By 
The gloves weren’t on inside the Nevada Federal District Court last week — but the blows were heavy.
Dana White stunned the courtroom by declaring he has nothing to do with matchmaking or negotiating fighter contracts at the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Under oath before Judge Richard Boulware, White insisted that for years he has stepped back from the nuts and bolts of fighter business. According to him, the real power lies with his trusted lieutenants: Hunter Campbell, Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby.
“You won’t find one manager on this planet who will tell you I’ve negotiated a deal in I don’t know how long,” White fired back during testimony.
Campbell backed that up a day later, stating the current structure has been in place since 2017. He went even further, claiming White doesn’t review contracts or ask questions about them at all — describing the longtime UFC boss as “a very unique individual.”
But Judge Boulware wasn’t buying it without a raised eyebrow.
How, he pressed, could a man who has run the promotion for 25 years have zero input on contracts and fight bookings?
Campbell’s answer: trust. Total trust. White, he said, focuses on the grand vision — global expansion, spectacle, production — while his team handles the transactional blood and guts.
And spectacle there has been. In 2024, White spearheaded the UFC’s $20 million blockbuster event at the Sphere in Las Vegas — a one-of-a-kind showpiece that turned heads across the sporting world. He’s now eyeing an even more audacious target: a July event at the White House.
But the real fight is happening in court.
White and Campbell are central witnesses in two explosive antitrust lawsuits — Johnson v Zuffa and Cirkunovs v Zuffa — brought by former fighters Kajan Johnson and Misha Cirkunovs.
The lawsuits claim the UFC suppressed athletes’ ability to negotiate with rival promotions and locked them into restrictive contracts. Fighters from 2017 to the present are demanding damages and sweeping changes to UFC business practices.
Interested? Joe Rogan says he’s not leaving the UFC unless Dana White does
This follows the landmark Le v Zuffa case, in which the UFC agreed in October 2025 to pay £281 million to fighters who competed between 2010 and 2017. That suit alleged roughly 1,100 athletes were affected by anti-competitive practices.
The promotion, sold to IMG in 2016 for $4 billion before merging with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2023 to form TKO, now faces scrutiny not inside the Octagon — but under federal law.
For years, White has been the loudest voice in MMA.
Now, in a courtroom far from the roar of fight night, he’s insisting he’s not the one pulling the contractual strings.
Comments