Can Dana White Fight? An Investigation

UFC president Dana White is oil, and former UFC champion Tito Ortiz is water. The two diametric personalities have some genuine bad blood between them after years of character assassination by both parties. But the question is this: Does Dana White know how to fight? Like, for real?

White's hatred for Ortiz is so great that he even put a clause into one of the Huntington Beach Bad Boy's fight contracts that stated they could get in the Octagon for a three-round sparring match. If you believe White, he was training for the fight and would have won if Ortiz didn't back out.

Dana White on the Tito Ortiz fight:
"I trained for it. I brought in, like, real guys. I spent serious time really training for this fight and I was absolutely going to do it. He blinked. I would've won. I absolutely would've won that boxing match."https://t.co/5gVNsYaqlQ
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) August 17, 2018

Ah. Okay, buddy. Sure.

We have to start wondering if the president of the biggest MMA promotion in the history of the world could hold his own in a fight.

The stocky White clocks in at around 220 pounds, by various accounts, and he seems to be in good enough shape for a guy of his 50 years of age, so it's possible he could do some damage if he lands a haymaker. White did start a martial arts career at the age of 17, as he was a boxer for a brief period of time before moving into the world of "boxercise," an interval-based training regimen that he helped teach.

White quickly left the fight game, however, becoming a manager for Ortiz and his biggest rival, Chuck Liddell. He has no official fights on his resume and certainly nothing professionally sanctioned -- the only evidence that we have that White claimed that he could beat a weakened, aging Ortiz.

Dana White vs Tito Ortiz is the fight that makes most sense. I think Dana has a good shot, to be honest.
— devon sawa (@DevonESawa) November 25, 2018

Could White hurt you if he punched you square in the jaw? Probably. Would anyone feel even the least bit threatened if a 50-year-old business executive decided to get in the Octagon?

No. Not in the slightest.