What Did Dana White Do Before Becoming the UFC President? What Is the 53-Year-Old’s Combat Background?

The UFC supremo, Dana White, may be running after the coveted yet gimmick fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk currently. But, most UFC fans will probably admit that the promotion couldn’t have reached today’s heights without White’s efforts. Post his UFC takeover in 2001, the promotion has seen a massive development in viewership and revenues. White’s superb success with the UFC may be determined by comparing the ‘then vs now’ net worths of the promotion. Quite startlingly, the ’53-year-old’ had boosted the UFC’s net worth from $2M in 2001 to a humongous $14B today.

In the process, White also earned himself loads of wealth and currently boasts a net worth of $520M. Today, there’s hardly any form of luxury that’s too costly for the UFC head honcho. But, things weren’t always the same for him. Even the ‘$520M man’ had to go through quite a few hardships in his pre-UFC life. While most fans know about the UFC side of his life, Dana White’s pre-UFC days have always been a comparatively gray area for them. So let’s dive right in to know some more about White’s pre-UFC life.

What did Dana White do before becoming the UFC President?

The UFC supremo, Dana White, wasn’t born rich. His mother, Anne White, worked as a nurse while his father’s name is, Dana White Sr. Reports also say that White spent most of his childhood years in Manchester, Connecticut, But, it was probably fate that caused his family to relocate to Las Vegas since the city offered better payouts for nurses.

After graduating from Hermon High School in 1987, Dana White enrolled twice in college. He took his first attempt to complete graduation at Quincy College and then at The University of Massachusetts Boston, but dropped out from both institutions after his first semester. Following that, White got into boxing as well. However, by this time he had already worked as an asphalt installer, a bouncer at an Irish bar, and a bellhop at the Boston Harbor Hotel.

But the ‘Irish American’ also gave up his boxing aspirations soon and started managing boxing gyms and taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu lessons. It was during this time only that he decided to do something big with his then-friends and later UFC owners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.

Dana White worked as a bellman in different hotels in Boston

Working as a bellman or bellhop was one of the UFC supremo’s initial jobs. With a failed stint at his college education, White didn’t have a lot of ways before him. He started to take up menial jobs to sustain himself. Out of quite a few others, White spent a number of months working as a bellhop in different hotels in Boston.

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He found some stability after joining the Boston Harbor Hotel due to its better payouts. But, he didn’t continue on this track for too long. He soon left his job to follow the way of his heart.

The UFC President also worked as a bouncer at the Black Rose in Boston and worked laying pavement

As mentioned earlier, White also tried out a number of other jobs apart from his role as a bellhop. Reportedly, working as a bouncer at an Irish bar and laying asphalt were the other menial jobs that he took up during that time.

White had a knack for boxing from his childhood. By the end of his teenage, he had also gained quite a few skills in it. This probably prompted him to go for a job as a bouncer at the Black Rose bar in Boston. Apart from that, the Irish American’ had also worked as an asphalt layer for quite some time.

How did Dana White end up becoming UFC president?

Dana White was friends with the ‘Zuffa’ owners, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta right from his childhood days. But, the idea of going for something big came to him while he was training in BJJ alongside them post their teenage years. The trio used to train under John Lewis and soon came into contact with the famed former UFC stars Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, who fought for smaller promotions back then.

White talked to Ortiz and Liddell and took up the job of their manager as well. It was during this time that he met Bob Meyrowitz, the owner of Semaphore Entertainment Group, the then-parent company of the UFC. However, White also came to learn that Meyrowitz wasn’t pleased with the UFC’s revenues and wanted to sell it off.

He found his perfect opportunity at this moment, as he had always wanted to go big. He discussed this issue with his ‘rich’ schoolfriends, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and eventually convinced them to take over the UFC.

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In 2001, the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC from Meyrowitz at the cost of $2M and employed their friend White as the president of the company.

Did UFC president Dana White used to fight?

Although it is well known that White had spent quite a prolonged time training in boxing and BJJ. He never tested his skills at the professional level. White also had the desire to become a professional boxer from his childhood days.

But as he grew older, the fight promoter in him took over the professional boxer. He decided to go into fight promotion entirely leaving aside professional boxing. Well, fight fans must be thankful that he did so. Otherwise, we would have never got to witness some of the most memorable MMA fights in th history of combat sports.