Midnight Mania! Dana White says UFC might bring boxing under its umbrella

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Dana White is famous for just saying stuff. The UFC head honcho was at it again recently in a video interview with the Wall Street Journal. Transcript via MMAFighting.com:

“I could see bringing boxing under our umbrella and trying to see what we could do with that,” White told Jason Gay on “The Unnamed Podvideocast.” “I could see doing that.”

First of all, “The Unnamed Podvideocast” is the ultimate “someone else come up with something” name. Secondly, while “Zuffa Boxing” was seen on several T-shirts ahead of McGregor-Mayweather, Dana White becoming a boxing promoter seems unlikely, except perhaps for future large cross-promotional opportunities. The Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather spectacle was a one-time event that only made sense because of the magnitude of McGregor’s star power. The UFC did act as co-promoter in that fight. In most cases (including that one), promoters end up paying out a lot more to their top stars in boxing because of the Ali Act, which also changes contract negotiations and gives more power to the fighters.

As far as the longevity of his current career in the WME-IMG era, White says he’s still fully invested in his job.

“This is what I love to do,” White said. “I’m 48 years old. This is what I jump out of bed every day and I love doing. I love working with [WME-IMG co-CEO] Ari [Emanuel]. Ari and I actually get along really, really well. And then his other partner Patrick [Whitesell] is the nicest guy in the world. I couldn’t be in a better position. I couldn’t be doing it with better people. I’m good.”

“What people don’t understand is first of all, I’m still an owner,” White said. “I still have an ownership position in the UFC. And yeah, I signed a contract, but no contract can keep you anywhere. I could leave tomorrow if I wanted to. I obviously couldn’t go work for somebody else, but I could leave when I want to leave. I don’t want to leave.”

“No contract can keep you anywhere” is a good line. The hundreds of fighters the UFC has under contract, some of whom it engages in legal battles to keep from pursuing other opportunities, would be interested to hear that. The world is much different when you have hundreds of millions of dollars as UFC president, I suppose. You don’t have to seek other work in your area of expertise at that point. You can just go dive off your yacht all day long if you want to.

He also said, if he were to retire and pursue something else, it might be a surprise. Dana White wants to make education better in Las Vegas (though he didn’t get into the specifics of how).

“If I stopped doing this, one of the things that I would focus on is making education better in Las Vegas,” White said. “I would like to work on the schools and break down the system that’s in place now, because it’s a mess.”

White also riffed on the appeal of women’s MMA, where McGregor is at, the upcoming TV deal, and the ultimate goal of getting the UFC product on one UFC-owned platform.

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