Dana White says the gap in required skill level is the main reason influencer athletes tend to choose boxing over the UFC.
Speaking on a recent podcast, the UFC CEO and president broke down why crossover fighters rarely make the jump to mixed martial arts:
You have to have such a high skill level to do mixed martial arts.
Anybody can put on a pair of gloves and throw punches at each other.
You know, going to the ground and pulling off submissions and doing all that stuff is a whole other level.
White wasn’t downplaying boxing itself, but stressed that MMA demands competence across multiple disciplines at once – striking, takedown defense, wrestling against the cage…
Well, you have to have it all.
If you’re not a well-rounded athlete, you cannot exist in the UFC. You can’t be successful here.You have to have it all.
White also credited Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and longtime commentator Joe Rogan specifically, with helping audiences understand what’s actually happening once a fight hits the mat:
Joe Rogan is the best combat sports commentator of all time.
When they went to the ground, two or three steps before it happened, Joe Rogan would start walking you through what was going on and literally helped educate millions of people on the ground game.