Dana White: This Generation Thinks You Can Build A Business From Home, It's Impossible!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

Dana White joins Steven Bartlett to dissect the brutal realities of building and scaling a global sports empire from a $2 million starting p

Key takeaways

• White argues that building a business from home is impossible, emphasizing that real entrepreneurship requires solving daily problems on-site and enduring physical/mental grind far beyond typical 9-to-5 jobs.
• He credits UFC's success to matchmaking, live event production, TV production, and assembling a loyal, high-performing team that shares the founder's vision.

Main topics

• Entrepreneurial grind vs. remote work myths
• Team assembly and leadership during crises

Notable quotes

"The younger generation that think you can work from home and build a successful business, it's impossible. You can't do it."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a no-nonsense blueprint for entrepreneurial resil

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) I've already built the biggest fight brand to ever exist. Speaker 2 (0:03) The UFC was purchased for $2 million. And if the Lakers sold for $12.5 billion, Speaker 1 (0:07) then the UFC is worth $50 billion. And every day that I Speaker 2 (0:10) show up here, I'm here to f***ing win. When Speaker 1 (0:12) I'm dead, Speaker 2 (0:12) it's going to be impossible to beat what I've built. Speaker 1 (0:15) And I am addicted to chaos. And if there isn't any, I create it. From UFC fighters to CEOs of multi-gazillion pound companies to world leaders, I see in you a man that is truly obsessed. Early on, I Speaker 2 (0:26) knew exactly who I was and I knew that I wanted to be involved in fighting. That's what I wanted to do for the Speaker 1 (0:32) rest of my life. Speaker 1 (0:36) Was there any athlete that you sort of put in a class of their own? Conor McGregor, Habib Nurmagomedov, and Ronda Rousey. But I Speaker 2 (0:42) didn't want women in the UFC. But Ronda Rousey grabbed me, said, can I get 15 minutes with you? And she came in with the whole fucking bravado. And I'm like, holy shit. I think I'm going to do this, and she's the one to do it with. Speaker 1 (0:53) If there were principles that you would most attribute to the success of the UFC, what would it be? When you decide who you Speaker 2 (1:00) are, what you want to do, what you're going to accomplish, and you work toward it, it is impossible for you to fail. Do not. Be afraid to take the risk. But some of these kids that think they want to be entrepreneurs, they don't know what it really takes. And Speaker 1 (1:11) there is a formula. And guess who has it? And we can talk about this. And then this is a book your mother published about you unauthorized as a biography. She's critical of you at certain points. I don't go on shows to speak negatively about my Speaker 2 (1:22) mother. But, I mean, that's one of the grossest, most disgusting things you couldn't even imagine possible until it happens to you. And sometimes family is the worst. And that was... The beginning of the end with me and her. Have you forgiven her? Speaker 1 (1:38) Um... Speaker 1 (1:42) Guys, I've got a favour to ask before this episode begins. The algorithm, if you follow a show, will deliver you the best episodes from that show very prominently in your feed. So when we have our best episodes on this show, the most shared episodes, the most rated episodes, I would love you to know. And the simple way for you to know that is to hit that follow button. But also, it's the simple... easy, free thing that you can do to help us make the show better. And I would be hugely grateful if you could take a minute on the app you're listening to this on right now and hit that follow button. Thank you so, so, so much. Speaker 1 (2:17) Dana, you know more than anybody that to become a great fighter, And oftentimes you have an anomalous upbringing. And I have some of these fighters in front of me like Khabib and Islam and Mike Tyson. And when you look at their backgrounds and where they came from, they have atypical origins. And when I look at you, I consider you to be a great fighter in your own regard. So that's my question is, what is that early context that's made you the fighter that you are? I don't know. You know, I Speaker 2 (2:44) always have trouble when we start talking about me and my upbringing. psychoanalyzing me. I don't know how to really answer those questions. Speaker 2 (2:55) I don't know. It's not like I grew up like these guys grew up. But early on, I knew exactly who I was. And I knew that I wanted to be involved in fighting. That's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Speaker 1 (3:08) In terms