UFC CEO Dana White has revealed what he considers his “first big business mistake” with the UFC, explaining how a dicey decision in the UFC’s early years cost the company six figures.
White admitted one of his biggest muck-ups back in the day was a failed bid for the UFC.com domain name; he could have had it for relatively cheap, but ended up spending as much as ten times the original asking price because he was too rigid.
Dana White Opens Up on Spending Six Figures on UFC.com Domain After Big Business Blunder
Speaking on The Pivot, White provided some insight into the goings-on of early UFC. At the time, they didn’t own the UFC.com domain name; it was owned by User Friendly Computers, and their asking price was too high for White.
“This guy owned User Friendly Computers,” White remarked. “This was my first big business mistake. So I called him up, and we wanted to buy the .com from him. I don’t remember the number, but he wanted something like $20,000, and I [expletived] him up and down. ‘You piece of [expletive]. $20,000!’ He’s like, ‘[Expletive] you,’ and he hangs up the phone”
How a $20,000 Decision Became a $200,000 Mistake
“We battled for years,” White continued. “But the UFC just starts to go [up]. We ended up paying some crazy number, like $150,000 or $200,000, for the thing eventually, when I should have taken it for $20,000 in the beginning”
UFC used UFC.tv for a while, which was eventually redirected to ufcfightpass.com.
Dana White Said UFC Had Almost Nothing When He Acquired It
White claims that when he and the Fertitta brothers acquired the UFC, they only received the brand name and an old Octagon. According to White, the previous owners had sold many of the company assets to avoid bankruptcy, including the domain name, which was sold to User Friendly Computers.
You know what we got for two million bucks? The letters U-F-C and an old wooden octagon,” White told Huff Post in 2017. “We didn’t even own UFC.com. UFC.com used to be user-friendly computers.” [h/t Huff Post]
Steady Rise of the UFC
It’s a stark contrast to the UFC’s current form. The promotion is beginning to overtake boxing in terms of the number of prestigious platforms it has competed on. Within this decade alone, the UFC has held landmark events at the Las Vegas Sphere and the White House lawn.
However, White says he’s never doing the White House again.
“I can’t afford it,” White told ESPN after the event. “I’ll never do the Sphere again, and we’ll never do this again. . . . There’s been a lot of reflecting over the last few weeks with the Fertitta brothers and me. Sent a text to me almost every night, and then Frank and his family flew out tonight to watch.”
GettyWASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 14: UFC Freedom 250 is seen on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is hosting a series of Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on his 80th birthday, which the White House is calling “a once-in-a-generation celebration of the American fighting spirit.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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