Dana White isn’t going anywhere any time soon. The president of the UFC announced Monday that he has agreed to a new seven-year deal to remain running the world’s leading mixed martial arts circuit.
“Ari Emanuel and I just signed a new seven-year deal, too,” White said in an interview with Megan Olivi on the UFC YouTube channel. “So we’re here for seven years. ESPN is here for seven years and the incredible things that we’re going to work on, I just can’t even tell you how pumped I am for all this stuff.”
White signed the deal with Endeavor, the majority owner of the UFC promotion. The deal was confirmed by ESPN.
The 49-year-old White has led the promotion from the nascent stages to what it is now, a multi-billion dollar organization, and stuck with the organization after it was sold by the Fertitta Brothers to WME-IMG in 2016.
White has run the UFC since 2001 and saw the promotion add a reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, along with multiple other shows around the promotion and helped make stars of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.
“After the sale I stayed on and we’ve been working hard for the last two-and-a-half years to take this thing to the next level,” White said. “That’s why I’m here. I didn’t stay here. It’s not about money. It’s not about any of that stuff.
“I don’t care about any of that stuff. I like to win and I like to take this thing to the next level, the next level, the next level, and it’s what we’ve always done and what we’ll continue to do.”