The “Teflon Don” has nothing on “Teflon Dana”.
Two-and-a-half weeks after Dana White was filmed slapping his wife at a nightclub, TBS kicked off White’s first Power Slap league broadcast. White somehow overcame the terrible optics and even worse the search engine tangles that came with the two slap events. There is no doubt that he will escape serious injury from the domestic abuse incident that would have ended nearly every other public figure.
Many have wondered how the hell White does it, and many media outlets focus more on the lack of repercussions than the incident itself. ESPN is out there in a hot dog suit asking who might be responsible for punishing the UFC president. The answer in practical terms is “Nobody”. Now Front Office Sports is writing a post-scandal recap of the situation titled ‘How Dana White became immune to controversy’.
The most interesting part of the Front Office Sports coverage is a series of quotes from anonymous former UFC employees that give your average non-UFC fan a glimpse into the strange, isolated world White has created. It is the one where he is loved, adored and feared in equal amounts.
“Those who are inside [the sport] knew nothing was going to happen,” a former UFC employee said in the article. “Dana is so powerful. In any other sport, a league president laying hands on his wife would result in immediate action. It’s sad and disgusting at the same time. »
As for why White is getting the special treatment from UFC Endeavor parent company Ari Emanuel?
“He convinced Ari that he has the secret sauce,” said another ex-employee. “Endeavor believes there is no one but Dana who can lead the UFC.”
Over the years, the UFC brand has grown into a huge juggernaut. At the same time, White worked hard to create her own brand. To most fans, he’s a no-bullshit truth-teller who does what needs to be done to get prima donna fighters into the cage. For corporate executives, he is the one who will sideline Jon Jones for three years rather than pay him money to Deontay Wilder, thus preserving the big profits Endeavor shareholders have enjoyed since they took over. bought the company in 2016.
Honestly, it’s this hard-nosed approach to maintaining the pay scale above all else that probably keeps him secure in his position at the top of the UFC. Of course, he’s also been known to splash fighters with cash here and there. But everyone knows how dangerous it can be to ask White for more money. And that extends beyond fighters to UFC employees.
“Dana will tip a hotel doorman $1,000, but if someone comes to his office and asks for a raise, it pisses him off,” a former employee told Front Office Sports. “It’s so weird. For Dana, money is love. It is not considered an instrument to purchase goods or services. If you ask for money, it means you don’t like it. It’s very primitive.
These anonymous former employees weren’t completely negative when talking about their former boss. To one person, they all told Front Office Sports that they had never seen White act physically violent with someone else like he did in the footage with his wife. This could be another mitigating factor in how he finally managed to come out on the other side of this scandal…not like it would have saved anyone else in a similar situation.
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