of your mom and dad, I listened to you talk about your dad and his absence and his difficulty with alcohol, divorced at eight years old, left with your mother. And that was also a turbulent relationship as you grew up. Is there anything from that early context that you look back on? I know you don't like being psychoanalyzed. I've heard you respond to like Piers Morgan and others who have talked about your childhood before. But is there anything from that early context that you think did shape you into this sort of like relentless? Speaker 2 (3:36) You know, I always say that, you know, you see these people that play the victim, you know, the victim mentality. It's like, oh, I didn't have any role models when I was growing up. Yes, you did. You just didn't look at it the right way. When you grow up, everybody who's involved in your life, they're all role models in good and bad ways. I used to look at some of my uncles and my dad and I was like, we don't want to go in that direction. Let's go in this direction. In America, you can start drinking when you're 21. Speaker 1 (4:07) I Speaker 2 (4:07) quit drinking when I was 21. I believe that I wouldn't be able to accomplish all the things that I wanted to accomplish if I was drinking. And I saw a lot of, you know. family members and other people where drinking had been detrimental to their life. And, you know, I think I had some pretty talented, you know, family members that could have lived a different life had they not Speaker 1 (4:32) drank. You and your sister? Yeah, that's me and my sister. If I was to fly on the wall during that period of your life, what would I have seen? Speaker 2 (4:39) I don't know. I don't really remember. Me and my sister, you know, now that we're getting older, we talk about this stuff a lot. Me and my sister are super close. You know, both our parents are dead and it was just us. So, yeah. My mom was an animal. My mom worked her ass off. And, you know, if she wasn't working, you know, and picking up extra shifts, she was a nurse, she was going to school. And Speaker 1 (5:00) she effectively raised you on her own? Definitely. Because your dad was, he was absent. I remember he reciting a story of you, him taking you to the cinema drunk. Speaker 2 (5:11) Yeah. Speaker 1 (5:12) And just, I mean, what I got from that was. I guess, carelessness. The story of him taking you to the cinema, asking you if you wanted something, throwing $20 your way, telling you to go get it for your sister. Yeah. Him embarrassing you. It Speaker 2 (5:25) was just Speaker 1 (5:25) one of Speaker 2 (5:25) those moments. And, you know, you have these things that you remember from your young life. And I have a few with my dad. But, you know, the movie was Beverly Hills Cop, and it had just come out. And it was like the biggest movie in the world. And we got there late. He showed up drunk to pick us up and take us to the movies. So getting there was a whole scene on its own. And then we get there. The place is packed. There's no seats. He walks in and screams, we're going to have to start moving some people. And throws money at me to go get food and popcorn and whatever. In my opinion, my dad was a very selfish guy. And he lived the life that he wanted to live. And everybody Speaker 1 (6:05) else didn't matter. Speaker 2 (6:06) Did Speaker 1 (6:06) you ever understand him? People always say that when they get older, they understand their parents better. Well, what I understood was once I became a parent, Speaker 2 (6:15) I was like, holy shit, this is the way you're supposed to feel about your kids and this is the way you're supposed to, you know. So yeah, I think that my parents made me a better parent. Speaker 1 (6:27) You've got a very atypical drive in you. There's a certain relentlessness that I've seen. I mean, I've seen it all. And one of the sort of defining traits when I think of Dana White is this sort of relentless. insatiable ambition. So my line of questioning isn't really to psychoanalyze. It's really just to understand how that comes to be the case. One would guess that there's some kind of chip on your shoulder to some degree. Speaker 2 (6:47) Yeah, it's true. But I try to focus on... I like to win. Winning is fun and everything in life. But, you know, I also make sure that the obligations that I have, you know, I pay attention to those too. Like, listen, nobody's perfect, but I've tried to do the best I could to be the best at everything. I could at work, at Speaker 1 (7:10) home, with the kids, you know. And if I'd asked you when you were a young boy, like some of these photos, what you're going to be when you grow up, would you have had an answer for me? I didn't really know that until Speaker 2 (7:20) I was in my late