UFC CEO Dana White Mourns as His ‘Brother’ Artie Garelli Passes Away After 2024 New Year Eve

UFC CEO Dana White took to Twitter to announce the sudden demise of his dear friend Artie Garelli. “RIP my brother,” he wrote and shared an image of his friend. Despite having a very successful 2023 season on a professional front, White has had a difficult year with personal crises. 2024 too has been no different.

Not much is known about Garelli’s cause of his death. However, some sources have revealed that Garelli was a casino manager in Las Vegas. Moreover, it is common knowledge that White has a passion for gambling. It could be that their shared love for casinos was what brought the two together. Further, the picture that Dana White posted seems to be very old. And the two were likely friends for a long time.

Losing a friend isn’t the only loss White has had to live through. In a September 2023 interview with Piers Morgan, he also talked about the death of his parents. “I didn’t wish any ill will on either one of my parents, but no, when they passed away I had almost no feelings about it, to be honest with you,” he revealed.

White’s father lived in Maine and had him with his family before he passed away. On the other hand, the UFC CEO had a troubled relationship with his mother. In fact, she called her son “egotistical, self-centered, arrogant, and cruel” in an unauthorized biography of Dana White back in 2011. In the same interview, talking about his mother’s death, he revealed that he had nothing to do with helping with her funeral arrangements. He elaborated, “Her family handles her when she passed away.”

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Although the tough love he shares with his parents, White holds his dear ones closer, especially when it is someone who shares the same passion as him. Case in point, Artie Garelli. In fact, Joe Rogan revealed how White takes the first cab off the rank given the faintest chance to gamble the non-traditional way!

Passion or “sickness”? Joe Rogan reveals Dana White’s love for gambling

Dana White is a man of fine taste. And it seems like gambling ranks high on his list of interests and hobbies. A few months ago, White’s close friend Joe Rogan revealed the UFC commentator revealed how White bought an entire casino for his boat on his podcast. “This is Dana, he’s on vacation on the Amalfi coast and this f*cking dude brings a casino,” he said.

“He had a casino come to him. That’s his son [next to him]. Look, he’s got stacks of cash. That’s a sickness, he brought a goddamn casino to his boat”. Further, the UFC CEO is famous for spending hours on casino tables. And if this isn’t intriguing enough, several sources confirm that he has also won as much as $7 million dollars in a single sitting.

Beyond the confines of the octagon, White enjoys the perks of being a millionaire. Losing a friend who has known him since a long time ago, probably before he took the chair as the UFC CEO, must be a personal loss to him. On the contrary, White and Co. ended the 2023 season on a high after wrapping up UFC 296. Looking forward to a successful 2024 for his promotion, from UFC 297 to the much-awaited UFC 300, a lot is in the pipeline.

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