Dana White on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour

In 2001, Dana White became president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The company was 44 million dollars in the hole. Fast forward to 2006. The UFC set a pay-per-view sales record - raking in more than 220 million dollars in revenue. So, how'd he do it? When Dana came on the scene, Mixed Martial Arts - or MMA - was a fringe sport. It was banned in 36 states. The pay-per-view providers wanted out and the fights were considered too bloody, brutal and violent. Even politicians were morally outraged. So, Dana reacted. He cleaned up the rules, brought in weight classes and put in a judging system. He marketed the fighters' personalities and emphasized their athletic ability. He also made the fights more crowd friendly. Then he created a reality show called 'The Ultimate Fighter.' The show became huge and before you could tap out, the UFC became the fastest growing sport in America.

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[121jiggawattz]

haha when i first saw the title i thought they misspelled george sotiropoulos

[Jasonpimp8402]

Stroumboulopouloslumpadumpablu­hblahblahhhhhh

[mmafyasco]

whoa !!

MIND BLOWN!

[Bobby Clerici]

We'd need somebody to mediate between George Sotiropoulos and George Stroumboulopoulos ...maybe George Stephanopoulos!

[MusicalProstitute77]

I LOVE Dana just based on the fact that he hates Ortiz.....That shit eating maggot motherfucker (sorry Jenna...not calling your pussy "shit" ).....Loved watching The Iceman KO his Spick ass 1....2....3 TIMES!!!

[MrBowdallen]

That's absolutely ridiculous your whole comment shouts ignorance.

[CogitoErgoSum182]

Nobody has ever died in the UFC to date, They have extrememly thourough medical examinations of fighters before, duirng and after every fight. Thousands died in the gladiatorial arenas all over the Roman empire. GSP has not long came back from an almost 19 month injury. Despite what non-fighters think it can be very difficult for a professional fighter to go up in weight class and still perform at the highest level. Although there are some exceptions to that rule.

[bigvalxxxl]

Dana White 100 pounds ago lol

[Dan Radu]

Strombo is good interviewer. 

[memoranda1]

i don't like UFC period to me it has become like the WWE with story lines. Gsp doesn't wanna fight bigger guys cause he doesn't wanna get his ass beat he just likes to beat on smaller guys at least that's what i hear. I certainly don't watch it. we are back in the roman times if you ask me.

[gaoasiadragon]

Before Zuffa.

[PRIMEx420]

haha yeah, for a moment i thought ^THAT^, and "wait, dana doesn't grapple.. :S"