Turki Alalshik, Chariman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority and the most powerful man in boxing called Dana White “the best businessman” he has ever worked with. And now it is time for us to see how good of a businessman the UFC CEO really is. After all, the Las Vegas resident has entered perhaps the most challenging industry of all- the $359 billion US clothing and apparel market.
If you follow ‘Shark Tank’, you will know that the easiest way to get the sharks fired up is to say you have an apparel or clothing company. Since there are not many patents or unique intellectual properties in the way clothes are made, combined with the fact that anyone can enter the business because of the low barriers to entry, this business is one of the most difficult to succeed in.
Of course, if you are, say, Michael Jordan (one of White’s idols), and are considered a cultural icon, you can become obscenely rich by selling Jordan sneakers clothes and apparel with Nike. But if you’re not, then you need to create a brand and make your apparel desirable, which is very very difficult. To be fair, Dana White is also famous. Not Michael Jordan famous, but still pretty famous.
Not to mention he has a unique branding strategy, which involves his new bull. The UFC CEO, of course, has become a bull riding enthusiast of late. After his beloved bull, ‘Twisted Steel’, passed away recently, the Boston native bought another bull, and named it ‘Dana White’s Playmate’. Naming his after himself seems to have been good luck, as ‘Plaything’ finds himself in the Professional Bull Riding (PBR) finale set for May 17-18.
And so impressed is White with the bull that he has started the apparel company, ‘Dana White’s Playmate’, complete with a bull head logo and started selling T-shirts, as was revealed on his Instagram Story. As you can imagine, the UFC CEO absolutely loves the bull and the sport of bull riding in general.
Dana White loves the danger and thrill of bull riding
“I like the nasty ones, I like the mean ones. I like the ones that are obviously tough to ride. Just like fighting, you got to be a little crazy to want to do it, too,” White said of ‘Playmate’, who is notoriously hard to ride. But then again, that is just how the UFC CEO likes his fighters and his bulls.
In fact, White even feels that the riders of these bulls are as tough as the UFC fighters, simply because of how risky a sport bull riding is. “I think it’s the same, but different, You know what I mean,” White said, when asked who he thought was tougher– his fighters of the bull riders.
“The riders are some of the toughest dudes on the planet. There are so many different things that can go wrong, and you can die or get seriously injured in the PBR,” he added. But more than the danger nature of the sport, what the UFC CEO appreciates most are the “great storylines. I love that. Just like fighting.” What do you think about Dana White entering the clothing business?
The post Just Like His Hero Michael Jordan With Nike, Dana White Enters $359 Billion American Market appeared first on EssentiallySports.