UFC co-founder Dana White takes an active role in shaping the direction of his sport, always looking to prevent fights from turning into a dull spectacle.
It’s just the reality of sport at any level – not every event is going to deliver the kind of edge-of-your-seat drama that draws fans in. In 2025, some of the most dominant UFC performances haven’t exactly translated into great television.
UFC 322 is a prime example. Islam Makhachev completely controlled Jack Della Maddalena, while Valentina Shevchenko shut down Zhang Weili in what ended up being a lopsided fight.
Dana White has since spoken about some recent high-profile bouts that didn’t quite meet expectations and explained how he tries to address situations like these when they come up.
How Dana White responds when fans start complaining
Dana White’s goal isn’t just to keep things moving smoothly behind the scenes; he wants fans tuning in regularly and buying pay-per-views. When fights turn out one-sided or uneventful, it tends to reflect in social media reaction and viewer interest.
Dana White has spoken about how he handles moments when fan enthusiasm dips: “The other thing is, if you look at our business model, we don’t have control over how these fights are going to go. You hope that every fight is this absolute war with all kinds of stuff happening and it’s crazy and everything else,” said Dana via SHAK MMA.
“But if it isn’t… okay let’s move on here and let’s put on something else for you guys.”
The current climate also raises questions about whether fighters might be leaning more towards risk-averse styles than they used to be. With so much emphasis now on titles as bargaining chips for new contracts, it wouldn’t be surprising if more fighters started prioritising safe strategies over putting on exciting performances.
Campbell McLaren warns the commission about his fighters stalling while they’re on the ground
Speaking exclusively with Bloody Elbow, Campbell McLaren looked back on the early days of the UFC when the original idea was to pit different fighting styles against each other to see which one came out on top.
We’ve seen plenty of examples inside the Octagon in recent years where wrestling has proven its dominance, whether it’s what happened at UFC 322 or Khamzat Chimaev’s win over Dricus du Plessis in August.
This often leads to criticism and fans being down on events due to them ending in a way that didn’t live up to expectations.
“I think fights can be boring and I think Dana [White] is very much aware of that,” McLaren said. “He doesn’t want boring fights and what is a boring fight? To an extent, it’s stalling on the ground or standing up, not engaging.”
The Combate Global CEO shared how he tries to address this within his own organisation, which tends to feature more strikers than grapplers.
“We all use the same rules, the unified rules, but what we do is talk to the commission and say our fighters are more stand-up than ground game. If they’re on the ground, there’s a good chance they’re stalling,” he explained. “The commission responds well because we want action. After all, it is a fight.”
Campbell McLaren opens up on what sets his vision apart from the UFC
In a recent conversation with Bloody Elbow about Combate’s move to Los Angeles, Campbell McLaren described the UFC as “pretty perfect as it is”.
However, there was one moment where he came to a realization that this doesn’t mean other promotions can’t be successful by doing things differently.
While touring the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, he was surprised by how few fighters there were from certain parts of South America.
This then became his focus with Combate, by putting a special emphasis on these regions while signing young, exciting fighters that would guarantee entertainment.
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