White, Emanuel Make Variety500 List

Variety recently published its Variety500 list for 2022, naming the 500 most influential business leaders in the global media industry across the last 12 months. Among the names were UFC President Dana White and his boss, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel.

Here’s a snippet of the praise for White, no stranger to top business awards:

White staged 25 consecutive sold-out UFC events in 2022, including a September 2022 bout in Paris that marked the league’s first-ever match-up in France, which legalized MMA fighting in 2019 after a 15-year ban on the sport. He also announced plans to open UFC Performance Institutes in Mexico and Africa, offering free training, physical therapy and nutrition counseling to fighters. The first 30,000-square-foot institute opened in Las Vegas in 2017, and a second 93,000-square-foot facility bowed in Shanghai in 2019.

Emanuel was lauded for his “continued success” running “a multi-tentacled conglomerate.”

White recently re-upped his UFC contract for another 10 years (more on that here) and is expected to further the promotion’s reach in markets that do not yet have a strong combat sports presence, with both Asia and Africa at the top of the “to do” list.

For the complete list and Variety500 write ups click here.