After retiring from MMA with a perfect 29-0 record on Oct. 24, 2020, Khabib Nurmagomedov has kept busy managing his own promotions. But fans now view him primarily as a coach who elevates fighters into elite competitors by teaching Sambo-style wrestling, suffocating chain takedowns and relentless ground-and-pound techniques.
However, his years spent working directly inside Dana White’s organization gave him a front-row seat to how the promotion operates. The former lightweight king, who is also a huge soccer and boxing fan, shared his exact perspective recently on what truly sets White apart from every other promoter in combat sports history.
Khabib Nurmagomedov on How Dana White Runs UFC
White took over a struggling UFC back in 2001, buying it with Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for just $2 million after pay-per-view and cable networks nearly blacklisted the sport entirely. They turned that small investment into a global powerhouse, selling the company for $4 billion in 2016 before merging with WWE in 2023 to launch TKO Group.
Nurmagomedov thinks White is completely cold-blooded when it comes to business. White will cut fighters, handle messy contract disputes and make unpopular matchups without letting personal feelings get in the way.
“In business, he’s extremely cold-blooded,” Nurmagomedov said. “He’s made major decisions regardless of whether people like them or not, because they were best for the UFC. You know how in mafia movies, family comes first? Well, for Dana, the UFC always comes first. That’s the only way he pushed the brand forward.”
This same mindset played out after Khabib’s famous 2018 brawl with Conor McGregor, who thinks he is the UFC’s greatest ever. The Nevada State Athletic Commission ended up fining Nurmagomedov $500,000 and freezing his purse. White was with the punishment, as he refuses to protect any fighter who breaks the rules. To him, the company matters more than its biggest stars.
Nurmagomedov did not give White all the credit. He also praised figures like Bruce Buffer and Joe Rogan for helping build the brand. Still, the former champion called White “the cherry on top.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov Marvels at UFC Outpacing Sports History in 30 Years
Boxing took more than a century to become an organized, globally mainstream sport. The UFC did it in roughly three decades. It expanded from a small U.S. circuit into an international operation staging events across the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, with media rights deals now covering more than 170 countries.
“In 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 credit is due, and the credit goes to one person, Dana White,” Nurmagomedov explained.
While maintaining his daily role running the UFC, White also partners with Turki Alalshikh to run Zuffa Boxing. He applies the same best-versus-best matchmaking philosophy that built the UFC, forcing top fighters to face each other rather than protecting undefeated records.
Whether that approach translates from MMA to boxing remains to be seen. But according to the sport’s most decorated retired champion, it’s the same cold-blooded formula that built the UFC in the first place.
