Lately, there has been more of a buzz concerning the future of Dana White. That’s not to say he is planning on leaving anytime soon, but he has floated the notion of leaving in about seven years according to MMAMania.
If White were to leave today, would the UFC fall apart? No, not likely.
When David Stern leaves the NBA, the professional basketball league is not going to fold. The same goes for Roger Goodell in the NFL and Bud Selig in MLB. These organizations would certainly face an adjustment period, but they have each progressed over the years with different people running the operation.
White is considered by many to be the most important person in MMA history—not just the UFC, but all of MMA—for what he has done to carry the sport to near (if not full) mainstream status.
There is also much debate about whether or not that prestige is warranted. If White did not come along as part of the plan to purchase the UFC for $2 million in 2000, would MMA be where it is today?
It’s hard to say. After all, who are we to say that somebody else wouldn’t have come out of nowhere the same way White did and help build an MMA empire?
The UFC is currently facing what I would consider an adverse period in its history.
Injuries have plagued 2012, fighters are starting to be come more visibly frustrated with their chosen opponents (see Shogun, Bisping, Hendricks, etc), television ratings are down, and fans are starting to wonder if there are too many UFC events put on per year.
If White wasn’t part of the UFC right now, somebody else would weather this storm and continue leading the UFC towards its goal of becoming the most popular sport in the world.
It is completely warranted to give White his due credit for working tirelessly to help make the UFC the best MMA organization in the world. However, it is also outlandish to say the UFC would fall apart if he was no longer part of the operations.
Fans don’t care who is running the show. They just care that the show is being run correctly.
White is right: The UFC is like McDonalds. The company is going to succeed regardless of who is running the company.
Joe Chacon is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a Staff Writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
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