The beginning of Dana White and the UFC’s road to the White House can be traced back 25 years to when a fringe mixed martial arts promotion — at the time still unable to shake the “human cockfighting” label applied to the sport years earlier by a U.S. senator — ran a modest event called “Battle on the Boardwalk.”
Making his first appearance as UFC president, White was asked about his goals for the fledging promotion. Sporting close-cropped hair, thinner, dressed in a suit, and using restraint in his words, White still offered a sneak peek of his future bombastic plans.
