Dana White threatened to give Strikeforce "a bad time" till they sold to UFC, per leaked court documents 

MMA fans are well aware of the persistent rumors suggesting that UFC CEO Dana White adopted an assertive stance in his pursuit to establish dominance in MMA and potentially monopolize the industry.

Leaked court documents have now emerged that shed light on a pivotal moment in the MMA landscape, revealing that Dana White threatened to give Strikeforce "a bad time" until they agreed to sell their promotion to the UFC. The documents fortify the longstanding notion and seemingly unmask the UFC's aggressive stance in securing its dominance.

In January 2011, a significant development in the MMA world transpired when UFC matchmaker Joe Silva circulated an email that emphasized the UFC's claim to "own MMA." However, the consensus rankings of MMA fighters in major weight classes at the time revealed a different story.

Strikeforce, a competing promotion, boasted a remarkable presence in these rankings, boasting top-ranked fighters across various divisions. This indicated that Strikeforce was a legitimate competitor to the UFC.

The court documents further disclosed that in October 2010, Dana White made contact with the owners of Strikeforce, informing them of Lorenzo Fertitta's interest in acquiring their promotion. Subsequently, in November 2010, the owners of Strikeforce met with representatives from the UFC to explore the potential acquisition.

At this meeting, Lorenzo Fertitta expressed a clear desire for a single dominant brand in MMA, suggesting that Strikeforce should be merged with the UFC, a move that would ultimately eliminate a significant competitor from the market. Scott Coker, the founder of Strikeforce, testified that Fertitta's plan was to "close (Strikeforce) down and bring all the fighters to the UFC."

When negotiations reached a stalemate, Dana White reportedly issued a threat, vowing to make life difficult for Strikeforce and its fighters if they didn't agree to the acquisition. Coker believed that Strikeforce had the potential to become a stronger competitor to the UFC had it not been sold to Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC.

Check out the leaked documents below:

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Dana White's assertive stance and Strikeforce's thriving numbers

Financial documents from Strikeforce revealed that the promotion achieved profitability on many of its events despite paying a high percentage of its event revenue to its fighters.

For instance, in November and December of 2009, Strikeforce generated $2.97 million in event revenue and paid its fighters $1.74 million, equal to 59% of the event revenue. From January through July 2011, Strikeforce earned $13.8 million in event revenue and paid its fighters $9.1 million, equal to 66% of this amount, while still earning a positive event EBITDA of $0.49 million.

In contrast, the documents showed that Bellator incurred substantial costs other than fighter compensation, including administrative costs as well as production costs. These additional costs collectively exceeded Bellator's total revenue for several years, demonstrating that fighter compensation was not the sole factor preventing the promotion from achieving profitability.