“Yeah, I have been extended,” White said with a laugh. “Five years — another five-year extension. Literally this year.”
White’s last contract with TKO was a seven-year deal from 2019 that was set to run out in 2026, and while it seemed certain that he wasn’t going anywhere, we now have contractual confirmation that White, 56, will remain the CEO (and the face) of UFC until 2031.
“Uncle Dana” has done an amazing job of becoming one of the most recognizable names in the sport. It doesn’t hurt that he slaps his name on a ton of UFC programming like Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series and Dana White’s Looking For a Fight. The fans love him — although some would argue that “White fatigue” is a growing issue.
Hey, if it can happen to Pedro Pascal, it can happen to anyone.
But, White’s popularity with the fans isn’t the reason TKO is paying him a hefty sum to stick around. It’s not even that the power brokers atop TKO like him (although they clearly do). White has the support of the most important people in business: the finance people.
UFC expert and TKO investor FrontRowBrian on X (formerly Twitter) noted that White’s new contracts line up perfectly with UFC debt extensions.
“UFC in ‘19 wanted to refinance their $2+ billion debt,” FrontRowBrian tweeted. “ Lenders said we need 2 more years of contracted revenue to offset risk. UFC goes to ESPN and says, ‘Can you tack on 2 years to the existing 5 year deal so it expires end of ‘25 instead of ‘23. ESPN says yes. Then the lenders say one more thing: ‘To alleviate key man risk, we need Dana’s employment contract extended 2 years ago to coincide with the expiration of the loans.’ So Dana signs a 2 year extension to bring us to end of 2025.”
“UFC’s loans that were due early 2026 are now due in 2031, and Dana signed a 5 year contract,” he continued.
“Not a coincidence. 2031-2026 = 5 years. So the underwriters of $2.7 billion in debt think Uncle Dana is needed but the fake news on X says he doesn’t care anymore and doesn’t do anything.”
White has done such a phenomenal job of integrating his presence into the sport that big money clearly agrees with Ronda Rousey’s recent statement: without Dana, UFC is just three letters. Can’t imagine UFC without White? Neither can the private equity companies financing the promotion behind the scenes.
