Dana White

Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who serves as president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 million. White was born in Manchester, Connecticut, to June and Dana White Sr., on July 28, 1969. He is an Irish American. White spent many of his early years residing in Ware, Massachusetts. White and his sister, Kelly, were raised by their mother and her family for the majority of their childhoods. White's mother was a nurse, and the family moved to Las Vegas when White was in third grade, as Vegas offered higher wages for nurses. White attended Bishop Gorman High School, where he first met Lorenzo Fertitta, although they did not become close friends until years later. White said he disliked school and "got kicked out of Gorman twice". Despite living in Nevada, the Whites returned to the East Coast in the summers, to spend time with White's grandparents in Levant, Maine, a small town near Bangor. White spent his senior year of high school in Maine. After graduating from Hermon High School in 1987, White started college twice, once at Quincy College and once at UMass Boston, but dropped out during his first semester each time. During this time, he had various jobs, such as laying asphalt, working as a bouncer at an Irish bar, and being a bellhop at the Boston Harbor Hotel. White had begun boxing at age 17, and befriended former Golden Gloves champion Peter Welch. Through this relationship, White decided he wanted to enter the fight business, and he started a boxing gym in Boston with Welch. White initially intended to become a professional boxer himself, but was put off the idea after seeing a punch drunk boxer and worrying that he would suffer the same neurodegeneration. White then worked as a boxercise coach. White has stated he left Boston to return to Las Vegas in the early 90’s after being threatened by mobster Whitey Bulger and his associate Kevin Weeks.