Top 5 MMA promoters who can fight
Last Wednesday, during Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour, a hypothetical fight was discussed: Chatri Sityodtong vs. Dana White. The bout between two of the world's most well-known MMA promoters has been hotly discussed since it was first brought up a few months ago.
Helwani mentioned the fight during his 30-minute segment with ONE Championship CEO and founder, Chatri Sityodtong. Though the legendary Thai entrepreneur dismissed the idea as something his marketing team was merely having fun with, he did share some interesting thoughts:
Chatri further expounded on his statement by pointing out the major difference between him and the always controversial UFC president:
“I think he’s a fan, so I have differences. I come from the martial arts community. I come from the martial arts background. And how I treat my athletes, they are my peers. I come from the community. It’s very, very different.”
Watch Chatri's full segment in this video:
Though Chatri's opinion on White can be contested, what he said about himself being part of the martial arts community is true. The Harvard Business School alumnus has been training in Muay Thai for thirty-seven years and is currently a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brownbelt.
We are, however, not interested in writing odds on who would win this hypothetical bout. This whole topic got us more interested in the idea of an MMA promoter knowing how to fight as well.
As someone who sells fights, it sure does provide helpful insight if you understand what it's like to get punched or choked out. Even car salesmen have to have some kind of knowledge about how cars work, right? Today we list down the top five MMA promoters who can fight.
#5. MMA pioneer and UFC president Dana White
The brash genius behind the meteoric rise of the UFC into mainstream consciousness may know a thing or two about fighting. Regardless of what Chatri said about White's combat knowledge, there's some evidence to prove that he can fight. He does have a boxing and grappling gym at home, after all.
White has also publicly told the story of how he had a full-blown fist-fight with former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz on a plane.
Watch him talk about the fight on the Conan O'Brien show:
Aside from this, a boxing match between the legendary MMA promoter and the former champion was officially scheduled to happen back in 2007. According to White in an interview with TMZ, it was Ortiz who threw down the gauntlet, but then backed out at the last minute:
"He challenged me. [I] trained for it, I brought in like real guys, I spent serious time really training for this fight, and I was absolutely gonna do it. He blinked. I absolutely would've won that boxing match."
Now, this isn't factual evidence that Dana can truly handle himself in a fist-fight. It's all stories. However, if you are willing to fight a former MMA world champion in a sanctioned boxing match, well, you must have some skills.