teens, you know, literally walked out of a job that at the time and in the place, a lot of people would kill for, um, and had checked all the boxes and made cash every day. You got a paycheck every week, 401k full dental and medical and, you know, all the things that people are looking for. But I, I didn't like working for other people. I, I, I always felt like. Working in the hotel industry was incredibly disrespectful, the way that they would treat you and talk to you. And I never liked it. It was never for me. So I walked out one day and I said, I'm going to get into the fight business. At the time, I didn't know exactly what that meant or, you know, at what Speaker 1 (8:02) level, but that was my goal. Have you always had a problem with, well, an issue with, dare I say, authority? Yes, very, very much so. Yeah, it was never for Speaker 2 (8:12) me. Where does that come from? Do you know? I don't know. I honestly don't know the answer to that. But I never liked it. I never liked working for other people. I never liked being told what to do. And I don't treat my employees like that. Did Speaker 1 (8:26) you think you were going to be successful in your life when you were, I don't know, 14, 15? Yeah, I Speaker 2 (8:29) did when I was younger. I believed that I would be. Yeah. I sort of had these, you know, these ideas in my head, which at the, you know, at that time, you don't know exactly what it means or at what extent, but. Let me tell you what. So when we worked, when I lived with my mom, me and my sister were just talking about this the other day. So my mom worked all the time or was at school and me and my sister were home alone all the time. But we had chores that we had to do. I mean, we were mow the lawn, you know, cleaning the pool and trimming the bushes and all that. And I was like, let me tell you what, the day I make a dollar, I'm never doing this shit ever again. So that's probably an important lesson she taught you. No doubt about it. And I, you know, I try to do this with my kids too. My kids have been great and done everything the right way. And I've told the story before, but my son, Aiden, my youngest son flies home from college one weekend and says, I don't want to stay in school. I have an idea for this business that I want to do and whatever. I said, he lays it all out for me. I'm like, this is a pretty good idea. I get it. I like it, but you're not going to quit school. And just try to do this. This won't chew up eight to 10 hours of your day. You're going to go out and you're going to get a job and you're going to put out, you're going to go put in applications and you're going to try to get a job. Because if I die tomorrow, that's what you're qualified to do. And he did it. And he went and he worked at U-Haul. And, you know, you got to have those kinds of jobs. My son right now, my oldest is getting his master's degree in Boston right now. And when I lived in Boston, I used to work for EJ paving company. They pave roads. I actually want my son to go do some days at this paving company. What is it you're trying to teach him? Well, what hard work really is. So people like I run around, I don't sleep much. And everybody's like, oh, you work so hard. You work so hard. No, no, no. I'll show you what hard work is. Hard work is construction. Hard work is concrete. Right up the street here, I don't know how many days this summer we're 115 degrees out. 115 degrees out. These construction guys are out there working in 115 degree week, like hard work, real work. And then in the winter, people don't realize this in Vegas, but it gets down into the 30s. These guys will be outside working when it's 30 degrees out. So, and... hard physical labor every day. And then you go home, you eat and you go to bed, you start, get up the next day and you go do it again in your life to figure out what you want to do. You have to figure out what it is you don't want to do. Speaker 1 (11:07) I have a bunch of quotes here that you've said. She just wanted to look at the first one. Speaker 2 (11:12) There's no such thing as a day off when there's no such thing as a day off when you run your own business. You know, there's no birthdays, there's no Christmas, there's no Thanksgivings. Bad shit will happen every single day that you need to deal with. But when you like what you do. Speaker 1 (11:31) It's Speaker 2 (11:31) fun. A Speaker 1 (11:32) lot of people, especially young people these days, want to be entrepreneurs. You know, Speaker 2 (11:37) I'd really like to work for myself and own my own business because I'd love to plan my schedule. You're going the wrong way. What you need to do is find a nine to five job where you have weekends and holidays off. And, you know, that's your move. If