"Bloody, violent, ferocious, strong, fierce, casualty..." It seems that when fighting is mentioned, words like these flash through most people's minds.

However, Dana White, an American tough guy who is 1.8 meters tall, has developed "fighting", which is the bloodiest business in the eyes of ordinary people, into the fastest profitable sport in the world.

Dana White is the president and partner of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship, translated as "Ultimate Fighting Championship"), the world's largest mixed martial arts organization.

He has a burly build and a shaved head. Chinese UFC fans like to affectionately call him "Dana White."

In March of this year, Dana White was successfully inducted into the 2013 Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame on the grounds that he made a huge contribution to the popularization of mixed martial arts and the development of the professional fighting market in Las Vegas.

The 43-year-old is respected by boxing fans as the "King of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)".

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a competitive fighting sport with extremely open rules.

Unlike a boxing or wrestling match, it allows players to use boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling, karate and other techniques.

The prototype of MMA can be traced back to the gladiatorial fights of ancient Greece and ancient China. It was pioneered by Vale Tudo in modern Brazil.

Dana White once publicly stated: "Bruce Lee is the originator of MMA." He believes that Bruce Lee's fighting philosophy and form of "taking the impossible as the law and the infinite as the limited" promoted the development of mixed martial arts.

However, the popularity of mixed martial arts in China is not high at present, and many people still "do not know much" about it.

In fact, since the 20th century, with the vigorous development of professional mixed martial arts events such as UFC, M-1, and PRIDE FC, MMA has become a mainstream fighting sport that has become popular around the world.

In the United States, MMA is the most popular combat sport.

When it comes to MMA, we must talk about Dana White, because it was he who pushed MMA, which was once marginalized and misunderstood, to the top of the sports world.

When he was young, Dana White was a veritable "street gangster" and "problem boy". He hated studying and was expelled from Bishop Gorman High School twice. He only stayed in two other high schools for one semester each, and he also broke his girlfriend's car.

car.

At the age of 18, he became an amateur boxer.

Later he found a job as a bodyguard at the Boston Bayfront Hotel, but one day he suddenly discovered that his true passion was fighting.

So he quit his job and opened a boxing gym, specializing in teaching aerobics.

In 2002, when Dana White learned that Semaphore Entertainment Group, the parent company of UFC, planned to sell UFC, he persuaded his old friend Lorenzo Fertitta and his two brothers to acquire UFC, and he bought 10% of the shares.

Serve as President.

At that time, the UFC was on the verge of bankruptcy, and most cable companies had terminated their live broadcast cooperation with it.

What is even more desperate is that almost all major national sports committees are unwilling to recognize the legality of mixed martial arts.

In order to save the UFC, the first thing Dana White did was to reshape the image of mixed martial arts and make it legal.

He understood that the "bloody" image of UFC in people's minds must be changed, so he worked with the National Sports Commission to revise the MMA rules in an effort to make the sport more controllable and safe.

For example, it is stipulated that kicking the head and spine of an opponent who has fallen to the ground is not allowed, and a strict physical examination system is implemented before the game, etc.

At the same time, Dana White also changed the UFC's previously easily misunderstood slogan - "There Are No Rules!" ("There are no rules here!") to "As Real As It Gets" ("What you see is real."

"!"), which means that mixed martial arts is very close to actual combat situations and is permitted by law.

"Many people have told me that this sport is hopeless. But I know that its reputation and brand have never been recognized before. Its players are mainly boxers, but if they don't become the best in the Octagon now,

Fighters are likely to be ordinary street fighters, and some may even be imprisoned for fighting." Dana White hopes to change the fate of the UFC and its athletes.

After the "legalization" issue was resolved, Dana White realized that if UFC wants to become famous, it must still rely on the power of mainstream media.