Dana White appears to be happy with his working relationship with UFC owner Ari Emanuel.
White had a strong bond with the UFC’s previous owners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. When Endeavor first purchased the promotion, many didn’t know what to expect. Endeavor is a Hollywood agency juggernaut ran by Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell. It’s clear that Emanuel is content with White holding onto his role as UFC president.
Dana White Praises Ari Emanuel
White appeared on the Short Story Long podcast and he discussed his business relationship with Emanuel (via MMAFighting.com).
“Now with Ari [Emanuel], he and I end up being perfect partners together. It’s really cool,” White said. “You think of a guy like Ari, if you watch Entourage—Ari Emanuel has no ego when he deals in business and he’s a f—king killer and I love that about him, too.
“For me to be able to have two perfect marriages in business is pretty crazy.”
White went on to explain what makes working with Emanuel painless.
“Ari is f—king awesome. He’s awesome. He couldn’t have been a better guy to be the guy to come in with me again,” White said. “You know how many arguments me and Ari have had in f—king almost the last four years? Zero. We’ve had zero. Zero arguments whatsoever.
“All the s—t with the banks, dealing with all the banks and all the s—t that’s involved now, Ari does all that. Cause that’s what Ari does and that’s what Ari is really good at. You know what him and the banks do? They let me do my thing. They stay out of the way and they let me run the business. It’s f—king great. It’s perfect.”
Under the Endeavor era, the UFC has made the move to ESPN as their TV home. UFC’s pay-per-view model has also changed. PPVs in the United States are now exclusively aired through ESPN+.
