UFC CEO, Dana White has made his fair share of enemies during his rise as Octagon leader, but it seems that during his childhood, he was also the target of his peers.
White, the long-time promotional leader of the UFC, is set to make his first venture into the professional boxing sphere later this year to boot. Heading up TKO Boxing with Saudi adviser, Turki Alalshikh, and WWE executive, Nick Khan — White has been thrown into the deep end of the squared circle from the get-go.
Set to act as promoter for the blockbuster showdown of Canelo Alvarez and the unbeaten Terence Crawford in September, White’s role in the pairing has been clarified amid claims he had been ditched as promoter in favor of Sela.
But early in his childhood, White had his own feud — rather close to home. Speaking with Jazzy World TV, White opened up a school photo from his youth.
Branded with cuts and bruises on his face, he revealed he had been beaten with a snow shovel during a fight with twins living next door to him.
“So the day before school pictures, I got into a fight with the two twins who live next door to me,” White explained. “Don’t ever get in a fight with twins. So when I was fighting with one of the twins, the other twin hit me in the face with a snow shovel,“ he added.
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Notably, on the subject of childhood and upbringing for White is rather a touchy one. Claiming his mother was “nuts” and his father was absent, White has spoken candidly of growing up his Massachusetts.
White coy on difficult upbringing
Landing the UFC alongside friends, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta under the Zuffa LLC banner, White had infamously served as a boxercise coach in Boston before eventually making inroads in the Octagon.
But back to his childhood, White does not retain the fondest of memories. Speaking with Khloe Kardashian, White openly claimed his late mother was “nuts” during his upbringing.
“My mom was nuts and my dad was never around,” White said.
“I think that me and my sister grew up fast. We were home alone a lot because we had a single mom who was a nurse, she worked a lot. We grew up in the eighties when it was a lot different growing up then than it is now. My parents were obviously much different parents,” he had revealed.
Consequently, in a conversation with British media personality Piers Morgan, White also revealed that his parents have now passed away. Asserting that he’s put those relationships behind him, the UFC boss added that he’s trying to do right by his kids.
“When they passed away I had almost no feelings about it, to be honest with you,” he notably said about the passing of his parents.
