As Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta sought to find a buyer for the UFC, there was one condition laid out from every potential suitor looking to purchase the mixed martial arts promotion—Dana White had to be willing to stay on with the company.
According to the UFC president, that condition had him nervous about the buyers vying for a chance to run the organization because his bombastic, outspoken attitude might clash with a lot of business owners who weren’t his best friends.
White and the Fertitta brothers teamed up to purchase the UFC in 2001 and the three of them built the business from a $4 million failing promotion to an organization worth selling for over $4 billion just 15 years later.