5 times that Dana White beefed with rival promoters

#4. Dana White vs. Gary Shaw and Elite XC (2008)

Kimbo Slice's fight with Seth Petruzelli made Dana White lose his head with Elite XC

In the mid-2000’s, when MMA reached its first “boom period” in the US, Dana White's UFC quickly established itself as the sport’s biggest promotion. However, a number of rivals quickly sprung up during the same period, looking to cut themselves a slice of the pie.

One such rival was Elite XC. The brainchild of boxing promoter Gary Shaw, Elite XC spent a ton of money buying up smaller promotions such as Cage Rage and King of the Cage and was quickly able to sign a deal with the Showtime network to broadcast their events.

2007 saw the promotion attempt to ruffle the UFC’s feathers by looking to poach then-UFC heavyweight title contender Brandon Vera. However, for the most part, Dana White stayed largely quiet on the promotion’s attempts to muscle into the market.

That was until 2008, when Elite XC managed to sign a deal to broadcast shows on the CBS network, becoming the first MMA promotion to make its way to network television in the US.

Dana White labeled their first show on the network, headlined by former YouTube street brawling sensation Kimbo Slice, “horrendous,” and stated that “MMA didn’t put its best foot forward” with the event.

Worse was to come, though. Late 2008 saw Elite XC broadcast an event entitled ‘Heat’ on CBS, and in the headliner, UFC washout Seth Petruzelli pulled off a major shock by knocking Slice out in the opening seconds.

When Petruzelli then declared to a local radio show that Elite XC had apparently offered him extra money to stand with Slice, essentially avoiding exposing his ground game, all hell broke loose.

Dana White in particular went on an epic rant, slating Slice, Elite XC and Gary Shaw and claiming the whole situation disgusted him.

The rant instantly went viral, with White’s quip of “that’s f*cking illegal!” being particularly meme-worthy. The result was an investigation into Elite XC’s affairs and months later, the promotion was dead in the water.

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#3. Dana White vs. Bob Arum (2020)

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has been at loggerheads with Dana White for years

Dana White’s feud with legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum is well-documented. Largely stemming from comments that Arum has made over the years about the legitimacy of MMA as a sport, this rivalry dates back well over a decade.

Back in 2011, for instance, Arum labeled the UFC a “monopoly,” resulting in Dana White lashing out in a rant, essentially claiming that the boxing promoter “didn’t have the balls to get into MMA” when the sport was in its infancy. Arum unsurprisingly retorted by hitting the UFC with the usual insults about their pay scale, claiming that the promotion paid its athletes “nothing.”

The two promoters have been sniping at one another in the media ever since, but the beef took on a new life in 2020 after Arum criticized Terence Crawford, a boxer fighting under his Top Rank banner.

Dana White quickly hit out at his rival for this, labeling him, amongst other things, a “f*cking scumbag” and basically claiming the media would’ve murdered him if he’d spoken about one of his fighters in a similar manner.

The feud has since simmered down, but it’s clear that it’ll probably never be completely over.