The UFC president provides behind the scenes insight into how he structures an event.
Any avid fight fan can tell you about the three sections that break up a UFC fight card, what that means and where to tune in for all of them.
What some may not know is how the MMA leader goes about planning all three with Dana White and the matchmakers being meticulous in attempting to produce a perfect flow to the event.
Card placement is a conversation that tends to take place amongst the fans ahead of a big night of fights as people debate which matchup should be higher up in the running order over another.
You can’t guarantee that a fight will deliver once the Octagon door closes but it’s the UFC’s job to plan around that so that the night peaks at certain points in order to engage the fans. It’s just one of the many details that goes into each and every event that the promotion puts on.
Dana White tells Forbes about how he structures a UFC card
Fight placement can become a controversial talking point during fight week for both the fans and the athletes who are set to be in action and Dana White will be very aware of this.
If a fighter’s career status is reflected on how high or low they are on the card, it’s understandable that this is going to lead to some disagreements but the bout order isn’t that simple.
This became a topic ahead of UFC 310 as the promotion hosted its final PPV card of 2024 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas last December.
“There’s a pacing, you know. If you look at this, so, we start out on the prelims, right? And these are people that are making their way up,” White told Forbes’ Matt Craig. “This is on ESPN2. So you wanna open ESPN2 with a great fight, and you want the main event, which would be the main event, to be good.”
Whilst a former champion like Aljamain Sterling featured on the prelims for his pivotal featherweight bout with the undefeated Movsar Evloev, the two fights that opened the main card on PPV didn’t have anywhere close to the same stakes.
Not to mention a former champion like Chris Weidman having the final fight of his UFC career on the early prelims which he claims impacted his retirement plans.
During the event, White spoke to the Forbes reporter about the intricacies of card placement and how the UFC attempts to put on engaging bouts at key times where there will be the most eyes on the product before the PPV card kicks into gear.
“Now you’re coming into the pay-per-view. We want the pay-per-view to open with a bang, and then the main event hopefully to deliver too. You want everything to deliver but you wanna set yourself up for success.”
Dana White guaranteed ‘crazy’ fight to open UFC 310 main card
In the case of UFC 310, White seemingly referenced the main card opener between Doo-ho Choi and Nate Landwehr.
Whilst neither of those competitors has the same profile or prestige of some of the other fighters on the card, it was a matchup that on paper appeared to be a guaranteed home run, hence why it received a main card slot in order to kick the PPV off with a bang.
“This fight should be crazy,” White told Forbes while showing off his sheet as the ‘Teenage Wasteland’ pay-per-view introduction blasted around the T-Mobile Arena. “There are no guarantees in life but if I had to bet, I would bet anything that that fight’s gonna be absolutely crazy.”
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Dana White is not going to change the way that the UFC do business
One fighter or their fan base being disgruntled because they’re lower down on the order than they believe they should be isn’t going to change the way that Dana White and the UFC structure a fight card.
The card of UFC 310 is a particularly effective example of this, although the grappling clash between Aljamain Sterling and Movsar Evloev ended up being a very entertaining bout.
Fight purists might make the case that a fight between two top contenders who have high stakes at play should always feature near the top of the card.
But when you look at the promotion’s latest trip to the T-Mobile, the opening two fights on the PPV main card both delivered highlight knockouts before consecutive decision victories followed them.
Ultimately, if the UFC is getting more eyes on the card and generating more interest, that’s better for all of the fighters who are competing at that event who don’t receive additional money depending on whether they open the card or feature later on in the evening.