In a revealing conversation with former WWE chairwoman Stephanie McMahon on her new podcast series, UFC CEO Dana White shared the harrowing details of an incident from his past that left him with permanent hearing damage.
White never had luck in unregulated combat – according to his own account he took a hit with a shovel in his very first scrap.
The Powerslap founder said:
“I was really young [when I got into my first scrap]”
“I got in my first fi ght with these two twins who lived next door to me.”
“And one of them hit me in the face with a snow shovel.”
White, now one of combat sports’ most successful promoters, opened up about an altercation at a Boston establishment called Pete’s Pub that escalated dramatically.
“Getting the s**t beaten out of you is not fun and not something to throw in your to-do list but it happens,” White candidly told McMahon. “These dudes beat the sh** out of me…I was sore from the top of my head to the tip of my toe. My ears were ringing, actually I lost hearing in this [left] ear from that.”
The incident didn’t just involve White. According to his account, the chaotic scene expanded to involve bystanders and eventually police:
“There were people getting out of their cars trying to help and they got the s**t kicked out of them too. Then finally the police came and they started fighting the police too.”
In an unexpected twist to the story, White received a call months later from the legal counsel of one of the individuals involved in the incident. They apparently wanted White to appear in court, but White declined any further involvement in the matter.
This wasn’t the only challenging situation White faced before his rise to prominence. In previous interviews, he’s shared how he was forced to leave Boston quickly after an encounter with organized crime figures who demanded protection money he couldn’t pay. This hasty departure led him to Las Vegas, where he began managing fighters like Chuck Liddell, gaining valuable experience that would later serve him when he acquired the UFC in 2001 alongside the Fertitta brothers.
During his conversation with McMahon, White also touched on martial arts training. In a separate interview with Lex Fridman, White specifically advocated for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as an ideal self-defense discipline, especially for women.
“If you wanna touch get your daughter into a martial art, you put your daughter in Jiu-jitsu, hundred percent because it’s not about size and strength it’s about technique,” White explained. “The biggest selling point for Jiu-jitsu for women is no matter how big, how small, can out a guy to sleep in three and a half seconds.”
Despite his personal endorsement of BJJ for self-defense, White has often expressed different preferences as a promoter, typically favoring more dynamic, action-oriented styles that entertain audiences.
From surviving dangerous encounters to building a multi-billion dollar combat sports empire, White‘s journey demonstrates the resilience that has defined his career.
