UFC President Dana White Intends To Take The Boxing Industry To New Heights By Using UFC Business Model!
UFC boss Dana White has teased a move to boxing for a long time. In April 2019, he had a meeting with the promoter Eddie Hearn. In an interview with CNN, Dana announced some serious moves “after this summer”.
Dana White elaborately spoke on his business plans on Thursday during the unveiling of the UFC Apex facility.
Dana actually believes many great things could be done to boost the status of boxing. UFC boss thinks the sport is hindered by a bad business model. Dana White also states the boxing industry could benefit from more small-scale events, similar to UFC Fight Nights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Even without superstars. (h/t BloodyElbow)
“If you look at the way that it was in the 80s, 90s, even the early 2000s, you had [a few] guys that were [making money]. You had Floyd [Mayweather], you had [Manny] Pacquiao, [Oscar] De La Hoya, maybe a couple other guys,” Dana White said Tuesday at the new Apex facility (via MMA Fighting). “But boxing as a whole, you’re talking about tons of fighters that weren’t making big money and weren’t in big fights. I think that the sport could be so much more.
“If you look at what [the UFC has] built over the last 20 years, and our events, and how many events we’re doing — we’re doing 42 events a year. Every time you go to one of our events, they’re either sold out or they break the record for ticket sales. This year we’re going to break the record for ticket sales, ever, in UFC history. There are more tickets being sold this year than ever before in the history of the company. We continue to put on these fights, people come and see them. They’re on TV, free, they’re on ESPN, which everybody has. And we’re still doing million-dollar gates on these things without the Mayweathers and those types of fights.”
Dana White has a great idea.
“You could build a business [like that] with boxing — build a real business,” Dana White concluded. “You’ve just got to break it and rebuild it.”
So what do you think, does Dana White has what it takes to breathe new life into boxing industry?
