in good and bad ways. I used to look at some of my uncles and my dad.