Now before anyone freaks out and calls me an insensitive jerk, obviously the real MVP’s are all the medical professional and essential workers who put their lives on the line every day.
But a close second (and ahead of 3rd Place by a wide margin) is UFC’s Dana White. When the world was collapsing and people were searching for entertainment, this man not only accepted the challenge, but continued to elevate the UFC Brand so that the fans got the fights they deserved and the fighters were given the spotlight they deserved.
Let’s start at the beginning: early March 2020. The World is going crazy. Sports are shutting down, people everywhere are panicking. What does White do? He finds a way to keep the fights going. The first sign that he was going to approach this differently than the big 4 (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) was his decision to keep the March 14th UFC Fight Night in Brazil. Instead of cancelling it took place as scheduled with zero fans. That’s right, months ahead of every other sport creating their respective bubbles, White made sure those of us stuck at home had something to entertain us other than Tiger King and Love Is Blind. The card that night – while not great – was fun to watch, and I would bet everything that it was this event that made a lightbulb go off in Dana White’s head. A lightbulb that told him the world needed sports, and UFC could fill that need and reach a new audience in the process.
Unfortunately about 6 weeks went by between this initial fight night and the next UFC event, but during that time the mad scientist was hard at work because he came back with a bang on May 9th: UFC 249, Ferguson vs Gaethj. Talk about laying the foundation for the rest of the year… unlike the March 14th Fight Night, this card was iconic.
While the NBA and NHL couldn’t figure out how to ensure the safety of their athletes (glad it worked out; I was a fan of the Bubble setup), and baseball players were trying to squeeze every dollar out of their owners (I’ll save my comments for another blog on a later date), there was a huge gaping hole for all sports fans that needed to be filled. And in spectacular Dana White fashion, he wasn’t about to miss out on this opportunity.
White knew that it was important to be the first sport back. Being first meant you had a country starving for sports, which meant a huge audience and a huge increase in first time viewers for UFC. White knows he has everyone at home right where he wants them, and proceeds to put on one of the greatest fight cards in recent memory. From there he was off to the races. After UFC 249, he had two UFC Fight Nights that same week, and built strong card after strong card that still continues through this weekend with Gaethj vs Khabib. Whether it was a UFC Fight Night or a Pay Per View, there were no “off weeks” for the UFC – just awesome fight after awesome fight.
It’s not only the great fight cards he’s created that made him an early front runner for MVP, but the overall energy he has brought to the UFC brand at a time where we were starving for sports-related content. He created the UFC Apex in Las Vegas which has hosted a ton of fights, and then this year introduced – wait for it – Fight Island!!! What could be a more UFC/Dana White style venue than something called Fight Island? In case you missed it, I’m sorry to report that they don’t actually fight on the beach (I was more than a little disappointed when I realized that wasn’t happening), but this venue personifies the energy Dana White pumps into the UFC.
The last seven months have been brutal but every Saturday I give thanks that Dana White stepped up to the plate and took the UFC to another level during one of toughest times in the past century. While the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL have been nice to have back, the energy brought each week by the UFC just hits different. I was a quasi UFC fan before, but now I’m all in.
Last but not least…..LET’S GO GAETHJE
