So once again, Dana White’s continually teasing of a “huge” announcement proved to be a pretty minor announcement after all.
Today Dana and the UFC officially announced that Zuffa owner Lorenzo Fertitta will join the UFC board full-time. Fertitta will resign his current position as president of Station Casinos and will work full time with the UFC.
Big stinking deal. I am pretty certain that this was not the original “huge” announcement that White had planned to make last Thursday. My thought is that the announcement was going to be that legalizing mixed martial arts was going to be brought before the New York state legislature for a vote. Announcing that the current owner is simply shifting from a part-time position to a full-time position within your organization is not the type of announcement that you rent out a conference room at a hotel and bring in all your employees for.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Having a very successful business man on board full-time can only help the UFC, but I don’t think it will change things much. Fertitta already was involved in the day-to-day operations and Dana White confirmed today that not much will change with Fertitta working full-time.
“Nothing changes as far as structure goes or how this thing is run,” said White. “I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing. The difference is, me and Lorenzo talk 40 times a day anyway, and instead of me and him getting together and going over things, he’s gonna be there every day, all day, non-stop. It’s big for this company – me and my best friend got into this together and now we actually get to work together.”
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Well… this wont be the most posted on string in the stats for MMAHQ… lol.. whoopee.. so surprised… almost peed myself…
Friendships don’t always last when in business together. Has anyone even mentioned that? this could end up being a huge disaster for the UFC, because from the footage I’ve seen of Lorenzo, he seems like a real egotistical prick who would sell his mother for money. Most times, it’s just better business to keep a silent partner just that, silent!!!.
P.S. Did anyone else read the story a few months back about how the Fertitta family was once one of the most powerful organized crime families in south Texas? It’s a pretty interesting read.
peesh…lorenzo comin on full time won’t change a thing…I see affliction surpassing the ufc…
i would say let Affliction get there first card out of the way before we start saying they will dethrone the UFC. for all we know this event could turn out to be the next YAMMA, i doubt it because of the talent they have but still. also how many Affliction cards are we even gonna see, it’ll be hard to surpass the UFC if they only do one show.
Yea, Trump is no moron…he wouldn’t even get involved with Affliction if he didn’t think it was a good business move in the long run. I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped on the “let’s get NYC MMA sanctioning” bandwagon. Trump has a lot of pull around here with city organizers and officials and that would be a huge embarrassment to the UFC, if Trump ends up pulling something like that, out of his tupee.
if Trump can get N.Y. to start putting on shows i will be very impressed by his performance lol.