Khabib Nurmagomedov Credits Dana White’s ‘Mafia Movie Mentality’ and “Cold-Blooded” Nature Behind UFC’s Success
Former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov recently praised Dana White for taking the UFC from nothing to something to everything and turning it into “the premier MMA league in the world.”
White helped transform the UFC from a struggling promotion bought by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for $2 million in 2001 into a global multi-billion-dollar sports powerhouse. The UFC then landed a massive seven-year, $7.7 billion US media rights deal with Paramount, beginning with UFC 324 in January 2026. White has been the UFC’s president since 2001 and became CEO in 2023.
Over the years, the UFC head honcho has helped grow the promotion through projects such as The Ultimate Fighter, UFC BJJ, UFC Fight Pass, and Dana White’s Contender Series.
Outside the UFC, White has also helped build Power Slap and Zuffa Boxing, with hopes of growing both brands even further in the future.
Khabib Nurmagomedov explains what separates Dana White from other promoters while giving Dana White credit for making the UFC what it is today
During a recent sit-down with Lex Fridman, Khabib Nurmagomedov praised Dana White, while highlighting what makes the latter special and why White has been able to attain so much success in such a short span of time. “The Eagle” said:
“[Dana White] is very good at separating business and personal relationships. For him, they will never overlap. He draws a clear line between them. In business, he’s extremely cold-blooded. He’s made some major decisions regardless of whether people like them or not. And those decisions were best for the league and for the UFC.”
Talking about White’s UFC-first mentality, the undefeated Russian phenom added:
“He [Dana White] always had that mentality from those mafia movies where family comes first. Well, for him, the UFC always came first. That’s the only way he was able to push that brand forward.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov lastly added that Joe Rogan, Bruce Buffer and others, who have been a part of the UFC since its budding stages, also deserve credit for the brand’s success, but White deserves the most credit for his do-or-die attitude, rock-solid mindset and strong decision-making:
“Of course, a lot of people contributed to that success. There were a lot of them. You have to credit Bruce Buffer, Joe Rogaan [and others]. There were a lot of things that made the UFC unique, but the cherry on top was always Dana. No matter how unsuccessful a particular event might be, the UFC is still the UFC.”
“Over the last 30+ years, they [UFC] have established themselves as the premier MMA league in the world. A lot of people have money, and a lot of people have tried. Many have come in, but building what the UFC has built is extremely hard. And what they’ve achieved now with Paramount, in just 30 years, they’ve grown to a level that some entire sports needed 100 or 150 years to reach. You have to give credit where it’s due, and that credit goes to one person: Dana White.”
Check out Khabib Nurmagomedov’s comments about Dana White below:
