Selling “Holy Sh*t” Moments, Dana White Reveals How UFC Beats HBO & Showtime – “We’re Always First…”

Dana White is extremely proud of the UFC’s production quality. The UFC CEO, who had been a critic of HBO Boxing and Showtime’s production, watched Mike Tyson fight back in the 90s, much earlier than he had anything to do with the UFC or fight promotion in general. In earlier interviews, White has spoken about being a young man and watching boxing PPV events on these platforms and making mental notes about what he thought should be different about even minor aspects of the production on HBO and Showtime.

And the UFC CEO revealed that these lessons, along with one important factor, are behind the UFC putting on such stellar shows. Dana White joined Randall Kaplan for a podcast on the latter’s YouTube channel recently. The Power Slap founder, in his characteristic bombastic fashion, trashed the production of HBO and Showtime and declared that his aim with the UFC was to “sell holy sh*t moments” to the fans.

The Las Vegas resident was particularly proud of the UFC’s production quality and waxed eloquently about his team deserving so many awards that people should be “tripping over” them. White claimed that one of the main reasons the UFC’s live events left their competition in the dirt was their commitment to experiment and incorporate new and cutting-edge technology in their production.

“That’s what we do with the live event production, you know. If you’re at home or if you’re in bars, every one of them is a different experience… The other thing you’re asking about, production. The other thing that we do is there’s always new technology that comes out in production,” remarked the CEO.

“We’re always first, or one of the first, to jump on new technology to try to integrate into our production that I feel HBO never did. HBO, f***ing Showtime the sh****est f***ing organization of all time when it came to live combat sports,” White concluded.

Dana White is not the only one who feels that his entry changed the face of UFC among the masses as long-time ring announcer Bruce Buffer, who has been with the UFC since before Dana White and the Fertittas bought it in 2001, last year called White’s entry “best thing” that happened to the promotion. Buffer revealed that White was so involved in the minutiae of the production that he gave him pointers on doing fighter intros to make them more exciting.

Meanwhile, White is now set to give one of the most thrilling experiences to the UFC fans with his Sphere event later this year.

White determined to put on the first fight event in The Sphere this September

It would be no exaggeration to say that The Sphere in Las Vegas, inaugurated last year, is the unique live event venue in the world. It is equipped with 16K curved LED panels and 3D sound and holographic synthesis to create an immersive, mind-bending viewer experience. And continuing his commitment to keeping up with the latest innovations, Dana White is determined to bring the UFC to The Sphere for UFC 306 on Mexican Independence Day this September.

Speaking to reporters after an event earlier this month, the UFC CEO declared that it would be “the sickest live event in combat sports that anybody has ever seen.” However, the event would be a “one and done” because of the huge amounts of money and resources that had already been put into trying to put on the iconic venue’s first live combat sports event. “It will never be done again. This will be a one and done, just because I wanted to do it… We’ve already spent a sh*tload of money on this thing. Nobody will ever be able to pull this off again because nobody would spend the money to do it,” he said.

What are your thoughts on Dana White’s comments and his contribution to the UFC? Share your thoughts in the comments below.