--- description: Find out why Dana White was selected for TIME‘s 2026 list of the most influential people in sports. title: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026: Dana White image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33c0691e4d1c1d4a/6a209fed1616620bea49cdcd/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Dana-White.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jun 09, 2026 # Dana White ## Video: TIME100 Sports | Dana White on what makes the UFC a must-watch [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 Sports | Dana White on what makes the UFC a must-watch](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4YevPTny.m3u8) (0:35)  _Published 2026-06-09_ by [Sean Gregory](/author/sean-gregory/) ## Sean Gregory Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Mike Roach—Zuffa LLC/Getty Images Through his force-of-nature personality, [Dana White](https://time.com/article/2026/05/26/dana-white-ufc-white-house-fight-interview/ "undefined") has transformed what was once a fringe activity, deemed “human cockfighting” by John McCain in 1996, into a $1.5 billion operation that stages cage fights around the world. In 2025, the UFC helped secure its future when it inked a seven-year, $7.7 billion media-rights deal with Paramount that effectively doubled revenues from the previous agreement with ESPN. And on June 14, White will host his most high-profile spectacle: a fight card on the South Lawn of the White House. Ilia Topuria, a Georgian-Spanish lightweight who’s ranked the second-best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, is scheduled to face American Justin Gaethje in the main event. “We’re putting on the most historic sporting event in history,” White—like his friend President Trump, no fan of understatement—told TIME TIME100 Sports | Dana White Dana White: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/"},"headline":"Dana White","datePublished":"2026-06-09T12:00:51.357Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T12:00:51.582Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/","keywords":["list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33c0691e4d1c1d4a/6a209fed1616620bea49cdcd/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Dana-White.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sean Gregory","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/"}],"creator":"Sean Gregory","articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33c0691e4d1c1d4a/6a209fed1616620bea49cdcd/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Dana-White.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/","name":"Dana White"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 Sports | Dana White on what makes the UFC a must-watch","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4YevPTny/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-09T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4YevPTny.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/","duration":"PT35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/dana-white/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```