Dana White vs Vince McMahon: Who’s the better promoter?

#5 Adapting

WWE and UFC have each adapted their products for changing times.

WWE has certainly changed over time, going from a shady sports enterprise that tried to convince fans matches weren’t fixed, to a family-friendly national company in the 1980s, to the days of the Attitude Era, to today’s product that reads, in some senses, like a more polished and sanitized version of what WWE was doing during the Hulkamania years. The company has also shifted to take into account social media, and the launch of the WWE Network positioned the company as a leader for not only wrestling, but all pro sports in terms of combining streaming and on-demand services at a fair price point.

UFC, under Dana White, has seen its own share of development, from a sideshow sport seen as too violent for the mainstream to supplanting boxing as the most watched, arguably most legitimate real combat sports company in the world. MMA is in and we can attribute a fair bit of that success to White’s combination of treating it like a legitimate sport with clearly defined rules and weight classes, combined with a showman’s sensibility in promoting big stars and big fights.

In the end, McMahon probably gets the edge here for having spent more time and being a bit more ambitious (and at times outlandish) in how he adapts his product, but its close.