The UFC that exists today — with Dana White at the helm as a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut that runs cards on every continent, signs blockbuster TV deals, and controls sports headlines — came within one phone call of being sold off and disappearing forever.
Most fans know the massive empire that just pulled in a record-breaking 34 million global viewers for the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House. But very few know how close it came to being sold off for the price of a mid-tier house.
Dana White Reveals the Night He Thought UFC Was Dead
The Fertitta brothers, Lorenzo and Frank, bought the UFC in 2001 for just $2 million. But over the next few years, they lost millions. Most states banned the sport, cable companies ignored it, and the Fertittas had to keep the business afloat with their own cash. By 2004, they had sunk more than $40 million into the company with absolutely no profit in sight.
At that breaking point, they decided it was time to look into selling. White spent the day calling around and realized they could only get about $7 million or $8 million for the whole brand, meaning they would lose nearly everything they put into it.
The UFC boss literally went to sleep thinking the UFC was dead. In a resurfaced Forbes interview, he said, “I thought it was over. I started making phone calls that day, and at the end of the day I called him back and said we could probably get $7 or $8 million for this thing. And he’s like, Alright. I’ll call you tomorrow. And I thought it was over.”
Dana White says the UFC was $44M in debt and nearly sold for $8M—until Lorenzo made one call: “F*ck it. Let’s keep going”
“I thought it was over. I started making phone calls that day, and at the end of the day I called him back and said we could probably get $7 or $8 million… pic.twitter.com/3va0CsPEBK
— Dovy🔌 (@DovySimuMMA) June 26, 2026
But everything flipped the next morning as White added, “The next day I’m driving to work and Lorenzo calls me. And this is literally, quote, what he said: ‘F— it, let’s keep going.'”
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Lorenzo’s four-word choice didn’t just save the UFC — it literally created a whole new sport. A few months after that phone call, they took one last desperate gamble, spending $10 million of their own cash to make a reality show called “The Ultimate Fighter” because every single TV network had rejected them. Spike TV only let it on the air because the UFC paid for everything themselves.
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The show’s live finale delivered exactly what they needed. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on one of the greatest, most chaotic fights in MMA history. TV ratings went through the roof, proving to the networks that people loved this stuff, and Spike TV immediately signed them to a long-term contract. Dana White always says that without that one fight, the UFC would be dead.
The money turnaround after that was insane. In 2016, the Fertittas sold the UFC for $4 billion. It is still one of the most profitable sports deals ever. A company that nobody wanted to buy for $8 million in 2004 turned into a multi-billion-dollar empire just 12 years later.
