Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO, Dana White, “is one of the best business guys” and “one of the smartest guys ever” in all of combat sports, according to Saudi Arabia’s entertainment maestro, Turki Alashikh.
Sports Business Journal agrees.
White, as well as Ari Emanuel (Endeavor), Mark Shapiro (TKO Group), and Nick Khan (WWE), were ranked among the “Most Influential People In Sports Business 2024.” The annual list recognizes “the influence of the institutional investment in sports.”
All four honorees joined forces after this blockbuster merger back in early 2023.
White helped lead UFC revenue to another record-setting year, punctuated by a series of blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) cards, as well as a couple of breakout stars like reigning light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and current featherweight titleholder Ilia Topuria.
Expect more of the same in 2025.
“Every year over the last 17 years, I’ve said, ‘How is next year gonna be bigger than this year?’ And some of the stuff that we’re already working on is … on multiple levels, not just UFC,” White said after UFC Tampa. “We got Power Slap meetings going on down there. SLS [Skate League], which I own a piece of, did an event down there today, and UFC stuff is being worked on right now in Brazil.”
“We’re talking about Spain and all these other places, not to mention Seattle and Chicago and these other places that we haven’t been in a long time,” White continued. “I anticipate a lot of big fights. I’ve got something in the works right now, it’ll drive you f—ers crazy. All you guys will be running around. I got something in the works that you will never f—ing see coming for 2025 that literally started to come together last night.”
The MMA All-Star Team is back!
2024 is in the books, and it was a pretty great year in terms of MMA. Tons of violent knockouts, slick submissions, and back-and-forth wars made up the past 12 months, and so, as we’ve taken to doing the past few years, it’s time to celebrate the 36 fighters who contributed most to our enjoyment this year.
The concept is simple: The three fighters in each weight class who had the best year based on excitement, activity, and accomplishment. We’re not just talking about who are the best fighters, but which fighters delivered the most entertainment throughout the year. Losses aren’t necessarily disqualifying (so long as the fight was great), and neither are decisions (so long as they weren’t boring).
As always, this idea was originated by the great Jordan Breen, who used to do an “All-Violence Team” for Sherdog. Shout out to him.
Every other major sport has an All-Pro or All-Star team, and this is ours. Welcome to the 2024 All-Violence team.
God damn humpty dumpty here!
Wished SinCityHustler was still around to give us his insider-haterade takes on The EGG!