Dana White: 10 Steps He Can Do to Take MMA to the Next Level

Dana F. White has been the face of the UFC ever since he and the Fertitta brothers bought the company. He's been instrumental in bringing the UFC and the sport of MMA from the dark ages to where it is now.

With the UFC-Fox Sports deal, MMA will be introduced to millions of new fans across the nation.

As with any introduction into a new sport, the process of becoming mainstream won't happen overnight, and there are a number of steps to go through.

White is captain of the ship and thus has several choices to make in order to ensure the UFC continues to rise in popularity.

10. Early Start Times

The UFC recently announced, via MMAfrenzy.com, that they would be returning to their old start times.

Although this is good news for the people on the West Coast, as they no longer have to balance family dinner with watching the UFC, it is terrible for people on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

The sports market is heavily impacted by the East Coast, and the "East Coast bias" is as blatant as wearing yellow to a funeral.

Dana White and the UFC should realize the sports world revolves on East Coast time and return the UFC to the 9pm EST start time. The time change really hasn't affected the buy rate of PPVs as much as people are making it out to be.

9. Sell the Name of Fighters

What helped the UFC get major press years ago was the marketability of fighters. Chuck Liddell was on top of the world, and even people who didn't watch the UFC knew who he was.

The UFC should put some of their bigger name fighters who aren't in title contention on some free shows to get people hooked. A good example is Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

Jackson shouldn't be anywhere near a rematch with Jon Jones, and he's fairly well known through pop culture. Melvin Guillard vs. Jim Miller is likely to be an exciting bout, but neither have the name to get casual fans to care.

As they did with Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, it's better to give up a few PPV buys now to get a lot more in the future.

8. Dana White Needs to Step out of the Spotlight

As I've said before, Dana White needs to learn he's no longer the star the UFC needs.

The UFC needed a strong-willed person to rise them from the ashes of pre-Zuffa, but now it's time for the fighters to carry the banner into battle.

Take a look at the major sports leagues in America. All of their commissioners are perceived in a negative light.

Fans don't want "big brother" interfering with their sports. They don't want to see Goodell hand out fines every week, they don't want Bud Selig to be on the front page of baseball discussions and they could definitely do without the angel of David Stern.

White's openness to fans is certainly appreciated, but a national TV audience is not the time or place to attempt to steal a fighter's thunder.

7. Stop Cutting Fighters Early

There are certainly a handful of fighters who don't belong in the UFC. It's tough to make it to the UFC—but even tougher to stay there.

But if the UFC really intends to keep increasing the amount of shows, they're going to need more fighters.

The product will become stale as they continue to fire fighters prematurely and we will be forced to see the same people compete multiple times in a short amount of time or we will be left with rather lackluster main events.

I'm not saying everyone should get the "Dan Hardy treatment" (keeping your job after four losses in a row), but the UFC can hold on to guys a little longer in order to give diversity to the UFC on FX and UFC on Fox cards.

6. Let Fox's Production Crew Take over

It's no secret that the UFC production crew has become increasingly overworked as the UFC continues to put on more and more shows each year.

Although they've done an excellent job, it's time to share the load with the Fox production crew. You can see the difference in production quality in just the UFC on Fox special alone.

Fox knows how to sell a sport and how to generate interest. Let the people at Fox hook the viewer in, and then the UFC crew can keep them there.

5. Keep Getting Fighters to Be Analysts

The main issue I have with mainstream sports outlets covering MMA is that most of them refuse to let anyone of knowledge speak about it.

When they want to cover an NFL trade, they call up Chris Mortensen. When they want someone to breakdown the pick and roll offense, they get Digger and his highlights.

So why do they not do the same when it comes to MMA?

Dana White and the UFC should keep getting fighters who can speak well into the announce booth or on the pre-fight talk show. Kenny Florian's career isn't going anywhere, and he's certainly fluent enough to get the job done.

BJ Penn, Frank Mir and Stephan Bonnar are all possible future analysts, as all are fairly knowledgeable about the sport and can speak fluently.

4. Keep the Announcing Team Under Control

We love Joe Rogan. He's very insightful and can make any moment in the fight exciting. Unfortunately, he also has the tendency to keep screaming louder and louder for no reason at all.

There's nothing worse than tuning into a sporting event only to hear bad announcing. It really can make or break an event. Keeping Rogan's volume down will be key to not scaring away new viewers.

The same goes for Mike Goldberg. Goldie always knows the dumbest things to say, and we give him a pass because he's been with the company for so long. But new fans won't be generous.

If they hear some of the stupid comments Goldie makes on a regular basis, they are likely to think he knows nothing of the sport and completely tune him out or change the channel all together.

3. Get Rid of the Extended Pre-Fight Talk

There's a country song that goes, "A little less talk, and a lot more action."

Dana White would do good to heed those words and get rid of the large amount of pre-fight talk. You can't promote an MMA fight like that.

Thirty minutes of talking is fine when a game can last three hours, but not for a fight that could be over in 64 seconds.

I understand the need to have an "introduction" into the event, but there's no need for that much talking.

2. Put Americans on TV

By putting American fighters on TV, the UFC stands to gain a considerable fanbase from "non-fans."

I don't mean to incite a race war, but it's pretty much common sense that people will care more about fighters from their own country than from fighters of their own. Americans are some of the most patriotic citizens in the world and love a guy who can be seen as "the All-American guy."

Even though some of the world's best fighters reside outside the 50 states, the UFC can use mid-level guys to bolster their free TV shows based solely on them being from America.

This could also serve a dual purpose as well to create a dislike of a certain fighter. Even if a fan hates the fighter, they're still likely to tune in to see them lose.

1. Put Striker vs. Striker Fights on Tv

As much as the hardcore fans hate a stand up brawl that features no technical skill, the casual fan will eat it up like a Christmas ham.

Fans love a stand up fight. It's something everyone can identify with and understand what's going on. There's a clear way to determine what guy is winning and what one is losing.

There's also no debating a knockout. Whereas submission attempts can be confusing to new viewers, everyone knows the guy that just faceplanted into the mat is the loser.

It was, after all, an ugly brawl between two lightheavyweight fighters who made the UFC jump into mainstream sports in 2005.