you're looking to start your own business because you want more time to yourself, you are picking the wrong thing to do. I promise you that. The key to becoming a good entrepreneur is you have to find solutions to problems every day. The universe was trying to fuck with me the other day. I got out of bed. I had to be at a board meeting at nine o'clock, right? I go in, I got a shave. Both my razors died. I use electric razors. They both died. Get through that. I get in the car and I'm driving and the sensor says, your back right tire is low. Stop the vehicle immediately. I said, yeah. No, we're not fucking stopping. We're going. That's just life, right? When you get up and it's life standing there to kick you in the face and you got to get through all this shit. Then you get to work and there's a laundry list of problems and things you got to deal with. And this younger generation that think you can work from home. and build a successful business, it's impossible. You can't do it. I'm in the office from 8.30 in the morning, and I don't leave the office till 7, 8, 9, 10 sometimes still to this day. There are times when I go to work and my schedule is planned out for the day, but people will pop in my office and we start talking about things. And when you have people, a good group of people like I have at the UFC, And we get in a room and you start talking, things pop up that you would never expect. And things happen. And a lot of good ideas come from everybody being at work. Speaker 1 (13:21) Has being kicked in the face by business over the last couple of decades changed you? Definitely. I don't freak out the way that I used to. Speaker 2 (13:30) I've been through it all. And I'm way more calm now. I see this with a lot of guys. You become, uh, I won't say you get weaker, but you do get weaker as you get older. There's a softer side to you than you had when you were in the early days of building your business. And I don't ever want to be that guy. You know what I mean? I try not to be that guy, but you do relax and chill out and you don't, the things that you used to flip out about when you were younger, you don't when you're older. I mean, I went through a phase where I ripped through like 10 secretaries in two years. Like I need people around me that can keep up. You got to have people that can keep up and can handle, handle the load of work. You know, it's probably the busiest year for me this year. Cause I have Zufa boxing, power slap in the UFC that I'm, I'm running these three companies. And then there's a ton of other things that I do too. So we'll be on the road. You know, I think we just got off the last two months. We were home for like four days in the last two months. Then I get home. And I don't stop. I just, I go out and I do things. And, you know, these guys that are with me, they have to, they're with me and it's tough. Speaker 2 (14:44) Nobody owes you anything. So, you know, we talked a little bit about my parents and whatever. I had this kid that I grew up with. And, you know, we were 12, 13, 14 years old. And I remember his dad had done really well. And, you know, they had a beautiful house. They had cars. You know, he had all the shit that you would want growing up. And I remember him telling me one time his dad ran into hard times. And his dad had put a million dollars away for him in an account. And then his father ran into hard times and his father took the money. He's like, my father stole a million dollars from me. And I remember thinking, are you out of your fucking mind? Speaker 2 (15:26) The fact that your dad even thought of you that way, that he would put that money away for you is incredible. But that was never your money. You didn't earn that money. That wasn't yours. I remember thinking that way when I was 12, 13, 14, right? I'm like, that is definitely the wrong type of mentality. Entitlement. Brutal. And that guy grew up exactly the way you would expect that guy to grow up. He's just, you know, nobody owes you anything. Nobody. listen, to be set up in a position where somebody can make some phone calls for you and do some things. But then once they do that, you have to go in and deliver. Speaker 1 (16:05) There's going to be a ton of people listening that want to be entrepreneurs. Do you think most people are cut out for it? Speaker 2 (16:11) No. Speaker 1 (16:12) No. Speaker 1 (16:16) To be an entrepreneur. Speaker 2 (16:18) is a very unique thing. I mean, it's hard enough for a lot of people to get up every day and depend on themselves to take care of themselves. When you're an entrepreneur, lots of people depend on you. Lots of people feed their families. And I take that role very serious. I mean, when I got into this business, not a lot of people