Dana White is known for his incredible commitment to the UFC, which includes being at almost every show they put on.
The CEO of UFC has been a massive part of the promotion’s success since purchasing the company back in 2001, attending every show and growing it into the largest MMA promotion in the world, becoming a household name in the process.
However, an 11-year run of attending shows came to an end in 2012, when Dana White was struck down with an illness that required surgery.
He was forced to miss a UFC event, although with his description of how bad the disease was, you cannot blame him for doing all he could to get better.
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Dana White missed his first show in 11 years to get surgery for Meniere’s Disease
After an 11-year spell, starting at his first show as president at UFC 30, Dana White was forced to miss a UFC event for the first time due to surgery for an illness he had been battling.
The current UFC CEO missed out on seeing the UFC on Fuel TV card, which featured the incredible bout between Dustin Poirier and The Korean Zombie and saw Zombie forcing “Diamond” to tap out in the fourth round.
He didn’t want to miss the event, but White was getting surgery to help him deal with the Meniere’s Disease that he had been suffering from.
He wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), confirming that he would miss his first show in 11 years, adding that he would be there under any other circumstance.
White wrote in a now-deleted Tweet: “First fight I will miss in 11 years, and it is killing me. I have to have surgery in L.A. tomorrow or trust me I would be [there].”
The surgery in question involved inserting a tube into his ear to facilitate the drainage of excess fluid. Sadly, it was not effective, and White continued to suffer from the disease in the years following.
Dana White revealed Meniere’s Disease was like ‘vertigo on steroids’
Meniere’s Disease is a disorder of the inner ear that can cause hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness, which is something White has suffered from for a number of years.
In a discussion with Good Day LA in 2013, White revealed the true extent of his suffering from the disease.
The UFC boss compared it to “vertigo on steroids”, and admitted that it is impossible to work through when travelling the world with his promotion.
“I was on vacation in Fiji around Christmas, and I got really dizzy. So I lay down for a little while, and it went away.
“Then, when I came back, I lived in Vegas, and one day I just had to tell you, you can’t hear. You lose your hearing completely, and everything starts spinning. You go down.
“I have been traveling all over the world for 11 years doing this. And when you get sick, you know you can power through it if it’s the flu or whatever. But when you get this, it’s like vertigo on steroids.”
White had an experimental treatment in Germany to help cure the disease in 2013, but reports suggest that the symptoms have since returned, and he still suffers from Meniere’s disease.