believed in it. That's why we bought the UFC for $2 million, right? Let's be honest here. The UFC was purchased for $2 million. And if the Lakers sold for $12.5 billion, then the UFC is worth $50 billion. Okay? So... The people who did believe in this and did, you know, when I was trying to hire production people. Production people don't want to live in Las Vegas, Nevada, especially 25 years ago. They want New York or LA, right? I was trying to hire sponsorship people, New York and LA. They don't want to live here. And then I had a group of people, Craig Borsari, who is my head of production, who is an absolute rock star, the best in the business. He was a rising star at Fox. He left Fox and came here because he believed. and the vision and what was happening Speaker 1 (17:34) here. When you think back on that journey of buying it for $2 million, and then let's say it's worth $50 billion now, if it was valued, you know, relevant to the Lakers. If there were principles, if there were like a couple of principles that you would most attribute to the success of the UFC, when at the time nobody wanted to put on the fights anywhere, everybody thought it was like too barbaric. Matchmaking. Matchmaking, yeah. Is number one. The live event production. Okay. And the television production. And then on the business side, that you think, you know, if we'd gotten that wrong, we definitely wouldn't be here. The big Speaker 2 (18:14) problem, if you look at how 25 years ago when we bought this, you're never going to compete with boxing. Boxing is too established. It's been around too long. It's this and that. Boxing became a going out of business sale every time these guys would put on a fight. They try to grab as much money as they can and run. I am now involved in boxing. I have the only global television deal, right? On Paramount. All these other guys are on a streaming service called literally Every Promoter. What they've done is they've chased everybody out of the business. Television networks don't want to deal with it anymore. Sponsors don't want to be a part of it anymore. What we have done over the last 25 years is built a brand that not only the consumer trusts. But sponsors, television networks, list goes on and on. Speaker 2 (19:08) I make sure that when people show up to my live event, which is super important, the people who pay to come to the live event spend way more money than the people on TV. And they got to buy flights and rooms and pay for their dinners. Every time we put on a live event, I want the people walking out of there going, God damn, that was a good time. I'm glad we did this tonight and I would love to do this again. And how do you make sure that's the case? I heard somebody say one time, Dana acts like there's a formula to this. If you look, if you went back, I don't know the actual number, but it's a long list and a big number of guys with a lot of money who are really smart and have done good things in life that have tried to get into this business and couldn't do it, couldn't make it work. There is a formula. Speaker 1 (19:52) And Speaker 2 (19:52) guess who has it? Speaker 1 (19:55) One of the things I've learned as I've gone through my business career that I didn't know at the start of my business career was how much of success is actually determined by the people you're able to assemble. I think at the start of my career, you think if I work weekends and I work really hard and have good ideas myself, then I'll be successful. And somewhere along the way, I realized that it's really about like assembling people and binding them with the right like philosophy or culture, whatever they call it. And the question I have for you is, have you noticed the same? Have you noticed that One of the like obvious but seemingly unobvious things about business building is the quality of people you hire. There's no doubt about it. No one guy does everything. When we first Speaker 2 (20:32) bought the company, I was the everything guy. There was like two employees, me and somebody else. And, you know, you wear all the hats when you start. Then you start going out and you start building a team. And there are people who fit and people who work and people who don't. And you have to be really good at figuring out. who fits and who works and who doesn't. And over the last 25 years, if there's a superpower that I have, it has been picking the right people to surround myself with. And I knew when there wasn't. We made a big decision when we sold on people that we brought in, and I knew right away the people that didn't fit, and I fired them. What are you looking for in great people? First of all, you have to have talented people. You have to have talented people that are not only really good at